Another write-in and other artistic endeavors

It's only Saturday night, and already it's been a very artsy weekend indeed.

On Friday morning, Margaret and I boarded the train to make a truly epic journey all the way to Penrith — to the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre (which Dame Joan herself is apparently tickled to know is referred to as "The Joan") for a concert. But not just any concert: this one featured selections from Earth and Space, a relatively large work for mezzo, small ensemble, and electronics on which Houston and I collaborated a while back. The musicians (particularly the mezzo, the remarkable Lotte Latukefu) did a fantastic job, and it was well received. Which was nice.

Then, while Houston stayed in Penrith to do composerly things, Margaret and I heeded the siren call of the Illawarra and went back to Wollongong — but we did not yet return home. Instead, we went to a production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, which was billed as a comedy but is really a quite depressing work, albeit very well acted in this instance.

Today, Saturday, Margaret and I headed back up to Sydney again, this time for another Script Frenzy write-in. I worked on The Death of Albatross, and Margaret worked on several stories she's been writing. Lots of words produced all around, and we both really enjoyed hanging out with my Script Frenzy buddies.

After that, off to Parramatta to meet up with Houston and his composerly friends, a dinner that ended up being significantly better than I expected, and the long, wearying drive back to Wollongong.

And now to bed. We have turned all the alarms off. We are not going to church in the morning. We are tired.

Lots of art can make you tired.