A Ghastly experience... :)

Here he is... Dr. Ghastly himself :) The class play was yesterday & Brendan did his usual amazing job.

First of all- he never gets nervous going into a play. His enjoyment of acting is utterly pure & he focuses on the job at hand & the fun to be had. His most memorable line ("...it was one right, big chicken...), quoted back to us by person after person after the play, turned out to have been ad-libbed... His role was that of a mad scientist who accidentally creates a 10-foot "right big chicken" which goes on a rampage & eats a couple of people, who are attending a party at "Ghastly Manor" (& coughs one back up, to much hilarity). Everything gets sorted out at the end & a timely antidote shrinks the never-actually-seen (but heard- Brendan did the chicken noises, too) chicken back to a baby chick. All of the kids did their best & were fun to watch, but Brendan practically chewed the scenery in his enthusiasm &, as one parent noted, lit the stage up every time he charged on to it. :)

It was amazing to observe it all, on many levels... First, there was watching my totally calm kid (he wasn't even wired pre-show) go into action. Then there was his putting up with having his hair gelled twice (it's so thick it just went back to normal) for the role, something which he wouldn't usually tolerate, for smell & texture reasons. Then there was the teamwork- my kid, who normally doesn't pay much attention to what the other kids around him are doing, focusing on others for his cues, helping them when lines didn't come... Of course, there was the utter joy with which he inhabited the part. And then there was basking in the glow afterwards, the nice things said about our kid, his happy face, his proud teachers...

What struck me the most was how fluidly Brendan moved through the day. From breakfast, to japanese lesson in the morning, to lunch, to getting ready for the play there was rarely a tic or sign of distress. For once he was living ever so slightly in the future, my very in-the-present kid, focused on the play to come with happy anticipation. It was a rare joy. A time for him to shine- & he did!