It's art, sweetie

At this time of year, I hear that my home town is alive with, among other distractions, the biennial Adelaide Fringe Festival. Had I been at home, I would have spent most of my time - and a fair percentage of my salary - on tickets to an array of weird and wonderful shows.

Well, Chicago may not have naked, fire-breathing jugglers on unicycles (picture THAT at your peril), but it sure has a theatre scene that I have embraced wholeheartedly.

Last night, rather fittingly as it turns out, Lexie and I sat in the 4th row of the gorgeous Cadillac Palace theatre in Chicago to see "Tuesdays With Morrie". The play is a two-man show and was an absolute emotional rollercoaster. Gentle humour, heartfelt sentiment, and real tragedy combine as the play deals with a man and his college teacher, reunited after 16 years, as the teacher suffers with Lou Gherig's disease (an incurable and degenerative disease in which the body attacks its own central nervous system.

But against this teary backdrop, Lexie and I loved the performances and really enjoyed the play. Naturally we were also both grateful for my near obsessive commitment to keeping Kleenex in my handbag (public transportation sniffers be hanged!). A few years back, the play was actually made into a TV movie starring Jack Lemmon, and was apparently a big success with the American viewing public. But I think the sell-out audience last night can more accurately be attributed to the playwright's recent popularity on the Oprah show.

But whether its the Adelaide Fringe Festival, or Chicago's Cadillac Palace, theatre is all about escapism. I marvel at the ability of two actors on stage to communicate with a large audience for two hours, without intermission. Can the same be said for naked, fire-breathing jugglers on unicycles? Actually it probably could. But it's all art to me, sweetie.