I Love the Thought of Coming Home to You

I Love the Thought of Coming Home to You by Nick Poulos

“Yes I love the thought of coming home to you. Even if I know we can’t make it.” These are the lyrics to Simply Red’s song, “Fairgrounds” playing on a loop throughout the preshow of Sh!t Theater’s production, Drinking Rum With Expats. The actors, while in full face makeup work this desk that they have labeled, “The Pub”. They pour drinks into cups and set them on the desk, but never openly state that the audience can partake. Now, most people don’t ask for something that another person has unless that person offers to share. I am, however, a wizard. The rules of most people don’t apply to me.

I approach the desk and am immediately greeted warmly by the actors as they offer me cheese and a drink. Both of which, I happily accept. Slowly, most people in the audience begin to realize that there is, in fact, free booze on the table for them and they join me in grabbing a drink. The show begins, as the actors rely heavily on the humor of excessive drinking throughout the show. No, maybe not humor, maybe escapism.

They begin describing people that they interviewed from Malta, people who are referred to as “Expats”. Muts, mongrels, immigrants that don’t quite belong to England, but also don’t quite belong to Malta. These people convene in The Pub, drinking and sharing their stories of how Oliver Reed passed away there after drinking eight pints of lager, fourteen shots of rum, and half a bottle of whisky. The Pub mourned his death by printing t-shirts and putting his face on a clock.

The plot of the show primarily follows the actors as they cover the death of Daphne Galizia, a journalist from Malta who managed to piss off both sides of the “wide” political spectrum by digging deep into issues such as immigration. Primarily, why legal immigration is near impossible to obtain. Unfortunately, Daphne was never able to publish that story, as she was killed by a car bomb for informing the public of the truth.

Sh!t Theatre constantly breaks from the truth, distracting the audience by drinking, crowd surfing, playing loud music, and dancing. This is exactly the same vices that distract most people from seeing the truth. I am, however, a wizard. No, I don’t fully believe that statement, but believing that I am, in some way, special, has saved my life. It is here that I see that my way of coping with the ugliness of the world, isn’t by drinking. It’s by playing by my own rules, by making up fantastical stories and laughing at both the chaos within myself, and the chaos within our world. But coping mechanisms only last for so long until you are forced to see the truth. In reality, I understand that I am, in fact, human, and that I should try to create change in the evils that I constantly see within our society.

It’s just like Jekyll and Hyde, too much of the truth becomes depressing, demoralizing, and sometimes makes me suicidal. Too much of the wizard becomes blinding, ignorant, and a crutch that will only leave me worse off then before. It certainly is something that could kill me if I go too far, just like alcohol, however I do it anyway for the humor. No, maybe not humor, maybe escapism. It’s like Simply Red says, “Yes I love the thought of coming home to you. Even if I know we can’t make it.” While I’m still not sure how to balance the two sides of my personality coin, thanks to Drinking Rum With Expats, I’m excited to try.

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