Festival d'Avignon 2

I try to arrive early, around 9 or 10 in the morning, before the chaos of the day sets in. I have breakfast in my civilian clothes (usually a dark suit and no tie) then I head across the river to a secluded shady spot on the Île de la Barthelasse where I stretch out and slowly change into the Bastard: black pants and suspenders, stripped shirt, stripped socks with garters, black boots, salt and pepper wig, and a bowler hat. This part is a bit of a ritual. When it's finished I ride back across the bridge and hit the streets.

I usually make at least one wide loop around the city and then I weave around the back streets for a while. A sortie like this can take a few hours, because I make stops along the way. Sometimes I just stop to catch my breath or eat a piece of fruit. Sometimes I take a look at my bike because it can act funny on occasion and I have to keep my eye on it. Other times I intercept passers by: I start with a question and often wind up spinning some yarn, cracking jokes, reciting a monologue...

I do this twice a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon when the town cools off and begins to bustle. Between sorties or when the day is done I change back into my civilian clothes and do my best to pass incognito, a simple theater-goer. I have dinner and flirt with cute girls who stop at my table to advertise their plays and leave a flier; I see a show and chat afterwards about what I liked and what I didn't. I try different ways to answer the inevitable question of what I'm doing in Avignon: anywhere from "Oh I mainly came to see shows" to "Actually I'm here to audition for the Hamlet in the Palais des Papes." I also pull out ones like "I'm doing research pertaining to economic and artistic circumstances in the contemporary theater marketplace," but I usually reserve that one for moments when I feel like killing the conversation.

Sometimes I feel a bit like Clark Kent, but I'm not exactly sure which persona is me and which is my alter-ego.