Montreal Misadventures & Shakespearean Dreams | Calm Background Listening

In Montreal Misadventures & Shakespearean Dreams, Marco and Amanda ease into a softly spoken recap of their recent time in Montreal. Marco reflects on leading a podcasting workshop with the Quebec Writers Federation alongside Linda Morra, host of Getting Lit with Linda. Meanwhile, Amanda shares her peaceful visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts* (Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal)* and a soothing bath-time read of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin.
The conversation drifts into book recommendations, including Valley of the Birdtail by Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson, before gently touching on their recent eclipse experience and fond Shakespearean memories. As always, this calming podcast unfolds at an unhurried pace, offering a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. Perfect for background listening at bedtime or during a middle-of-the-night wake-up, this episode provides steady companionship and literary daydreams to guide you toward rest.

​Montreal Misadventures & Shakespearean Dreams
(Original airdate:April 17, 2024)


Insomnia Project podcast features Barely awake Amanda Barker and Marco Timpano

Marco: Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation of approximately 26 minutes to help bring you to slumber, hopefully, or just to have you relax, whatever it is. We want to thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda:  I'm the barely awake Amanda Barker.

Marco: The Barely awake Amanda Barker and I are sorry we, we didn't have an episode last week, Amanda.

Amanda:  I guess I slept through it.

Marco: I guess you did. But we're here this week, so you're here, Amanda. I wanted to. I don't have any set, topics for today's episode other than to thank our listeners.


Amanda Snyderman was recently in Montreal for a podcasting workshop

Amanda:  Well, maybe we'll just begin with our weekend.

Marco: Oh, sure.

Amanda:  so you have a lot of work in the world of podcasting.

Marco: That's right. I was in Montreal at the Quebec Writers Federation. I met a whole bunch of wonderful prospective podcasters who.

Amanda:  Lovely people. The Quebec Writers Federation. Yeah.

Marco: Laurie in particular. I did that with Linda Mora. She was my co host, or we were, co hosting workshop together. And that was really wonderful. And I cannot wait to hear some of the brilliant podcasts that are going to come forth from, from that workshop.

Amanda:  And, that is Linda Mora of Getting lit with Linda, which is such a fabulous podcast. if you're into books or reading at all, it's, Canadian Literature Focus and I just love it.

Marco: She just recommended a book that you jumped on and said you're really enjoying it.

Amanda:  And I'm loving it. And it's so funny because I've had, as I've mentioned before, I love my library app on my phone, the Libby app. it hooks into your local library, it sources things from other libraries, and it allows you to listen to audiobooks for free. you can actually peruse magazines for free, and you can read books for free on whatever e reader device you use, even if it's a phone, which I've done a few times, but generally I use use it for audiobooks. And I have a whole bunch of audiobooks ready to go. in fact, because we were driving to Montreal.

Marco: That's right.

Amanda:  And I love to listen to an audiobook, as we drive. And so I have a lot of biographies because that's the type of thing I like. A non fiction audiobook.

Marco: Sure, sure.

Amanda:  It's hard for me to get into a fiction audiobook, which is ironic since I narrate them. But in any event, I happened to download one, from a discussion with her, and out of the 10 or so, I gave each one, you know, a couple of minutes and then I have to decide if I like the person's voice.

Marco: If you want to invest your time into listening to it.

Amanda:  Yeah. If the content is resonating with me in that moment, sure. You know, if I've done a lot of, Brene Browns or even Catlin morons, then I might not want a feminist self Help type of genre I might want, you know. So, anyway, I uploaded this book, Valley of the Bird Tale, and, this is a very organic plug. I didn't really mean to be plugging it, but she's actually doing, an interview with the authors at the end of this month.

Marco: She being Linda.

Amanda:  Yeah, Linda. We're still on Linda. and so she. She was mentioning to me these two authors who got together to write this book. so anyway, it's called Valley of the Bird, An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  And I wasn't sure. You know, some of those things are quite heavy talk, so I wasn't sure. But it's told in a very, I don't know how else to put it. A very listenable way.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  And it really hooked me. it's narrative, so I'm interested in the narrative of these people's lives. it's also very informative, and, of course, it's dealing with some what we call heavy subjects. But I think there's a real lightness to it and playfulness to it. And I. And I gotta be honest, I'm really enjoying it.

Marco: And who are the authors?

Amanda:  the authors are. This is important.

Marco: Man is gonna get that.

Amanda:  Yeah. The authors are Douglas Sanderson, I believe, and Andrew. And now it's gone. Hang on. Andrew Sto. Sniderman. And why does it keep going?

Marco: Amanda's fiddling with her phone right now. I'll have it in our show notes.

Amanda:  Douglas Sanderson.

Marco: I got it.

Amanda:  Right. Yeah. So Andrew Stobo, Snyderman and Douglas Sanderson wrote this.

Marco: And I'll have a link to that in our show notes.

Amanda:  Yeah.


We were in the direct path of an eclipse this week, but clouds blocked view

Marco: And speaking of two, we had an eclipse of the sun and the moon this week as well. We were in the direct path of that eclipse here in Toronto, but unfortunately, the clouds did not allow for us to view it.

Amanda:  Not when it was at its 99th percent. and I had a lot of eclipse envy. Oh, yeah. I'm not an envious person. Overall, I don't think. you know, different people have different vices. Envy isn't usually mine.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda:  I've got lots of others, don't worry. But, But I had a lot of eclipse envy because I noticed on social media and so on everyone. And of course, the eclipse was. Was very specific to location. So, of course, around the world, as so many of our listeners are, you know, that they weren't part of it. But for us here in what we call the Greater Toronto area, there was

Marco: a Lot of eclipse potential action happening. So if you were in Niagara Falls, in Hamilton, in Cornwall, in, Port Perry, I want to say Port Hope.

Amanda:  Anything along that southern U.S. border, like the. The border between Canada and the U.S. sure. which meant, of course, on the other side. but it's a fairly small little path, that an eclipse, you know, you can. You can go 10 miles and be outside of the. What they call the totality.

Marco: Right, right, right. See, and for me, celestial things like that do nothing. So I was neither here nor there with it. I'm not. I was saying this to Amanda last night. I was like, that stuff because we were talking about Halley's Comet, and she's like, do you remember Haley's comet back in Whenever.

Amanda:  I don't remember seeing it, but I certainly remember talking about it.

Marco: I don't remember. And. And to be honest with you, if it was in the zeitgeist back then, I wouldn't have paid much mind to it because, like. Like I said, celestial bodies. Bodies aren't my thing. I know oftentimes Amanda will point out different galaxies or star clusters and she'll name them, and I'll be like, okay.

Amanda:  Constellation.

Marco: Constellation, yes.

Amanda:  I love the idea that I could see different galaxies with my known eyes.

Marco: If you concentrate, maybe you can.

Amanda:  I mean, in my mind, the galaxies of my brain. Yeah. I never heard this term totality before. And suddenly that's what everybody was talking about. It became a buzzword for us anyways in this past week. But, yeah, it was pretty cloudy, and we weren't going to get the full. The full deal. And the full deal means it goes fully to night. For a few minutes, the stars come out, and then it goes back into the daytime. So now I kind of want to have that experience in my lifetime. So I might become an eclipse chaser and go to, like, Spain or Iceland next year. I don't know. We'll see.

Marco: Have fun with that.

Amanda:  or two years from now, whenever it is.

Marco: Okay.


You bulldozed right over me talking about the museum this week

So you also dove into some Shakespeare this week?

Amanda:  I did. I want to talk to the museum, too.

Marco: What museum?

Amanda:  I was trying to. I was angling from Montreal so I could talk about the museum.

Marco: Oh, sure, of course.

Amanda:  And then you just. You just bulldozed right over. You're like. Anyway, but now let's talk about the eclipse. sure, let's go to the museum. But I'll talk about Shakespeare.

Marco: No, let's talk about your museum.

Amanda:  It's not my museum.

Marco: Oh, the museum that you were foreseen

Amanda:  in this agenda, it was a new museum for me. So for me it was a big deal. But you weren't part of that because you were teaching at the Quebec Writers Federation while I had a lovely day by myself.


Marco Miller went to the Fine Arts Museum in Montreal for a guided tour

Marco: Okay, tell us about your museum experience.

Amanda:  So, I had this beauty. I just wanted to describe to listeners my wonderful day. We had a beautiful, deep soaker bathtub in our hotel. We had a kind of older hotel. and we had a free breakfast. It wasn't great, but it was free. So I went down and got my two hard boiled eggs and some cheese. And then I drew myself a beautiful bath. And I know probably most people's fantasies isn't eating hard boiled eggs and cheese, but that's what they had. And I read a new book that I'm reading called the 100 Days of Lenny and Margo. I think that's what it's called.

Marco: I thought you were going to say the 100 years of solitude.

Amanda:  No, the 100 days of Lenny and Margot. which is an interesting Scottish book. Or it takes place in Scotland anyway, so in a hospital in Scotland. So I, I got in maybe 30 pages, 50 pages or so of that, and then I went, okay, museum time. And I walked myself down to the Musee des Beaux Arts, which is the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal. And I'd never been. And that's pretty incredible because we've spent a lot of time in Montreal.

Marco: We have.

Amanda:  But I've never made it to the, to the museum there, the Fine Arts Museum. And it was lovely. It was so lovely. They had, ah, an exhibit that compared the lives and works of Georgia o',

Marco: Keeffe, which Amanda's a big fan of.

Amanda:  And I can't even remember his name.

Marco: Moore.

Amanda:  What's his first name?

Marco: Henry Moore. Henry Moore, which I'm a big fan of. You went to the museum?

Amanda:  I know now I don't remember. It was like o' Keefe and Moore. no, his sculptures are interesting. He carved a lot from stone. That sound is Marco looking for his name.

Marco: Oh, was it clicking? Sorry.

Amanda:  Yeah, he carved a lot from stone and, he always wanted it to still look like the stone.

Marco: Henry Spencer Moore.

Amanda:  There you go. Georgia o'. Keefe.

Marco: I like when I say Henry Moore. You're like, Henry. Is it Henry Moore? As if I was wrong.

Amanda:  I thought that was an author too. Henry Moore, perhaps.

Marco: I mean, Henry Moore's not a.

Amanda:  The Yellow Wallpaper. I feel like somebody wrote the Yellow Wallpaper.

Marco: Never even heard that book.

Amanda:  It's a short story. I felt like, that was somebody named Henry Mor, too. But I'm also, as I mentioned, half awake or half asleep. Anyhow, I had a beautiful. A beautiful stroll through this museum. And, it was lovely. And that comparative exhibit was lovely. And I happened upon a free tour.

Marco: Oh, that's lovely.

Amanda:  So what happens? I love, a guided tour. As we've established, I love audiobooks. And so I will pay the extra $10 or whatever it is for the guided audio tour of, something, whether

Marco: that be a person or a headphone, walk around.

Amanda:  Well, usually it's a headphone. And so when you, you know, press your language and make sure the headphones work and let it guide you and you go through the rooms or whatever. So that's what I was expecting, but they didn't offer that. That wasn't on offer. Instead, what they had is volunteers giving you, really interesting insights into the works of these two authors. And so I just wanted to say, I got a guided tour by this lovely, older British woman named Mary. And she was fantastic.

Marco: Awesome.

Amanda:  She knew so much about each, and she had interesting little tidbits of information. And that's what's interesting to me, those personal stories. And you're looking at me like you want to tell me who wrote the Yellow Wallpaper.

Marco: Yeah, I looked it up. It's not Henry Moore. The Yellow Wallpaper, original title, the Yellow Wallpaper a story, is a short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Amanda:  More.

Marco: No, there's no more in there.

Amanda:  I don't know. I don't know who.

Marco: I'm never even heard of this short story.

Amanda:  Okay. Why are you so angry about?

Marco: I'm not. Not angry, but all right. I like how you thought it was Henry Moore.

Amanda:  There's maybe it's Henry Miller, but there's a author of that time. Well, Henry, I know a lot of people, and I have a lot of names that float in my brain.

Marco: Fair enough. Fair enough.


Henry Moore was hugely influential in Quebecois art

So you got to see Henry Moore. You got to see Georgia o' Keeffe's works. Were there other works that you saw in that museum that you enjoyed?

Amanda:  Yeah, I learned about a Quebecois artist that I didn't really know. Ripol.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda:  Jean. R, I, P, O, L, L, E. I might be saying it wrong.

Marco: RuPaul.

Amanda:  Ripol.

Marco: Ripol.

Amanda:  apparently huge, hugely influential in Quebecois art.

Marco: Oh, fantastic. That's Art from Quebec. In case some international listeners are wondering what that word is.

Amanda:  Jean Paul Ro. I still can't say it. Can you say that?

Marco: Of course. Ripollet.

Amanda:  Oh, yeah. Ah, that's a tie. R, I O P E L L E. Jean Paul Rio Pal.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda:  Anyway. But, really influential.

Marco: Oh, wonderful.

Amanda:  I, guess somewhat abstract painter from the 60s. And, really interesting stuff. And they've got a lot of his work there. And, he. He's part of that whole movement of Quebec in the 60s and 70s, like alongside Leonard Cohen and, who is obviously a famous poet. And then later on, singer. But just so many of the artists of Quebec of that time, which I thought was really fascinating.

Marco: Singer, songwriter. Yeah. That's wonderful. There's a big mural on one of the condo buildings in Montreal that we drove by of Leonard Cohen, that is. And,


Museums need to find ways to engage kids, especially immersive ones

So you had a great time at the museum.

Amanda:  I did. I just wanted to share that because a new museum is a new adventure. And they're some of the best adventures, museums, because you feel like you're going inward, you're going internally. You know, when I was a child, I didn't really get museums. I liked going. I liked the big spaces and the high ceilings. But I didn't really understand what was to be gained from just staring at art or, you know, paintings on a wall or sculptures. But these days, for me, it's an adventure into an artistic spirit, a creative movement, someone's life. And that's what's interesting to me.

Marco: I took our niece and nephew to the Bata Shoe Museum. How was it during their spring break? It was a neat museum, but I don't think the kids had much patience for the shoes. All the shoes. After a while, they were like, okay, how many pairs of shoes can we possibly look at?

Amanda:  And kids in museums, it's a hard sell anyway. Which is why most museums find other ways to draw families in and engage the kids. As I was there, I, They had a whole engagement area for the kids where they were making paintings and sculptures out of pine cones.

Marco: Oh, that's cool.

Amanda:  Pinecone thing. Yeah.

Marco: I would have loved that as a kid.

Amanda:  Yeah, well, that's what I mean. And that's what art should be fluid. It shouldn't be something to just stare on a wall. Because at some point in someone's life, it was movement and it was expression and it was thought and emotion and feeling. So I think you need to find ways to bring that to people. That's why the immersive, exhibits are so powerful and, I think, so popular. Like immersive Van Gogh.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda:  Immersive, Klaminsky, I think.

Marco: Gustav Klimt. There's a Klimt Immersive.

Amanda:  I can't get anyone's name right today. Frida Kahlo. I did an immersive Frida Kahlo.

Amanda:  but the Van Gogh. And out of all of them that we did immersive Disney, which is a tour into Disney animation. I do think the immersive Van Gogh at the end of the day, and I hope I'm not, making any mortal enemies with this, is still my favorite, personal favorite. Although the Disney one is really interesting.

Marco: Yeah, it was a pretty cool knockout, that one.

Amanda:  And even for an adult, you know, obviously it's geared more to families in terms of the marketing, but I think as an adult, it was a very interesting m. Adventure into the animation of Disney.


There are some places that offer lunchtime shows. For example, the Lunchbox Theater in Calgary

Marco: Now, we mentioned this earlier in the show. You've been working with some people in Shakespeare. Would you see a immersive Shakespeare if they had that experience?

Amanda:  I don't know how you would do that. I mean, isn't Shakespeare meant to be immersive? isn't that what a good Shakespearean play is? In a way, yes.

Marco: But not all his works. But imagine if you went in and you heard excerpts from all his works with people around.

Amanda:  There's a very famous show called the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which I saw in London. Was that good in the West End? yeah. It's funny. A lot of shows have sort of mimicked that formula Gotcha. Where it's let's do big things fast and they'll be funny if they're fast, if everybody knows what's happening. Because we're doing it at this farcical, frenetic pace. Right. That's essentially what it was. But I do remember, I mean, it was many years ago that I saw. But I do remember enjoying it.

Marco: I know it came into town. I should have gone to see it when I was in town. But.

Amanda:  Yeah, and there's a. There's a Harry Potter sort of version of that. years ago there was a show called, it was a Tom Stoppard play called Cahoots. I don't want to say the Scottish play, but anyway, it has like, Cahoots, the Scottish play, something Hamlet. It's, a pretty famous play. But inside of it, there's a play within a play, and that is called the 15 Minute Hamlet.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  And I remember my, university theater did just the 15 minute hamlet as a lunchtime show.

Marco: Oh, that's neat.

Amanda:  By Tom Stoppard. Tom Stoppard. who. Who unfortunately left us this week, right?

Marco: Oh, this week, yeah.

Amanda:  This past week.

Marco: Okay. You know, it's interesting. I love the idea of seeing a quick show during your lunch, especially if you're like, you know, oftentimes you're working and in a place where you haven't worked before or a new location and you don't know too many people or you don't feel like having lunch with people.

Marco: But imagine being able to eat your lunch and watch a show. For me, that's a wonderful, wonderful experience, which I have yet to do.

Amanda:  But there are places that we know of that do that.

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda:  For example, the Lunchbox Theater in Calgary, has had a long, long, History. History, yeah. Of doing exactly that. Lunchtime shows. I don't know if they offer evening shows as well.

Marco: I don't think so.

Amanda:  No, just lunchtime. there used to be one downtown Toronto that did.

Marco: Oh, there was, yeah.

Amanda:  it was called the Stage. And what happened was they offered lunchtime adult shows. And by adult I just mean not family shows, but you know, a one act, a 40 minute or whatever show. right downtown. Like at Bay and Queen. downtown and in the heart of the city. Yeah. Like in the underground sort of where we have a big underground tunnel system. It was in there. And because they were, you know, rent is high, as it always is. M. They also on the weekends offered children's shows. And what happened was the children's shows became more popular than the lunchtime shows. And so then they had two spaces, one for children and one for adults. But the children one basically won out and they had to close the adults.

Marco: Yeah. Because I only know that as the, as a kid's theater. So I didn't know it as an adult lunchtime theater.

Amanda:  It was my first professional theater gig in Toronto and my second ever professional theater gig ever in my life. And you know, I was so excited. I was getting paid to do theater. It was pretty low budget and but anyways, and everybody would say to us, solar Stage. Oh yeah, they used to do the lunchtime shows. Do they still have that theater? So I heard about it a lot, but it didn't exist by the time I was there. So that's been a long time now.

Marco: Wow.

Amanda:  Wow.


This morning I auditioned for a Shakespeare play, a outdoor Shakespeare play

Marco: I remember years ago, and I meant to tell you this. This morning I auditioned for a Shakespeare play, a outdoor Shakespeare play.

Amanda:  Oh. Ah, yeah.

Marco: At Earl Bales Park. I think this is when I was in high school. So many, many years ago.

Amanda:  I think you told me your drama teacher took you and someone else and

Marco: my best friend at the time.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco: A role that had two lines.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco: It was for Fliance was the name of the character in one of the plays. I couldn't even tell you which one.

Amanda:  I think that's a history play. I think that's like a Henry. The Henry. The, fourth or fifth.

Marco: It could be the Scottish play. I remember my lines.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco: The moon is down and I have not yet seen the clock, sir. And then.

Amanda:  Oh, and that might be the Scottish play.

Marco: And then the next line is I take it as later or something like that. I still remember the lines.

Amanda:  They were gonna hire somebody for two lines.

Marco: Yeah. Like it was outdoor. Like they. They were gonna hire a kid. Right. So, you know, the opportunity to go audition for Shakespeare.

Amanda:  Right.

Marco: You know, in high school was really exciting.

Marco: And me and my best friend Danny at the time went. And neither of us got it. But, I wonder who booked that. I know. I wonder who booked it as well. I remember my teacher saying to Anglicize my name because she was worried that they wouldn't hire me because they thought I was too ethnic for the part.

Amanda:  That's insane. And that teacher was also Italian.

Marco: Yes.

Amanda:  So that's why she thought that, I think. Yeah.

Marco: No, she knew. She knew. I think there was m. More to

Amanda:  it that era of people were told to do that. Right.

Marco: I think she knew more about the director and stuff. So. Yeah. So I think it was. I think it was a little more complex than that.

Amanda:  And did you Anglicize your name?

Marco: I think, when I said it, I didn't because I didn't think. I didn't remember to do so. So who knows? Who knows?

Amanda:  What would an Anglicized version of your name be?

Marco: I think Mark is what I was supposed to say.

Amanda:  Mark Timms, I guess.

Marco: I don't know. I mean, it was so long ago. Amanda. Like Amanda's trying to. She's trying to Nancy Drew my.

Amanda:  No, I'm not trying to Nancy Drew anything. No, I just. I'm just interested. And that. That's an interesting story to me.

Marco: What's more interesting is I remember the lines from the audition from. In high school.

Amanda:  I remember my monologue from an audition that I think I did in high school. And I was reminded of it yesterday because it was A Midsummer Night's Dream. And I heard it, quite a few times yesterday, as I, sat, watching, you know, people audition for this, for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Marco: Why did you pick that as your audition piece?

Amanda:  Gosh, I don't really know. I Don't really know of the ones back then. It was because we were given five, I think.

Marco: Oh, I see.

Amanda:  So you had to pick one out of the five. And I don't think I wanted to do anything super dramatic. I also wanted something that wasn't. That was age appropriate.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  And the four lovers, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, Lysander in Midsummer Night's Dream, are generally considered Young in their 20s. So I was, you know, 17 or whatever. So that. That's probably why I chose it.

Marco: That's. That's pretty neat. Yeah.


I remember my first audition in grade school for the Christmas play

Amanda:  Yeah, but it's. But it. Like a song. Those things stay in your brain, right. As a child, like.

Marco: Sure. Of course.

Amanda:  Your brain still, like, you remember these two lines, and yet you've done thousands of auditions since then, and you wouldn't know the lines of any of them.

Marco: I remember my first audition in grade school for the Christmas play.

Amanda:  Oh, wow.

Marco: Where I got to play shepherd number three. I got the part.

Amanda:  Nice.

Marco: And so I nailed that one. Yeah. No, that's a shepherd number three. I think I've mentioned it on the podcast before. A very important shepherd, because shepherd number three says, we will follow the stars. And so it was because of shepherd number three that the shepherds knew where to go. And then I had to say the line, perhaps, which my father thought I said craps. And I'm like, why would a shepherd say craps? It doesn't make sense. Especially a biblical shepherd. I don't think there was a content warning for the nativity play that I did in grade school, especially because I was eight.

Amanda:  Maybe the shepherds were gambling. They just. They ducked out of the area. And just to. I shouldn't even say this. I don't want to offend anyone.

Marco: No.

Amanda:  Fair enough.


Amanda, thank you for sharing your experiences in museums and literature

Marco: Well, speaking of which, let's wrap up this episode so we don't offend anyone as we approach our 26th minute. Amanda, thank you for, regaling us with your adventures in museums and literature.

Amanda:  Well, you're very welcome. And, when in Montreal go to Musee des Beaux Arts, I can't say it. Musee des Beaux Arts. or Museum of Fine Arts. Definitely go there, because it's, just an interesting exhibit. And you and I will have more about Georgia o' Keeffe and her art and life fairly soon.

Marco: That's right. Until then, we hope you were able to listen and sleep.