more about the trip . . .
Sep. 1st, 2006 09:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelseagirlI'd always wanted to go to Bath, but somehow last time I made that request (to M.) I ended up in Brighton, instead, which is Not At All the Same Thing, although it did lead to two positives: 1) we stopped by to see his mum's cousin, who is a goldsmith, who ended up making a platinum wedding ring for me at a substantial discount AND breaking the mold afterwards so there is no other ring in the world like it, and 2) whenever I watch Mirrormask and there are those scenes on the balcony overlooking the seafront I can say "I got proposed to a few hundred yards down that beach!"
But this time,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
silme made my wish come true. Lots of walking about oohing and aahing at Georgian terraces, lots of thoughts of Jane Austen, and visits to both the Roman Baths/Pump Room and the Costume Museum/Assembly Rooms. Also, we each had half a Sally Lunn bun, so I feel at one with the nineteenth century, culinarily.
And if that wasn't enough, the next day, we went up to Stratford, to see Patrick Stewart in The Tempest. This was the second production I'd seen him as Prospero in, and he is wonderful in the role. The production was interesting as they decided to set it in an Arctic environment instead of the usual tropical; in places it ran counter to the text, but also made things fresh. Besides Stewart, I thought the gentleman who played Ariel was outstanding -- too many actors play this role as very fey, but not in a sexy way, just kind of fluttery and in bespangled bodysuits -- but this performance was along the lines of the Ariel in Derek Jarman's film, only more funereal. It was, anyway, a fresh conception of the role. Caliban, on the other hand, I thought lacked a bit; I'm a big fan of the postcolonial reading of the play, I confess, so I preferred the earlier Stewart production here in NY (Caliban was played by an African-American actor, thus emphasizing his Colonial Otherness, and Ariel, by an African-American woman, Aunjanue Ellis, which made the character dynamics between her and Prospero really fraught in interesting ways). At least this Caliban wasn't dressed up like the Creature from the Black Lagoon (see Richard Burton, in one of the commonly available filmed versions), but there wasn't so much there, really. A production well worth seeing, in any case.
We also did lots of running around, to the church where Shakespeare is buried (ever since I did a project on Shakespeare in fourth grade, I have been haunted by that "Good frend for Iesus' sake forbeare, to digge the dust enclosed here, etc.") and around and about most of the usual suspect sites like Anne Hathaway's cottage, the birthplace, etc. (Those, we decided not to go into, as the admission charges really add up and honestly, I was spending most of the holiday in a low-roofed, wooden-beamed cottage, probably only a hundred years newer, in parts, than this.)
So once again, many thanks tosilme for logging so many miles in such a short period of time! (Also, to her and luis_mw for having the only decent shower I met up with in my entire stay in England . . . )
Next time . . . Norfolk.
But this time,
silme made my wish come true. Lots of walking about oohing and aahing at Georgian terraces, lots of thoughts of Jane Austen, and visits to both the Roman Baths/Pump Room and the Costume Museum/Assembly Rooms. Also, we each had half a Sally Lunn bun, so I feel at one with the nineteenth century, culinarily.And if that wasn't enough, the next day, we went up to Stratford, to see Patrick Stewart in The Tempest. This was the second production I'd seen him as Prospero in, and he is wonderful in the role. The production was interesting as they decided to set it in an Arctic environment instead of the usual tropical; in places it ran counter to the text, but also made things fresh. Besides Stewart, I thought the gentleman who played Ariel was outstanding -- too many actors play this role as very fey, but not in a sexy way, just kind of fluttery and in bespangled bodysuits -- but this performance was along the lines of the Ariel in Derek Jarman's film, only more funereal. It was, anyway, a fresh conception of the role. Caliban, on the other hand, I thought lacked a bit; I'm a big fan of the postcolonial reading of the play, I confess, so I preferred the earlier Stewart production here in NY (Caliban was played by an African-American actor, thus emphasizing his Colonial Otherness, and Ariel, by an African-American woman, Aunjanue Ellis, which made the character dynamics between her and Prospero really fraught in interesting ways). At least this Caliban wasn't dressed up like the Creature from the Black Lagoon (see Richard Burton, in one of the commonly available filmed versions), but there wasn't so much there, really. A production well worth seeing, in any case.
We also did lots of running around, to the church where Shakespeare is buried (ever since I did a project on Shakespeare in fourth grade, I have been haunted by that "Good frend for Iesus' sake forbeare, to digge the dust enclosed here, etc.") and around and about most of the usual suspect sites like Anne Hathaway's cottage, the birthplace, etc. (Those, we decided not to go into, as the admission charges really add up and honestly, I was spending most of the holiday in a low-roofed, wooden-beamed cottage, probably only a hundred years newer, in parts, than this.)
So once again, many thanks to
silme for logging so many miles in such a short period of time! (Also, to her and luis_mw for having the only decent shower I met up with in my entire stay in England . . . )Next time . . . Norfolk.
