Twenty-Third.

Christmas is SO SOON!!! I have done all my shopping (well, for presents that I'm handing out on Christmas day at least)

Today I went to see this:



And it was BRILLIANT.

Bzzzzzz

I'm a busy bee at the moment. Going to Lowestoft for about four days, then I'm jetting off to Edinburgh (sorry, environment! It wasn't my choice!) for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

I'm expecting to either completely adore Ed Fest, or hate it. I guess we'll find out, won't we?

Also, did you guys see BBC's Sherlock last weekend? Can't WAIT for the next episode! My mum and I went to this dusty little bookshop (which always reminds me of Black Books) and got two old copies of Sherlock Holmes books. Looking forward to reading them! I'm guessing mum will read first because she can read in the car without getting sick.

Still inexplicably feel like Martin Freeman is my best friend.

So today I finished reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

For the first half of the book (about 150 pages) I was feeling a lot like this:

But I'll confess that the second half of the book was actually not too bad. Maybe I was just more in the mood for it. The book's main flaw is that there seems to be no real reason for Darcy to like Lizzy at all. He mentions that he likes her eyes and the next moment it's all "Marry me!"

Also, Jane, naming a character after yourself then describing her as the really beautiful one is not doing anything for your vanity. Just sayinngg..

I actually only read the book in the first place becuase I decided a long time ago that I would make some kind of attempt to read some of the stuff that might come in handy next year. To do a Literature degree without reading P&P seemed a bit bad. So I've done it! (It took me about a week of perseverance lol)

But seeing as I was in the mood I decided to watch the film as well. The Keira Knightley one.

She is not Elizabeth Bennet. Sorry :/ The "Mrs Darcy" bit at the end made me want to be sick.

In other newz - I went to see a play today! It was a comedy about Moby Dick. My mum can only describe it as "ridiculous", and I, being in the mood for such phrases, can only describe it as "utterly nonsensical".

It was really good though haha :P (the mermaid was a tad freaky though. I just kept thinking "I'm ooolddd Grreeeggg")

Song of the Stage Hands

We work in the wings at various things
That nobody sees from the stalls:
You don't think of us unless there's a fuss
And bits of the scenery falls.
But what would be seen of the old Fairy Queen
If the Palace came down on her head?
The actors may bark: but if they're in the dark
It don't matter what Shakespeare said.
It's the same thing wherever you go:
The bloke in the front gets the show.
But where would he be if it wasn't for we -
Working away in the wings?
It looks all serene: you see a new scene -
From the bed-chamber, say to the yacht.
But you'd change your mind
If you came round behind
And saw what a job we have got.
We lower the mast but the damn think sticks fast:
The rigging is foul of the punt.
We push houses round,
but we don't make a sound,
For the hero's proposing in front
And then, when we change to the wood
With the moon coming up as it should,
Well, give us a hand, the invisible band
Working away in the wings.
But still we're all proud
that we're part of the crowd
That's pulling the jolly old strings:
For, bless you, we know
we're as much in the show
As the fellow who dances or sings.
We've got no bouquets,
and they don't wait for days
To see us come out of the door.
We can't write a play,
but if we go away
There won't be no plays any more.
But there - though we bark we don't bite:
It'll be right on the night.
Enjoy yourselves, do:
for we'll see you through
Working away in the wings.

By Sir Alan Herbert

(I love this so much)

Good morning!

Listening to some real morning music.

I'm still quite ill and hardly feel my normal self but you've always got to make the most of being awake at this time of day by putting on the appropriate music hehe.

Off to another day of work doing backstage for The Importance of Being Earnest. This isn't normally something I'd put on here, but I think everyone should come.

The Attic Theatre, Cox's Yard, Stratford
10th, 11th & 12th August (Monday - Wednesday)

The Custard Factory, Birmingham
13th, 14th & 15th August (Thursday-Saturday)

You can buy the tickets directly from the venue, but they are also available here:
http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/buy_tickets/organisers/?id=2509

All performances are at 8pm, and cost £8 (Concessions are £6.50, for all you students)

Ughhhh.

I'm super ill. Hoping it's just my Summer Cold that I get most years, and nothing to do with influenza of the swine variety.

I have one day to recover, although I'm sure that they could just about manage without me for the play for a day or two if necessary lol.

Interestingg...

I just found a very thick black hair growing directly upwards out of my head. Have pulled it out now, what with it's decision to avoid conformity to gravity and become a one-hair afro, but I'm a little intrigued by its sudden appearance.

I hate essays.

I'm going to see The Tempest tomorrow :) I hope it's as good as everyone says it is.

This is no Bridget Jones..

Just went to see Much Ado About Nothing with my mum. We both LOVED IT. It was the Lord Chamberlains Men in the old Cathedral, and they were brilliant.

The every actor was male, even for the girls roles. They wore Shakespearean clothes and sang all of the songs, instead of pansying out of it like they do in many Shakespeare plays these days it seems. Also, (for those of you interested in this sort of thing) all of them were ridiculously attractive.

The set was fairly simple, but effective. It looks like they dismantle it and take it around the country with them, playing outdoor venues. I don't think they added in much humour that wasn't in the script, which was fairly disappointing because Shakespearean jokes don't have the same effect these days, however it stayed true to the original - and I know a lot of people who much prefer it that way. All the same, I really enjoyed it & there definitely were lots of really good bits.

My mum thought it was incredible! (Although we must face the fact that she has not seen a Shakespeare play in thirty years or so, and thus was bound to be greatly entertained) As we waited for my dad to pick us up in the car, we did a rather accurate (or not?) impression of their Elizabethan dancing to keep ourselves warm. The people looking past looked somewhat amused, but it had rained on us during the performance and we'd forgotten the umbrella, so it was the only way of not freezing lol.

You should have all been there. But you weren't. Silly kids.

It's as if you knew me better than I ever knew myself..

Just went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Warwick Arts Centre!

In a TENT. Yeahhh :D Hahha. It was pretty awesome actually. Not as good as the RSC production was, but I need to get over that xDD

Right, so I need to jot down some thoughts about it before they escape me completely lol. I've got to do an exam about this, this time next year :/

Doc-doc-doc-doc-doctor beat...

I just saved a ladybird! Hahha. I found it sitting in the grill while I was trying to do toast lol. I was like "why on earth is there a ladybird in our grill?" The poor thing looked half dead by the heat before I even noticed it, but I quickly switched it off and got it out with a spoon. After excitedly showing my somewhat unenthusiastic brother, I decided to put it on a pot plant for now.

Yep, a rather exciting adventure for the morning :P lol. But now I need to get dressed or I'll be late for school..

But just reaally quickly, click heerre! I got an email about it from the RSC about an hour ago.

£5 tickets over Christmas! How exciting!

ETA: In some twisted bizarre way, I really like this song. I know it's country lol, but I do like it.

ETA2: This flipping film is awesome, I just watched it heheh. And the song is pretty awesome too (Goo Goo Dolls are wicked) sooo you all need to watch that clip :P Even if Jim's mother looks young enough to be his sister lol.

Come with us now in journey through time and space...

Helloo! Sorry I haven't updated in AGES.

Brief summary of today (because I'm lazy):
Went to town got £30 out to buy general things that I need.
Bought said things.
Decided that I should go to Argos and get myself that mp3 player that I've been meaning to get since my BIRTHDAY (which was in August).
So got out the money for that and bought it.
Meaning I spent about £75 today.
Ngghh..

Then I went to the theatre with my family (minus dad who is out of the country) and we saw this play called One Night in November.
It was.. a bit alarming. And.. like.. horrific.
This injured woman who was stuck under rubble got raped.
And a bunch of really loud 'bombs' went off. One of them must have been a tiny firework or something because you could see it go down from the ceiling and it made loads of sparks when it hit the ground.

My mum and my sister were really emotional and stuff.
I dunno.. I didn't even cry. Maybe it's because I do drama all the time, I just have a lot of difficulty with believing what's going on.

When you watch a film you sort of get caught up in what's going on, you don't sit there thinking about the technicalities of it all, or think about how many times they must've already done it before you see it performed.

Well, I do, but not as much. Especially if it's all very subtly done.

This post doesn't really have much of a point, and I do apologise. It's just that I haven't posted in such a long time.

Hope you all have a lovely Easter :)

Pinch, Punch..

Went to see Les Mis today :D

It was awesome.

Beyond awesome.

It was a tad depressing lol, but it was brilliant.

Don't tell my drama teachers that I went though :P They'll have me writing up notes about it ;)

Young Cosette and the little guy from the the barricades were really, really good. I really wasn't expecting anything much from them, seeing as they're just kids, but they really were incredible.

Nnnggghh. I can't even pick out the best bits for you lol, it was all good.

I, being me, was probably most fascinated by the technical side. They had a rotating stage, which they used all the way through. The barricades were awesome. You really had to pay attention to spot the scene changes too. Because the stage rotated, the backstage crew could set up the next scene in a dark/hidden part of the stage, so that when the next scene came up they could just spin it around and have it all already set up.

The revolution bit was awesome - you can just see these marching figures in the smoke, then someone at the back started waving a massive red flag.. I dunno, it doesn't sound even remotely impressive now that I'm writing it down lol but it really was good heh.

Still have not gotten the hang of all the French names. I can only remember Fantine, Cosette and Jean Valjean - And there one something like Javert? I dunno. I'm useless like that.

Ohh and Marius. Marius? I dunno xDD

It was really good though. Would recommend it to anyone.

But when we were just in the general area, we walked past the theatre where they're showing SPAMALOT xDD

Told my mum I wanted to go for my eighteenth ;)

At that time a law was passed

Went to see Outre. Weeiirrddd.

The play was pretty interesting, but it was HUGELY CONFUSING. I was a bit terrified at first, but then I sort of got bored of trying to figure out what on earth was going on. It got very, very loud, so I had to stick my fingers in my ears, and at one point the awesome projector thing broke so we had a minute or so to stare at Windows Desktop :P

We knew before we went that it was going to be a bit weird, so me and Steph guessed that it might be on the same level of weirdness as "An Oak Tree" (WHICH SAM TROUGHTON FROM ROBIN HOOD WAS IN :D) but it was far, far more weird than that. "Outre" makes "An Oak Tree" look like Shakespeare. Siriusly. Anywho, on a related note to Sam Troughton (vaguely)...

VIDSPAM TIME
*vidspam*
*vidspam*
*vidspam*
*vidspam*
*vidspam*
*vidspam* (You could skip the last 1:20 minutes on this one :P)
What's this?

Listening to a spot of Tchaikovsky...

...and curling up with a hot water bottle (cunningly disguised as a teddy bear).

If only I didn't have to do my Drama homework *sigh*

Anyone know anything about the Structure of Pericles by Shakespeare? No?

I tell you what, I really want to go and see a production of Pericles. We won't, because it's not long now before we start work on our final piece thingie, but I want to go anyway :P

I would quite like to go to a theatre that isn't the RSC though, because that's the only one I've ever been to and really enjoyed a performance. I think.

Blood Brothers was okay, (and I did love the cloakrooms at the Phoenix Theatre lol) but I want to widen my horizons :P

Anyone got any recommendations?

ETA: I just put a whole load of bonjela in my mouth and it's gone all numb lol xD well done me.

Remember this one?