Because there's nothing quite like Clock-Devouring Crocodiles.
My lovelies Ruth and Alex came to visit for two days~
Thursday morning, I awoke to realise Ruth and Alex would be arriving in approximately sixty minutes and my room looked like the testing site for atomic bombs - note the plural. Therefore, desperate manic cleaning began until they arrived. You could see the carpet decorating the floor of my bedchamber, so I counted my last-minute attempts quite a success. After a decade of friendship, I think they probably realised what to expect anyway. After an afternoon of general madness, including my introduction to the genius of YuGiOh Abridged, and a sing-a-long to the classic Lady Gaga parody, 'Leather Pants.'
We journeyed to watch the performance of Peter Pan at Williamson Park in Lancaster. Every year, the Park and the nearby Dukes Theatre join admirable forces to put on a production set in the greenery of the Park, with each scene in a different setting. Last year I went to see Jason and the Argonauts there, which was magnificent - they had flaming torches on the lake and puppet skeletons and many funnily unfunny jokes - so I was really excited about this year's show. Their interpretation of the story was amazing; it began with 'The Neverland Circus' discussing with the audience about how J.M.Barrie had first began the story of Peter Pan by telling it to his adoptive sons in a park, the idea being that for this night, on the occasion of the man's 150th birthday, he would return to tell us the story.
He deigned to arrive through the Darling children's bedroom window, and so the play began. There is so much to geek out about this play, I'm uncertain where to begin <3
(Please excuse my fangirlish twittering. )
The actor who performed as Peter Pan was brilliant; his mannerisms, his voice, his gait. I really believed that this grown man was The Boy Who Never Grew Up. When I was younger, I think I was more than a little in love with Peter Pan, and the fact that the actor was gorgeous just caused that particular affection to resurface XD
Wendy had a lot more attitude than she appears to have in most adaptations, which I loved. The Lost Boys were hilarious, especially Slightly, Tiger Lily was brilliant, and Tinkerbell was adorably precocious. I admired the way they adapted the setting of the park - the Lost Boys den especially made me squeal with childish glee.
And the costumes, oh, the costumes~ they took the traditional costumes for characters and gave them little original details, which I loved, e.g. Peter Pan in Army Surplus khaki, Slightly with a World War I style Army uniform, Wendy with a blue dress, blue cape - and a pilot's leather hat, goggles and fingerless gloves. And Tiger Lily in pale pink striped bloomers, pink combat boots and feather headdress. I want those clothes so bad. I'd totally wear them to go shopping in Sainsbury's.
The script-writer also created a twist of unrequited love between Wendy and Peter Pan, implying that because Peter will never grow up, he will never see himself as anything to Wendy but "a devoted son", and will never fall in love.
One of the most moving moments was when J.M. Barrie told the audience the story behind Peter Pan - that of his adoptive children, upon whom Wendy's brothers were based. Peter Pan was actually based on the games he and his sons played together in the park, like I already mentioned, and the audience heard how neither of these boys got the chance to grow up - one was presumably drowned in a boating accident at university as they never found the body, the other killed at Ypres during the First World War, which was, as it was said, "an entire generation of Lost Boys." I loved that line so much, especially since I'm writing a novella set in the last few months of World War One (having decided to use all the information gleaned from my trip to Belgium as research material).
All in all, it was a beautiful bittersweet adaptation and it's convinced me to borrow the original novel from the library.
I'm not sure how to conclude this general rambling, but in the words of J.M.Barrie himself:
Never say good-bye because saying good-bye means going away, and going away means forgetting.
Thursday morning, I awoke to realise Ruth and Alex would be arriving in approximately sixty minutes and my room looked like the testing site for atomic bombs - note the plural. Therefore, desperate manic cleaning began until they arrived. You could see the carpet decorating the floor of my bedchamber, so I counted my last-minute attempts quite a success. After a decade of friendship, I think they probably realised what to expect anyway. After an afternoon of general madness, including my introduction to the genius of YuGiOh Abridged, and a sing-a-long to the classic Lady Gaga parody, 'Leather Pants.'
We journeyed to watch the performance of Peter Pan at Williamson Park in Lancaster. Every year, the Park and the nearby Dukes Theatre join admirable forces to put on a production set in the greenery of the Park, with each scene in a different setting. Last year I went to see Jason and the Argonauts there, which was magnificent - they had flaming torches on the lake and puppet skeletons and many funnily unfunny jokes - so I was really excited about this year's show. Their interpretation of the story was amazing; it began with 'The Neverland Circus' discussing with the audience about how J.M.Barrie had first began the story of Peter Pan by telling it to his adoptive sons in a park, the idea being that for this night, on the occasion of the man's 150th birthday, he would return to tell us the story.
He deigned to arrive through the Darling children's bedroom window, and so the play began. There is so much to geek out about this play, I'm uncertain where to begin <3
(Please excuse my fangirlish twittering. )
The actor who performed as Peter Pan was brilliant; his mannerisms, his voice, his gait. I really believed that this grown man was The Boy Who Never Grew Up. When I was younger, I think I was more than a little in love with Peter Pan, and the fact that the actor was gorgeous just caused that particular affection to resurface XD
Wendy had a lot more attitude than she appears to have in most adaptations, which I loved. The Lost Boys were hilarious, especially Slightly, Tiger Lily was brilliant, and Tinkerbell was adorably precocious. I admired the way they adapted the setting of the park - the Lost Boys den especially made me squeal with childish glee.
And the costumes, oh, the costumes~ they took the traditional costumes for characters and gave them little original details, which I loved, e.g. Peter Pan in Army Surplus khaki, Slightly with a World War I style Army uniform, Wendy with a blue dress, blue cape - and a pilot's leather hat, goggles and fingerless gloves. And Tiger Lily in pale pink striped bloomers, pink combat boots and feather headdress. I want those clothes so bad. I'd totally wear them to go shopping in Sainsbury's.
The script-writer also created a twist of unrequited love between Wendy and Peter Pan, implying that because Peter will never grow up, he will never see himself as anything to Wendy but "a devoted son", and will never fall in love.
One of the most moving moments was when J.M. Barrie told the audience the story behind Peter Pan - that of his adoptive children, upon whom Wendy's brothers were based. Peter Pan was actually based on the games he and his sons played together in the park, like I already mentioned, and the audience heard how neither of these boys got the chance to grow up - one was presumably drowned in a boating accident at university as they never found the body, the other killed at Ypres during the First World War, which was, as it was said, "an entire generation of Lost Boys." I loved that line so much, especially since I'm writing a novella set in the last few months of World War One (having decided to use all the information gleaned from my trip to Belgium as research material).
All in all, it was a beautiful bittersweet adaptation and it's convinced me to borrow the original novel from the library.
I'm not sure how to conclude this general rambling, but in the words of J.M.Barrie himself:
Never say good-bye because saying good-bye means going away, and going away means forgetting.