Had been a touch disorientated and overwhelmed here in one small part of the UK. Mostly, truly, it's an exciting feeling of adventure - so much to experience. But ran across this feeling of whatever I was doing I should be doing something else - when reading, exploring; when exploring, seeing a play; when seeing a play, reading, &c. Plus I have this sometimes amusing, sometimes frustrating habit of getting a little lost each day (often because I'm in a new part of the city each day). And with reading, it's very hard to know whether what you're reading is the best thing to read, or if the next book on the list is more worth your time (and also trying to bear the knowledge that you just won't have the time to read everything relevant).
BUT! I went out for a couple pints last night with some friends, and all better! (Though I may need to have this medicine from time to time again - judiciously, of course.)
Also sampled the other night a French drink (popular in the south) called Pasis (made from the flower Anise) - tastes like candy, yum. (A lot of my amicable acquaintances here are not originally from England - Antoine, who shared the Pastis, is French.)
Figuring out lots of little things, too, like getting student discounts for theatre tickets: some theatres you can only do so on the day of performance if there are seats still free; some you can't do so at all; some you can do so online, but then the processing fee negates the discount. Scrambling to plan all the shows I need to see (I've put them on a grid, with dates and showtimes) and buy up tickets (regardless of discount if necessary) before the shows sell out. (The discount is called a "concession" - as if conceeding that they have to give students and elderly folk discounts!)
At the British Library I am working through a very interesting collection of letters between George Bernard Shaw and Ellen Terry: suprisingly, lots of cuts proposed by Shaw seemed to be intended to make Imogen a "stronger" female character. (The headless man reference in the title is from Cymbeline: Shaw and Terry talk about the merits of cutting the line.) On reserve, texts by Bram Stoker on Henry Irving; other criticisms; the Lyceum acting editions of Henry Irving, etc. Unfortunately it takes lots of time to work through a text, but doing so is very fun + interesting. I hope to work through the "Irving" material in the next two weeks and then jump ahead to the cuts and transpositions of Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.
With the present performances I may have to do the "unfashionable" and go to a show script in hand to see what's been altered. I've now learned that it is much more difficult to notice medium-to-minor alterations with live performances, which, for me at least, are much more engrossing (hypnotic) than film. If so, at least once for pleasure, once for alterations, once for reflection seems like a good attendance plan.
Saw the Tate Modern yesterday (many, many interesting works) and walked about. Also trying to figure out how best to get pictures with me in them too - without losing my camera!
No comments:
Post a Comment