Since a lot of my friends here are going to be here for the holidays, we brainstormed a few things we could do to bring about holiday spirit come December. Our list is long, and our anticipation is high.
Today was the last day of the Kent Eye, and a friend and I celebrated by taking a turn round the Ferris wheel to see the beautiful sights. Downtown Canterbury, including all the shops and the cathedral, is downhill from the university, and there's one section of campus that purposely has no trees so there is a clear view of Canterbury. That's where the Kent Eye was situated, and the view was breathtaking.
It was also incredibly windy, but I fought the wind long enough to get one good selfie! You're welcome, internet.
...along with the selfie of my hair being gone with the wind...
With genes like that I'm surprised they haven't offered me money to put this on a Kent brochure yet. It's only a matter of time. But by far the highlight of my day was SEEING THE STAGE PERFORMANCE OF JANE AUSTEN'S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. It was everything I've ever wanted in life and more. I was very skeptical at first because the entire show is done by only two actors (one man, one woman, who happen to be adorably married in real life and created this adaptation of the novel together- is it too much to ask for that to be my life?). How could they possibly play all of my favorite characters and do them justice?!
Well, they did, and brilliantly. There were different signifiers for each character (Mrs. Bennet had a handkerchief, Caroline Bingley a fan, Mr. Bennet a pipe, etc.). The dialogue was completely taken from the original text, and they took turns narrating the story as well so that Jane Austen got to pretty much be a character as well.
Their gender bending was flawless- the woman played Mr. Bingley, while the man played both Jane and Kitty. What helped were the costumes- the front skirt of the woman's dress detached on one side and could reattach around the back to reveal pants and riding boots, and the remainder of the long skirt looked like the long coats that men wore during that time period. I'm not quite sure if I've been any good at describing that. You might just be more confused now. But rest assured the costumes were incredible, and after working in the costume shop last year and with costuming this past summer, I'd like to give a personal nod to how easy that made such a hard job look.
My favorite part: Mary was literally played by a music stand and background sound of a flute playing out of tune. I almost died from laughing. Also, Catherine's sickly daughter Anne was played by a white pillow: "she was quite sickly and pale."
These people were genius.
What was Mr. Collins?
ReplyDeleteone of the actors actually played him, with a clergyman's hat and a self-righteous air. incredibly on point
Delete