Random Thoughts

[Rath Darkblade]

LOL.
It's from the same musical you were quoting!

With a "little bit o' luck" this will all make sense.

Yep, it's all from "My Fair Lady" (based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw). I was just making a joke about how dancing all night would be dangerous, and probably even fatal, if actually attempted.

But my favourite song from that show is this one:

And then there's the English spoken here in Australia, which is another kettle of kangaroos. I went to stay at a hotel in the Outback once - early morning, the manageress flung open the curtains, put down a mug of hot tea by my bedside, and said "Here y'are, cobber! And if ya don' like sugah, don' stirrit!"

Wouldn't that be loverly?

It would. And I wrote a parody of that song for people who hate housework. I called it "Wouldn't it be slovenly?"

 

[JLT]

My wife and I watched My Fair Lady and one of the versions available for Pygmalion. I concluded that My Fair Lady is the better piece, even if Shaw wouldn't have liked any ending that had Eliza and Henry in a relationship. And MFL didn't really have that ending... the characters had a sort of reassessment of each other, but they could have gone separate ways after that.

But in MFL, Henry was equally re-shaped into a different person, undergoing something of the same transformation that Eliza did. And it was Eliza who was the sculptor. That element was missing from Shaw's play.

 

[Iain Aschendale]

My wife and I watched My Fair Lady and one of the versions available for Pygmalion. I concluded that My Fair Lady is the better piece, even if Shaw wouldn't have liked any ending that had Eliza and Henry in a relationship. And MFL didn't really have that ending... the characters had a sort of reassessment of each other, but they could have gone separate ways after that.

But in MFL, Henry was equally re-shaped into a different person, undergoing something of the same transformation that Eliza did. And it was Eliza who was the sculptor. That element was missing from Shaw's play.

I've only seen a stage production of Pygmalion but I assumed the two gentlemen living together...had no interest in relationships with ladies. Perhaps just that director's vision. It was very, very understated if it was there, but so were "lifelong bachelors" and "close friends" of the era.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I've only seen a stage production of Pygmalion but I assumed the two gentlemen living together...had no interest in relationships with ladies. Perhaps just that director's vision. It was very, very understated if it was there, but so were "lifelong bachelors" and "close friends" of the era.

"Bunburyist? What do you mean, Bunburyist?"

Speaking of The Importance of Being Earnest, I've seen a theory that goes as follows: Jack Worthing and/or Algernon Moncrieff are "lifelong bachelors" who are forced into marriage to keep up appearances.

I am not at all sure about this. Yes, Oscar Wilde was a "lifelong bachelor", but that doesn't mean his characters have to be. *shrug* I've written quite a few characters that I'm sure have nothing to do with me (unless, say, I was a Babylonian goat-herd or a guard Captain in ancient Rome).

Regardless, that doesn't alter my feeling that Earnest, as well as Wilde's most famous play, is also his best. What do you think?

 

[Pik]

I recently started watching BBC filmed version of Anthony and Cleopatra, will try to find The Tempest and The Winter's Tale (I'm looking for a specific storyline motifs) but it can be a challenge to read/watch the plays without the translation. In terms of my acquaintance with Shakespeare, I know more about his tragedies than about any of his comedies (or historical plays, romances), don't know what the reason for this is.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I recently started watching BBC filmed version of Anthony and Cleopatra, will try to find The Tempest and The Winter's Tale (I'm looking for a specific storyline motifs) but it can be a challenge to read/watch the plays without the translation. In terms of my acquaintance with Shakespeare, I know more about his tragedies than about any of his comedies (or historical plays, romances), don't know what the reason for this is.

Hmm ... Pik, I did English Lit in school, and it focused on three Shakespeare tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and King Lear. So, if your background is anything like mine, that's easily explained.

Also, I noticed that whenever Shakespeare comes up in this day and age, his tragedies (and sometimes sonnets) get much more attention than his comedies or histories. I guess a tragedy like R&J or Macbeth is easier to understand than, say, As You Like It -- or Henry V, Part 1. (It requires a working knowledge of the history of English monarchy, as well as a knowledge of the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses, to understand most of the histories).

Even so, some of the speeches in the histories -- or at least some of the phrases -- are still familiar. Most of us know the expression Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!, but might not know the rest of the "St Crispin's Day" speech it comes from. Some of us might know the "O, for a Muse of Fire" speech that starts Henry V, but I don't know.

But it takes an actor of unusual skill to deliver these speeches properly. For instance, witness Brian Blessed deliver Duke Beaufort's menacing ultimatum from Henry V to the French king: in short, surrender your crown and kingdom, citing divine right and inheritance. Failure to comply will result in "bloody constraint" and brutal war.

Brian Blessed is famous for his booming voice, but here he conveys carefully suppressed menace that makes this scene work wonderfully.