under your green-girt beams we come

[ewein2412]

We spent last week in Italy, mostly in Venice, which is why I have been off-line.

But before I tell about anything else I have to tell about the pantomime, mainly for katranides 's sake since I failed to take her along to see it. We went to the Perth pantomime, "Sinbad and the Lost Princess" or some such nonsense, the Saturday before New Year's. The whole thing was written by a guy called Jimmy Chisholm, who also hogs the limelight as the "Pantomime Dame"--the overdressed comic drag queen--and it was just absolutely brilliant this year. I love the way the beautiful narrator (in this version, "Scheherezade, the spirit of the story") speaks in rhymed quatrains which really call to mind ritual mumming--

Our play is done, we must be gone,
We'll stay no longer here.
May fortune hold your hearth and hold,
So welcome the new year! (I get so mixed up… I wrote half of that myself.)

At any rate, pantomime is something that you just have to experience to believe it. It is ritual holiday theatre here in the UK. Each community writes its own play; they try to get some celebrity personality involved if possible. The plays are based on fairy tales, mixed up with a lot of current pop songs and cultural references (our Pantomime Dame arrived in a Tardis, and she was wearing a Fawrbulous Dalek dress in red satin, twirling a toilet plunger and a bottle brush). The hero is always played by a beautiful girl (and so is the heroine). The audience all get to boo and hiss whenever the villain comes on stage, and they get to sing along and clap and shout instructions, and the dialogue is full of local jokes. The Perth theatre is intimate and old-fashioned and we knew everybody in our row.

I loved every bit of it, and sat there torn between regret that I hadn't made more of an effort to take katranides along while she was here, and the consolation that 80 % of the production was in sich braw scots that she wouldnae kenned half of what was going on. In my own defense, this is the best panto we've seen in three years, and the last two were so underwhelming that I only bought the tickets this year because it is TRADITION. At Christmas you HAVE TO GO TO THE PANTOMIME.

But the best part, the most amazing part, was when I went back to our seats after intermission and there was a boy, a bespectacled, tall and fresh-faced boy in his mid-teens, lurking at the theatre door, who greeted me thusly: "Elizabeth Wein? My name is ****. You may not remember me. We met once a couple of years ago in [insert local restaurant] and you recommended that I read your books. Well, I've read the first three many times and I just wanted to let you know how much I like them."

*E Wein melts into a puddle on the balcony*

I told him that the Perth Library has got The Lion Hunter, but that bizarrely, while the first three are shelved in Young Adult, The Lion Hunter is shelved under "Family and Friends" (one of about a dozen fiction subdivisions) in Children's.  I finished by adding, "But at least the library bought this one on their own, whereas I donated the other three myself."  And he answered, "Well, maybe you're starting to get the recognition you deserve."

--------------------

It felt like… like another gift, really, like a little Midwinter's grace and magic.

When I was filling the Christmas stockings--including my own, as usual, sort of like King John--I purposefully gave myself an orange with a blemished skin.  It was partly because of my mother's Jamaican friend's time-honored advice to "pick ugly" when choosing oranges, and partly as a reminder to myself to appreciate everything ("Give, willy-nilly, thanks for the lily, spot and all," as Phyllis McGinley says).  But when I opened my stocking on Christmas morning Tim had put another orange in.  So I got TWO.  And one of them was unblemished.

The world is full of surprises.  I hope your 2008 holds many surprises as small and nice as these.

Comments

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

You do deserve it. ;o)

[ewein2412]

♥

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

While I still need to get around to reading something of yours, your post reminded me that I just read an article in the most recent issue of the Journal of American Folklore by Jennifer Schaecker about pantos and fairy tales in England. So now I'm even more curious about this phenomenon. :)

[ewein2412]

it did occur to me as I was writing that I was not doing pantomime the folklore scholar justice it deserves. I'm in semi-hibernation at this point and not even bothering to check that I've got names spelled right... so I'm very glad to hear there's some real academic follow-up available (having recently let my own AFS membership lapse for the first time in over 15 years because I'm such a cheapskate... also, I was rather disgusted when they reprinted and re-sent the ENTIRE ISSUE of JAF last year because the cover was the wrong color. Possibly the printer did it as an apology before anyone could tell them not to, but I thought it was an outrageous waste of paper to print and mail the whole thing twice for such a little reason as that.)

[sovay]

I only bought the tickets this year because it is TRADITION. At Christmas you HAVE TO GO TO THE PANTOMIME.

It sounds wonderful.

It felt like… like another gift, really, like a little Midwinter's grace and magic.

Good. You deserve them!

Happy New Year!

[ewein2412]

and to you.

[tigertrapped.livejournal.com]

What a lovely post! I loved the fanboy, how adorable. The story about the two oranges in your stocking is begging to be written as a flash fic, or a short long story. How about it?

[ewein2412]

I loved the fanboy, how adorable.

I know!

the two oranges in your stocking is begging to be written as a flash fic, or a short long story. How about it?

it's yours, if you want it. You are so right, and I will never do it. (My short fic output is limited in the extreme--one of the reasons I admire you so deeply)

[tigertrapped.livejournal.com]

it's yours, if you want it

What a lovely gift! I would be nervous of doing justice to it but if I ever attempt it, you'll be the first to know. Thank you!

[mhari.livejournal.com]

Hee! Our numbers grow. >:D

And what a lovely bit about the oranges.

[ewein2412]

my pleasure!

[ewein2412]

I happen to know that the library was badgered into ordering that book by our neighbors from across the road. But ultimately that's a good thing, right? They didn't have to order it.

"Friends and Family," though! bwahahahahaha

[mhari.livejournal.com]

It's a heartwarming story of warm and fuzzy bonding, obviously. :D

[ewein2412]

of course the brothers Anbessa are Ethiopia's answer to the Orkney clan.

[mhari.livejournal.com]

*sporfle* Well, we knew that.

...Actually, I think the Orkneys might be less disturbed. o.o

[ewein2412]

hee!

[mhari.livejournal.com]

OH, I meant to mention, I got Firebirds for Christmas! Very much enjoyed your story and your author's note. XD

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

I think Morgause screwed her boys up far more than Candake did.

[mhari.livejournal.com]

Oh, no question, but then there are other factors.

(god, I love Candake.)

[ewein2412]

why, thank you!

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Oh, bwee. That is so great. ^__^ And I love the oranges--oh. Squee.

(You are so awesome.)

[ewein2412]

of course Candake didn't actually have much to do with the raising of her boys--they were all taken away from her and stuck on top of a cliff as soon as they could talk

[ewein2412]

I don't really mean to reduce you to incoherence, you know!

Got your farm show trip scheduled, btw?

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

You always do, though. ^_^ It's all right, only people I admire can ever do it properly.

We were going to-day! But a tree fell on the wires by Dr. Tom's leather and put traffic back three hours, so we're going to try to go to-morrow instead.

[ewein2412]

gee, that sounds just like scotland today. 80 mile an hour winds and trees down everywhere.

[ajl-r.livejournal.com]

Love the fact that you had such positive face-to-face feedback. :)

As to pantomime, yes, I grew up going to an annual one of these. As I'm such of a crumbly now, my recollection that they were better then (more of the theatrical tradition + real acting and less of the C-list soap 'celebrities') is probably not fair but they have always been good fun. The 'It's Behind You' yell/warning from the audience to the hero/heroine in respect of a wicked character's appearance is always a good moment and that same phrase is used in other situations in general life, too (although not at the same volume, usually), as it's such a widely shared referent.

[ewein2412]

that same phrase is used in other situations in general life, too

yes, along with "Oh no they aren't!"/"Oh yes they are!" or some variant thereof. This stuff has all entered my kids' cultural literacy (and my crazy daughter thinks of herself as american. Poor thing, she has got Identification Issues. She was born in southern England and has lived in Scotland since she was 2.)

[ajl-r.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, 'Identification Issues' could seem quite something, I guess, in such a case. Perhaps she could think of herself as a World Citizen? :)

Your winds the other night sounded quite something on the weather forecast/news. I hope none of you had to travel during that time.

[ewein2412]

thanks for the good wishes. we have no disasters to report, but of course my husband had to fly to London yesterday morning--he says easyjet is too cheap not to operate as scheduled. With a 50 knot headwind they had a 737 off the runway in about 400 metres. what fun

I confess to having worried a little.

[ajl-r.livejournal.com]

My goodness, that must have been steep! Still, one is better up in the air with winds like that.

I look forward to your posting about your Venice trip. Very sensible time to go there - lots of festivities and fewer pongs from the water. :)

[ewein2412]

A Venice post is definitely in the pipeline!

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Yo!

Could you sling me an email? sprineas at gmail.

I coulda sworn I had your email address, but I must be delusional, because gmail says I don't. Cheers!

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Really? I love weather like this, it feels magic and wonderful, but you have to be so careful and of course it's best if one's not driving anywhere.

[ewein2412]

I love winter. I love ice, snow, fog, wind, all the awful weather. It is a love tinged with guilt because I know the suffering and danger it causes, all around me, but I love it anyway. We don't get much snow here--yesterday I spent an hour walking through a sleetstorm and it just made me happy.

Scotland's number 1 "severe winter weather" is High Winds. We don't get deep snow, but the high winds cause chaos--all the connecting bridges are closed, the trains can't run, trees come down, power goes out, boats are lost. It's bad news everywhere but I can't help loving the wind.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

I know. I really know. I feel less bad about it, though, because Maria says all the cold weather we get now is good, because it's the earth holding out against global warming. So it's good when the world is cold and it's supposed to be.

By the way, is there anything special you would like from Pennsylvania? I have a small package to send you and if there is anything you would like me to put in please say!

[ewein2412]

oh--you are too good!

no, no, you don't need to send anything special. my husband is going to be in PA next week (he has to renew his PA drivers' license) and will pick up all my needs.

but thank you!

[ewein2412]

ewein2412 AT yahoo dot co dot uk

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Okay..! I will just send the package off to-morrow, then! ^__^ (enclosed is Percy's account of the farm show, which is the purpose of sending a package in the first place.)

[ewein2412]

!!!

I can't wait.

[katranides.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! for tall, fresh-faced boys, especially those who lurk around waiting to compliment their favorite local authors.

And for gifts of unblemished oranges. Tim's a keeper.