It's been an odd week...
Seriously, almost everyone I've talked to this week has been having a terrible one. I feel like mine has been less terrible on average (maybe?), but it still hasn't been great. It hasn't been uniformly horrible, or anything. But less than ideal. Just a week that needed to end.
That said, it wasn't all bad.
It wasn't as good as last week's, but it was still good. I really like how Sherlock and Joan's new partnership is evolving. I like how it's not compeitive, and he's in no way putting her down for not being as clever as he is (OKAY, THEY COULD HAVE GONE THERE. OTHER SHOWS WOULD HAVE GONE THERE. IT WAS NOT AN ABSRUD FEAR). I love how natural they are. I just, I love how genuine their interactions seem to be. I also like how they're mixing up the format a bit, not working directly with the police in this one (I know it's not the first time they've done that, but I still liked it). And the scene building the molecule was my actual favourite. It's just a consistently enjoyable show.
Because I went to a production of Pride and Prejudice at a semi-professional theatre. Now, I am sure there are multiple stage adaptations of the novel. There have to be, because I think Stratford did one about ten years ago, that sounds like it was much better. This one? ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. But not in the way it intended. Mary and Kitty were cut, which made me do an LBD-related double-take. But really, I was okay with that. If you're going to cut anybody (also on the chopping block, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. and Mrs. Philips, the Hursts, Georgianna, though she was at least mentioned...), they're who you cut. Also, you know that if you're staging the novel and you're trying to cut the action down to two, two and a half hours, you're going to have to cut stuff. A lot of stuff. Because a lot of stuff happens in Pride and Prejudice if you actually think about it. I knew all that going in.
Still, the pacing was... interesting.
After about fifteen minutes I leaned over to my friend and pointed out that we'd just whipped through about fifty pages. There's only one ball in the first chunk of the story (hosted by the Bennet's), Lizzie and Darcy don't dance together, but instead everyone has a series of odd conversations around the punch bowl. Most of which are actually *ridiculously* blunt, because everything's going at like triple speed. Jane explains to Lizzie that she and Bingley are practically engaged because he kissed her (I SWEAR I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP). Then of course Mr. Bingley and his sister leave. (Jane getting sick and staying at Netherfield is also cut.) Mr. Collins was mixed in with that as well, and dealt with relatively accurately. Jane goes to London, where her health fails quite a lot. Lizzie goes to Kent. That's actually played relatively straight (except for the part where Colonel Fitzwilliam is made relatively buffoonish and Lady Catherine scolds him for sleeping the day away. Also, he tries to talk Darcy up to Lizzie because he wants them to be friends). Then, there was the awkward moment midway through the second (and final) act where I realized that we'd only now gotten to Darcy's FIRST proposal. So they were obviously going to really have to start WHIPPING THROUGH STUFF.
Like the 1940s movie, they cut the trip to Pemberley, because that's not crucial at all. Although, I suppose if you're only going to keep one of the two trips, it is the one you cut. BUT STILL. (At least they did not completely follow the example of the 1940s movie and have Lady Catherine help Darcy woo Elizabeth. Okay, just looked it up, apparently the 1940s movie version was adpated from this stage adaptation. Which actually makes sense, even if neither adaptation does.) The sequence of events that followed was truly discombobulating. My friend and I were just kind of sitting there in shock. It was GREAT. (I may have the sequence slightly out of order, but I feel that is okay as they were just so screwed up)
-Lizzie has rushed back home because Jane is ill (broken heart I presume), and arrived back at Longbourn unconscious in the middle of the night (JUST GO WITH IT). Lizzie is nursing her and essentially trying to keep their mother away from her.
-Lydia's in Brighton
-Lady Catherine shows up. Yells at Lizzie. This conversation is relatively straight, but makes VERY LITTLE SENSE. Because did I mention there was no letter in this version when I mentioned there was no Pemberley? Neither of those things existed. So after the argument that apparently only made it in there because it's a popular scene (?), Lady C. leaves.
-They get the letter about Lydia. Mr. Bennet leaves and Mrs. Bennet is escorted to her room.
-DARCY AND BINGLEY JUST RANDOMLY SHOW UP (YUP). Bingley's apparently heard that Jane's slowly inching her way back from death's door and wants to go see her. She's sleeping in the garden and Lizzie just sort of shows him out there. Then she sits Darcy down and demands to know about Wickham, explaining what's happened with Lydia. He tells her. This conversation is relatively accurate, just oddly located in the narative. (And when I say "oddly" I mean "inexplicably".)
-Then Bingley comes back all smiling, says he's going to come back tomorrow. Darcy really awkwardly (and kind of hilariously) says he has to go to London immediately.
-Then Mr. Bennet's back with news of Lydia's marriage. And Jane and Bing are engaged. Mr. Bennet explains that it was really Darcy who paid for Wickham to marry Lydia. Wickham and Lydia come visit. Lydia is even more of a brat than in the book, I assume for "comedic" reasons. Lydia and Wickham leave. Jane and Bingley go for a walk. Darcy comes back. He proposes again, and is accepted because now that she has the facts, Lizzie's realized that he's a good guy (but still, no Pemberley, and the scenes are all out of order, so it kinda makes no sense). There is no mention of Lady C's visit (because in this adaptation it actually makes no sense IN ANY WAY). And the worst part? The actual proposal dialogue was cringe-worthy. Because even when it would have been possible to do so, they adaptation uses almost none of Jane Austen's original dialogue! The result is dialogue that is often hilariously bad. I do not understand why people do this. Jane Austen writes amazing dialogue. Whatever your opinion of her writing, dialogue is one of her obvious strengths. Why do adaptations insist on changing things to make them more awkward and less effective? I mean, this one was beyond saving, but the Kiera Knightly version does the same thing to a lesser degree.
Honestly, the second half of the play involved a lot of staring at the stage in utter shock. I was really just sitting there wondering what fool thing was going to happen next, and what terrible line was coming.
And everyone was ridiculously exaggerated or straight up changed. Mrs. Bennet and Lady Lucas were outright catty to each other. Miss Bingley was just rude and ridiculous. Charlotte seemed to genuinely appreciate Lady Catherine's interference in her life. Lady C herself was just odd. Just odd. I really don't even know how to describe it.
I also really wish the actors just hadn't bothered with the English accents. They were uneven at best.
Really, the adaptation was so absurd, that I kind of loved it. And it was only $25 to go. TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Saw Thursday's episode a couple of days ago. I'm going to assume that Jane has come back to help Lizzie confront her changing feelings for Darcy. In what I can only hope will be a subtle way, but I am not holding otu much hope. Seriously, if she lost her job solely so she would be conveniently back home for Bing to visit... (wasn't it just a transfer? If all that was needed was for her to be back with her parents, have her TRANSFER BACK TEMPORARILY).
Also, I find Lizzie saying she's not going to advertise her family drama on the internet annoying. Mainly because she pretty much needs to given the format of the show. STOP DIRECTLY ADDRESSING THE INHERENT PROBLEMS WITH THE FORMAT.
This last one wasn't bad. Lizzie demanding to know why Bing had just left Jane was a bit odd, but whatever. I didn't hate the episode. And Lizzie gives very good awkward!face. My problem with the Jane/Bing storyline at this point is more that I don't care that much. It's a side-effect of the writers deciding to make Lizzie/Lydia the dominant Bennet sibling relationship in this adaptation. Jane has been completely out of the picture for months now. And now we're abrubtly shifting back. We needed to hear more about Lizzie's feelings about the Jane situation in the interim, I feel. This just felt out of the blue, quite frankly. But no, Jane was too busy to interact with. So now we have this.
Trying to figure out who I'm going to request and offer to write for rarewomen. I have no idea how to decide. I think I'll probably sign up for a few of the book characters, although that's intimidating, because you have to worry about getting voices right, and possibly doing a fair bit of rereading for details. The only one I know for sure is that I'll probably request and offer both Haven and The Newsroom. Oddly enough, I don't think I'll be requesting either The Mentalist or Castle (though I may offer The Mentalist), because I don't care about the characters on the list. Later, when it is not almost three in the morning, I may compile a list of possibilities and see if I can narrow it down. I'm sure you're all very interested.
Speaking of it being 3am, I should really go to bed now.
That said, it wasn't all bad.
It wasn't as good as last week's, but it was still good. I really like how Sherlock and Joan's new partnership is evolving. I like how it's not compeitive, and he's in no way putting her down for not being as clever as he is (OKAY, THEY COULD HAVE GONE THERE. OTHER SHOWS WOULD HAVE GONE THERE. IT WAS NOT AN ABSRUD FEAR). I love how natural they are. I just, I love how genuine their interactions seem to be. I also like how they're mixing up the format a bit, not working directly with the police in this one (I know it's not the first time they've done that, but I still liked it). And the scene building the molecule was my actual favourite. It's just a consistently enjoyable show.
Because I went to a production of Pride and Prejudice at a semi-professional theatre. Now, I am sure there are multiple stage adaptations of the novel. There have to be, because I think Stratford did one about ten years ago, that sounds like it was much better. This one? ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. But not in the way it intended. Mary and Kitty were cut, which made me do an LBD-related double-take. But really, I was okay with that. If you're going to cut anybody (also on the chopping block, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. and Mrs. Philips, the Hursts, Georgianna, though she was at least mentioned...), they're who you cut. Also, you know that if you're staging the novel and you're trying to cut the action down to two, two and a half hours, you're going to have to cut stuff. A lot of stuff. Because a lot of stuff happens in Pride and Prejudice if you actually think about it. I knew all that going in.
Still, the pacing was... interesting.
After about fifteen minutes I leaned over to my friend and pointed out that we'd just whipped through about fifty pages. There's only one ball in the first chunk of the story (hosted by the Bennet's), Lizzie and Darcy don't dance together, but instead everyone has a series of odd conversations around the punch bowl. Most of which are actually *ridiculously* blunt, because everything's going at like triple speed. Jane explains to Lizzie that she and Bingley are practically engaged because he kissed her (I SWEAR I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP). Then of course Mr. Bingley and his sister leave. (Jane getting sick and staying at Netherfield is also cut.) Mr. Collins was mixed in with that as well, and dealt with relatively accurately. Jane goes to London, where her health fails quite a lot. Lizzie goes to Kent. That's actually played relatively straight (except for the part where Colonel Fitzwilliam is made relatively buffoonish and Lady Catherine scolds him for sleeping the day away. Also, he tries to talk Darcy up to Lizzie because he wants them to be friends). Then, there was the awkward moment midway through the second (and final) act where I realized that we'd only now gotten to Darcy's FIRST proposal. So they were obviously going to really have to start WHIPPING THROUGH STUFF.
Like the 1940s movie, they cut the trip to Pemberley, because that's not crucial at all. Although, I suppose if you're only going to keep one of the two trips, it is the one you cut. BUT STILL. (At least they did not completely follow the example of the 1940s movie and have Lady Catherine help Darcy woo Elizabeth. Okay, just looked it up, apparently the 1940s movie version was adpated from this stage adaptation. Which actually makes sense, even if neither adaptation does.) The sequence of events that followed was truly discombobulating. My friend and I were just kind of sitting there in shock. It was GREAT. (I may have the sequence slightly out of order, but I feel that is okay as they were just so screwed up)
-Lizzie has rushed back home because Jane is ill (broken heart I presume), and arrived back at Longbourn unconscious in the middle of the night (JUST GO WITH IT). Lizzie is nursing her and essentially trying to keep their mother away from her.
-Lydia's in Brighton
-Lady Catherine shows up. Yells at Lizzie. This conversation is relatively straight, but makes VERY LITTLE SENSE. Because did I mention there was no letter in this version when I mentioned there was no Pemberley? Neither of those things existed. So after the argument that apparently only made it in there because it's a popular scene (?), Lady C. leaves.
-They get the letter about Lydia. Mr. Bennet leaves and Mrs. Bennet is escorted to her room.
-DARCY AND BINGLEY JUST RANDOMLY SHOW UP (YUP). Bingley's apparently heard that Jane's slowly inching her way back from death's door and wants to go see her. She's sleeping in the garden and Lizzie just sort of shows him out there. Then she sits Darcy down and demands to know about Wickham, explaining what's happened with Lydia. He tells her. This conversation is relatively accurate, just oddly located in the narative. (And when I say "oddly" I mean "inexplicably".)
-Then Bingley comes back all smiling, says he's going to come back tomorrow. Darcy really awkwardly (and kind of hilariously) says he has to go to London immediately.
-Then Mr. Bennet's back with news of Lydia's marriage. And Jane and Bing are engaged. Mr. Bennet explains that it was really Darcy who paid for Wickham to marry Lydia. Wickham and Lydia come visit. Lydia is even more of a brat than in the book, I assume for "comedic" reasons. Lydia and Wickham leave. Jane and Bingley go for a walk. Darcy comes back. He proposes again, and is accepted because now that she has the facts, Lizzie's realized that he's a good guy (but still, no Pemberley, and the scenes are all out of order, so it kinda makes no sense). There is no mention of Lady C's visit (because in this adaptation it actually makes no sense IN ANY WAY). And the worst part? The actual proposal dialogue was cringe-worthy. Because even when it would have been possible to do so, they adaptation uses almost none of Jane Austen's original dialogue! The result is dialogue that is often hilariously bad. I do not understand why people do this. Jane Austen writes amazing dialogue. Whatever your opinion of her writing, dialogue is one of her obvious strengths. Why do adaptations insist on changing things to make them more awkward and less effective? I mean, this one was beyond saving, but the Kiera Knightly version does the same thing to a lesser degree.
Honestly, the second half of the play involved a lot of staring at the stage in utter shock. I was really just sitting there wondering what fool thing was going to happen next, and what terrible line was coming.
And everyone was ridiculously exaggerated or straight up changed. Mrs. Bennet and Lady Lucas were outright catty to each other. Miss Bingley was just rude and ridiculous. Charlotte seemed to genuinely appreciate Lady Catherine's interference in her life. Lady C herself was just odd. Just odd. I really don't even know how to describe it.
I also really wish the actors just hadn't bothered with the English accents. They were uneven at best.
Really, the adaptation was so absurd, that I kind of loved it. And it was only $25 to go. TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Saw Thursday's episode a couple of days ago. I'm going to assume that Jane has come back to help Lizzie confront her changing feelings for Darcy. In what I can only hope will be a subtle way, but I am not holding otu much hope. Seriously, if she lost her job solely so she would be conveniently back home for Bing to visit... (wasn't it just a transfer? If all that was needed was for her to be back with her parents, have her TRANSFER BACK TEMPORARILY).
Also, I find Lizzie saying she's not going to advertise her family drama on the internet annoying. Mainly because she pretty much needs to given the format of the show. STOP DIRECTLY ADDRESSING THE INHERENT PROBLEMS WITH THE FORMAT.
This last one wasn't bad. Lizzie demanding to know why Bing had just left Jane was a bit odd, but whatever. I didn't hate the episode. And Lizzie gives very good awkward!face. My problem with the Jane/Bing storyline at this point is more that I don't care that much. It's a side-effect of the writers deciding to make Lizzie/Lydia the dominant Bennet sibling relationship in this adaptation. Jane has been completely out of the picture for months now. And now we're abrubtly shifting back. We needed to hear more about Lizzie's feelings about the Jane situation in the interim, I feel. This just felt out of the blue, quite frankly. But no, Jane was too busy to interact with. So now we have this.
Trying to figure out who I'm going to request and offer to write for rarewomen. I have no idea how to decide. I think I'll probably sign up for a few of the book characters, although that's intimidating, because you have to worry about getting voices right, and possibly doing a fair bit of rereading for details. The only one I know for sure is that I'll probably request and offer both Haven and The Newsroom. Oddly enough, I don't think I'll be requesting either The Mentalist or Castle (though I may offer The Mentalist), because I don't care about the characters on the list. Later, when it is not almost three in the morning, I may compile a list of possibilities and see if I can narrow it down. I'm sure you're all very interested.
Speaking of it being 3am, I should really go to bed now.