More Play Time

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At last, here's a continuation of my dabble in the delights of a theatrical extravaganza.

Having spent weeks working on the costumes, at last came the performances. My singing buddy and I  (Lady Anne and her maid Prudence, remember?) were in four of the little playlets, each enacted at a different location around Chichester.

First we were part of a motley crew storming a building, then members of a hymn singing entourage of a preacher man. Next we had the country dancing to do, but our final scene was the most impressive. We had to station ourselves in the garden of a large and imposing house which had a wonderful set of  high-arched, wrought iron gates, so that at the appropriate time it would appear that we'd rushed from our 'home' to see what all the commotion was.

By the time this stage of the performance began each evening, dusk was falling, and I had to carry a lantern when we trooped to the gates which kept us safe from the 'rabble' outside. This crowd, (armed with a supply of cabbages to throw!) were protesting at the incarceration and possible eventual hanging of a young mother, who had somehow offended the powers that be. It was all very touching, but to tell you the truth, I can't remember whether the cabbages or the law won the battle! I'm pretty sure it was the cabbage throwers who rescued the mother and baby.

'Baby' was a prop supplied by me, a life sized doll wrapped in fake-dirt encrusted swaddling clothes. I have the doll still, and it's wrappers, but they have been restored to their pristine whiteness, thanks to  Persil.
Here's  a photo of the imposing entrance to the Bishop's Palace Garden, which served as ready made scenery for the 'prison'  in the play.

And this illustration give a fair impression of how we all looked in the scene where we had to do our country dancing on the still cobbled road of South Street.

I think there were five performances altogether, but the first in particular caused us much mirth. The horse and waggon which transported the old and infirm amongst the audience from location to location, had passed over the cobbles shortly before we began our dance. We discovered that the horse's digestive system was well regulated, as you might say...it reached the end stage at precisely the time it was trotting over those cobbles, and we had to watch carefully where we placed our feet between the still steaming dollops of manure it gifted us with! And the next night, the horse manage a repeat performance as well as us. After this, word must have got back to the people responsible for feeding the animal so they altered his meal times, for the remaining performances were trouble free...

There are still more tales to tell, but I don't want this post to stretch any longer, so will save them for another day...bear with me, eh? If you missed the previous installments, you can find the first here and the second here.

Linked to Sepia Saturday 

Here I Am!

Bless those of you who have remarked on the conspicuous absence of  Napple Waffle recently. I can now reveal the culprit which took over most of my spare time during daylight hours...this!

OK, so I only took one photo and didn't check I'd got the whole thing in the picture.

But the pointy bit at the bottom, looks exactly the same as the
rest, anyway. Hehehe!
You see, last time my daughter and her family came to see me, the weather was decidedly chilly, and I lent her my poncho to sit in. "Oo, Mum I'd like one of these - but I'd need the neck a bit smaller..."
So I can take a hint...
I had a rather large cone of a wool and silk mix tucked away in a 'safe place', so after they'd gone home, I started on the first of the 192 squares it took to complete.
The wool had not been washed after spinning and dying, so it had about it a somewhat pungent aroma of sheep and chemicals, as well as a rather coarse feel.
But a machine wash in Woolite worked wonders. It now smells sweet and feels as soft and cuddly as one could wish. Normal service may well be resumed forthwith...

My home made pattern instructions have now been posted on In Tandem, for those who wish to have a go at making one for themselves.

Hurrah For The Smitten Image!

No, this is not an advert for a destroyed work of art, smitten by some dire blow from an unseen hand, but a heartfelt THANK YOU extended to one of my long term Blog pals, Hilary. I strongly recommend you go and visit her IMMEDIATELY!  In  this Smitten Image post  she explains, far better than I could, exactly how to rid our screens of Blogger's latest excruciating and farcical Word Verification.

What possessed the originators?
The black and white Ink Blot Alphabet was enough to make all compositors turn in the graves, where no doubt, they had been dispatched at an early age by the resultant heart attacks caused by this insult to calligraphy.
As to the aspersions cast on the intelligence of Bloggers, implying they needed to think more about the word verification letters they were asked to type - well - words fail me!

Please, think seriously about following Hilary's concise instructions for removing this scourge from our busy blogging lives! And take a few minutes to watch the YouTube clip Broken Biro introduced.

Down to basics

Intermission over, I continue from Not Quite Treading The Boards...

Corsets! The costumes for myself and two other ladies I dressed,* had to begin with these old fashioned garments. This picture from Google is similar enough to the ones I made from unbleached calico and boning, to give you a good idea of what ours were like.

Next I had to create voluminous cotton petticoats, demure mob caps and dainty muslin or lace fichus which would give the finishing touches to yet more curtain material gowns - which were the things I enjoyed sewing most.

We were given diagrams which explained the complex stitching of tape loops needed under the skirts, so that a draw string threaded through them could create soft drapes like paniers at the side, or a bustle at the back of each skirt.

The head gear started life as modern sunhats which I  steamed, re-shaped and painted, in the case of the one for My Lady.

Then in a charity shop I found a pair of black brogues, similar to these, for maidservant Prudence, while the other ladies wore  simple flat shoes, and we were ready for the show to begin...

Continued from earlier post...*HERE 

Through the week, I'd intended to tell a couple of fun stories associated with all these theatrical shenanigans, but once I began writing, it turned into something else. Bear with me, the funny bits will surface eventually... Meantime, I'll share a little more with Sepia Saturday, whatever colour the post turns out to be...
Still to be continued...