Posted in Blogtober, History

Blogtober Day 2: The History and Origins of Halloween

Posted on by Georgia Haze

Nowadays (although maybe not so much this year), Halloween is all about dressing up, trick-or-treating, scary movies and scream parks but it wasn’t always this way. Pumpkins weren’t even the original vegetable of choice for Jack-o’-lanterns! Read on to find out how Halloween came to be the spookiest festival on the calendar.

Samhain and the Earliest Origins

Halloween is often thought to have its earliest origins in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which is still celebrated by Pagans and Wiccans to this day. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the move into the darker and colder part of the year. Coming in at the midpoint between the autumn equinox (Mabon) and winter solstice (Yule), Samhain is believed to be the point at which the veil between our world and the Otherworld is at its thinnest. This Otherworld is the realm of mystical beings such as fairies and possibly even the land of the dead.

The Samhain festivities would usually last around three days and involve a mixture of feasting, guising and the lighting of symbolic bonfires. Over time, as Christianity was brought to the Celtic lands, some believe All Saint’s Day was introduced as a Christian alternative to the Pagan festival. All Saint’s Day is celebrated on the 1st November with All Souls’ Day, a festivity about remembering and honouring the dead, following the day after.

Trick-or-Treating and Halloween Costumes

Our fondest Halloween traditions of dressing up and going door-to-door asking for food dates back several centuries.  The British tradition of mumming, whereby an acting troupe would use mime to act out a scene for cash, was commonplace at many yearly festivities. Although, you’d be more likely to see the mummers at Christmas than Halloween back in the Middle Ages.

Another theory as to the origins of trick-or-treating comes from the idea that when the veil to the Otherworld is thinned out and the spirits come trooping through, they can be kept at bay by leaving offerings of food out for them. Alternatively, the custom might have developed from the old tradition of souling. This was when beggars would go house-by-house asking for soul-cakes to eat over Allhallowtide.

As all of these traditions and early stages of the Halloween we know and love today evolved, going to houses in Halloween costumes for treats carrying Jack-o’-lanterns were brought into the fray in the nineteenth century. The concept of the Jack-o’-lantern originated in Ireland and quite possibly took its name from the folkloric figure of Stingy Jack. This infamous drunkard made a deal with the Devil so that he would never have to go to Hell but, being too sinful to enter Heaven, his soul was destined to roam the Earth forevermore with only a candle in a turnip to light his way. That’s right, the earliest Jack-o’-lanterns were made from turnips. The pumpkin version popular today comes from North America.

From Then to Now

Our current Halloween traditions have taken a strange route through a pretty tangled historical web. And, as so many of these stories come from rural parts of the UK and Ireland where local customs weren’t well-documented, all of these ideas about where our Halloween traditions come from are mostly theories based on what facts historians do know for certain. It’s likely our current ways of celebrating the season, like pumpkin carving and dressing up in costumes, come from a mixture of all of the above. In a way though, isn’t there something wonderfully mysterious about the fact that we don’t really know exactly how the spookiest season of them all came to be how it is today?

Don’t forget I’m going to be posting Halloween-related content all month so come back tomorrow for Blogobter Day 3!

Posted in Blogtober

Blogtober Day 1: Why I Love Halloween (and How I’ll Be Celebrating It In 2020)

Posted on by Georgia Haze

Happy October! The spooky season is once more upon us and I’m so excited. I know 2020 has felt like a never-ending horror movie but Halloween is still one of my favourite days of the year and I’m determined to celebrate it… safely, of course!

In true 2020 style, Halloween has fallen on a Saturday which is really great considering no one can really go anywhere or do anything that doesn’t involve staying in their own home. COVID has left a lot of people asking whether Halloween should just be cancelled altogether. Hell, even Strictly Come Dancing (one of my guilty pleasures) isn’t getting a Halloween episode this year.  But, regardless of whether it’s celebrated or not, the 31st October is fast approaching so I’m still going to enjoy a bit of spookiness this month. In fact, welcome to the first in a series of Halloween-themed posts for Blogtober.

This is probably a strange decision considering I disappeared from this blog for about a year but if anything is going to make me come crawling back, it’s the chance to talk about ghosts, ghouls and all things spooky.

So, why do I love Halloween so much? It’s because I believe in nearly everything. I’m definitely more of a skeptic than I used to be but I still really want to see something I can’t explain. I think there is more to the world around us than we know and I’ve made it a life goal of mine to see a ghost myself… just not in my own home preferably. I want to see one, not live with one, y’know?

Halloween is the one time of year when everyone around me seems just as interested as I am in the idea of the paranormal. It’s the time of year when the darker evenings come back and people start sharing their spookiest stories. It’s the time of year when films about ghosts and witches and vampires start cropping up on the streaming services again. It’s the time of year when curling up with a good Gothic novel and a steaming cup of hot chocolate just hits the spot. Plus, who doesn’t love a good chance to dress up in a ridiculous costume and eat their bodyweight in sweets?

So, given I love Halloween but 2020 seems determined to cancel the festivities, I am dedicating this blog to Halloween all month-long to keep the festive fear (it’s a pun on ‘festive cheer’… I know, it’s a lame joke if you need to explain it!) going.

As for how else I’ll be celebrating, I’m planning on watching some scary movies (and some not so scary ones but more on that soon) and still, as always, devouring as many sweets as humanly possible. Hey, the less trick-or-treaters we get this year, the more sweets for me!

So, here’s my trick or treat, depending on how you feel about Halloween-related content, the first of a bunch of spooky posts coming your way. Bye for now!

A Wee Life Update Banner
Posted in Other

A Wee Life Update

Posted on by Georgia Haze

Hey, my name’s Georgia and I have abandoned this blog for about a year aside from one post back to May to rant about the movie, Midsommar (don’t worry, I’m over that rage now finally). I’m not going to promise I’m back for good as if there’s one thing that 2020 has taught me, it’s you literally can’t predict anything but I’m certainly planning to give this blog more love than one post a year.

So, what’s happened since September 4th 2019? Well, aside from the obvious. Back in September I was working in marketing for a book company that is now no longer in business and after a pretty stressful summer there I quit and got a new job. I started my new job, working for a theatre and events marketing agency, in October and for six months things seemed to be going pretty well. As I was commuting to London each day and had events to go to for work every now and then (and free theatre tickets which was a pretty damn good perk), I didn’t have as much free time as before and the blog took a back seat.

March was a massive turning point. For anyone outside of the UK, I’d say March 16th was probably the day that everything changed here in Britain. It’s not when we went into lockdown but it’s the day everyone seemed to know it was about to happen. That was my last day in the office. I didn’t know at that point it would be my last time ever in that office though. Within three weeks of working from home I was put on furlough which was honestly a relief, my workload basically disappeared overnight as theatres and events across the UK shut their doors. Then, in June, I found out I was being made redundant and the company I worked for was closing down. It’s sad to see this happen and I wish the best for my previous colleagues at both of my past two workplaces.

So, I haven’t actually worked a day since April and I’ve been job searching since June and now, three months later I would love to say I’m working somewhere new but with so many people unemployed and nearly every industry dealing with much uncertainty, getting a job is proving pretty tough right now. I’m in a very privileged position as I still live with my family and I don’t have anyone relying on me. I really feel for those who have mortgages to pay and families to feed. It’s still a fairly anxiety-inducing situation though. My mental health has been all over the place between the fear of COVID itself and concerns over being unemployed.

So, you can see, hopping back to the blog wasn’t my priority because I had a busy job and then it became even less of a priority because I didn’t have a job. Somehow, I’m trying to make that make sense. Basically that’s my excuse for disappearing for a year anyway.

So, what brings me back now? Well, I still don’t have a job but my brain has been a bit better lately. I’ve decided instead of moping, I’m going to try and use this extra time I have (especially since a second lockdown looks imminent) to put more effort into this blog. I have a whole list of topics to write about and I’ve decided I want to expand to writing about quite a mix of things in the future. Part of the reason why this blog is just called Georgia Haze rather than anything thematic or topical was so that I could have the freedom to write about whatever I wanted. I never wanted to feel trapped in one topic and before I took this ridiculously long hiatus I was writing nearly exclusively about musicals. Although I still love the theatre and want to continue sharing that love on my blog, there are so many other things I want to talk about as well.

Anyway, this is getting very long so I’ll wind it up here. Basically, all this to say, I’m back. I hope you’re doing well and 2020 hasn’t been too cruel to you. Take care and expect another post from me very soon.

Georgia

Posted in Movies

Midsommar Review ***Spoilers*** and Some Blog CPR

Posted on by Georgia Haze

Wow. Ok, this poor little blog has been neglected for some time. So, what could draw me back? Is it merely in the quest for something to do in the endless hours of prolonged lockdown or having something new and topical to say about the recent Coronavirus pandemic? No. I’m making a comeback and breathing some new life into this blog because I watched Midsommar last night and I need to talk through the weird choices in this weird movie that left me totally confused. So… let’s discuss.

I decided to watch Midsommar because I’m on a bit of a catch-up kick at the moment. I’ve typical avoided horror movies all of my life, letting the occasional few slip the net but mostly I steer myself away from them. I don’t really know why, perhaps because for me horror films seem very hit and miss and I hate the feeling of complete hopelessness some horror directors are determined to leave you with as the credits roll. But, I’ve been desperately trying to broaden my viewing habits lately so I’ve been watching a couple of the recent horror hits including It and A Quiet Place, both films I quite enjoyed. My only real issue with It was its runtime, it does feel like a movie that could be told in much less time which is also one of my key criticisms of Midsommar. Does this film need two and a half hours to tell this story? Several very slow scenes where you know exactly what’s about to happen anyway (example, the cliff scene) suggest no.

To kick this off let me just say I know Midsommar is a ‘companion’ film to Hereditary, which I haven’t seen. Maybe I would have got Midsommar a bit more if I had, I will get around to watching Hereditary at some point but probably not some time soon.

Now, just because I don’t love this movie doesn’t mean I hate it. I don’t. There’s plenty to like. A big aspect of the praise for this film comes from the acting and cinematography, both of which I totally agree are the film’s highlights. Florence Pugh is a star who’s only due to rise higher and higher and she proves it in this movie. There’s not a bad actor in the cast. They all carry off their parts (ambiguous as some of them are but I’ll get to that) really effectively and the relationships between the core group of characters really do carry through the drama and conflict through the first and second acts.

The cinematography and choice to have the film take place nearly exclusively in the daylight is also really creative. There’s no denying this film is a slow burn but turning the horrors we do see on screen away from the darkness we usually see in horror and making them clearly visible in the light of day is a bold move and one I really liked. The set of the commune is also beautiful and the nature imagery and special effects tied in with Dani’s development in a really interesting way.

However, for all these strengths, I also had some major issues with this film. Most of which are plot-based. I’ve already mentioned the run-time so we’ll start there – although this does mean we’re going to be starting with the end (though we’ll be getting there much quicker than the movie).

The Slow Burn with Little Pay-Off

One of the key issues I have with this film was the climax and ending. The character development throughout had felt like it was really building up to a powerful moment for Dani, especially since she had literally been granted power over others for the first time in the film by being declared The May Queen.

Now, to properly explore the core problem I have with the ending I have to talk about the scene I want to think about the least so bear (no pun intended) with me here. Both Dani and Christian, the two of the original gang left standing, take some hallucinogenic liquid towards the end of the film. We see elements of its effects on Dani with the CGI of nature around her but we don’t totally see how it affects Christian. His pupils become really diluted so we know it’s taken hold of him but we don’t know quite how much it’s affecting his inhibitions. This means that when he has sex with Maja in that deeply uncomfortable mating ritual scene we have no idea whether it was a conscious decision to cheat on Dani or not.

All the way through the film we know he and Dani have an unstable relationship so it’s not beyond the realms of reason to think maybe he does choose to have sex with Maja purely due to his frustration over his relationship with Dani or even to ‘acclimatise’ himself more with the culture for the sake of his thesis. If this is a choice he’s made then it takes his lack of care for Dani to a whole new low and does somewhat justify his end to the viewers. I’m obviously not saying cheaters should be paralysed and burnt to death but it gives a sense of closure in a revenge narrative. However, if the drugs they’ve taken have rendered their decision-making ability non-existent then this changes the whole ending, both for the fates of Christian and Dani.

If Christian never intended to cheat on Dani and only did so because he was high this makes the cult itself even creepier and more disturbing and makes his death at the end even crueler. However, it also doesn’t give him any autonomy in his ending which, sure, maybe that’s what Ari was going for but let’s remember Dani took the same drink so what does this mean for her?

Well, if she was high through the whole of the third act and beyond the point of rationalising her decisions based on everything that’s come before, this kind of suggests her making the choice to have Christian killed isn’t really her choice and therefore has nothing to do with her own character development. Considering there is so much set-up at the start of the movie over establishing her trauma, it would be really disappointing to assume that Christian and Dani had no control over the key choices they both made to bring the film to its ending. Unfortunately, we’re never really clearly led to either one conclusion, which brings me to my next point.

The Ambiguity Problem

There is definitely a case to be made for ambiguity in stories. Sometimes having aspects of a story left to your viewer’s imagination at the end can be really interesting but too much ambiguity and you just leave people confused. Here’s an example of a big overhanging question that Midsommar left me with at the end of the film:

Did the cult plan the whole thing?

There are quite a few plot points that suggest the cult wanted to make Dani one of them e.g. the way Pele treats her and his being so keen for her to come to the cult and feel ‘held’ and the fact that she even becomes the May Queen in the first place – she didn’t even know the dance they were all doing at the start so could the other girls have let her win?

Equally, there are also a few plot points that suggests it was all a fluke and the community only changed their mind about sacrificing Dani after she became the May Queen e.g. she wasn’t even supposed to come on the trip at first. Pele didn’t actually invite her, we don’t see him try to convince Christian to bring her at all and, Pele aside, none of the other people in the cult treat her any differently from the others before they kill them. There’s nothing to suggest she’s any kind of chosen one beyond winning a competition that she seemed really unlikely to win.

But, why does this matter? It certainly changes the whole plot’s axis depending on which side you sit on but honestly maybe I’m being too hard on the film for this one. It’s the swinging pendulum I can’t get on with. They either planned it all or not, why is there evidence suggesting both options?

The Blink and You Miss It Subplots

The foreshadowing in this film is, at times, really bizarre. There are some points of really clear foreshadowing which helps the plot move forward e.g. the tapesty depicting the love potion and the random bear in the cage. However, there are also some odd moments that don’t go anywhere. Take, for instance, Pele’s backstory.

The only thing we really know about Pele is that his parents ‘died in a fire’ which gives him the chance to empathise somewhat with Dani’s situation. The fire thing is obviously an element of foreshadowing for the ending but his parents couldn’t have died in the last sacrifice if that was 90 years ago, the figures just don’t add up. What was the point of this foreshadowing then? If it had nothing to do with the actual sacrificial burnings, why even suggest they died that way? There are other ways of giving Pele a connection to Dani other than confusing foreshadowing that doesn’t go anywhere.

I also want to quickly touch on the oracle a second because what was the point of that? It’s a plot point that feels like it’s building up to something but it doesn’t. The idea of having a religion and mythology that is constantly expanding is a really interesting concept but it’s just never actually tied back into the story. Even the book going missing seems like a pointless detail. Was that just supposed to make Dani and Christian not worry about the missing Josh and Mark because somehow that worked on them, which, you know, is weird in itself. It would have been great to get to know more about the actual religion and belief system that led them to these sacrifices every 90 years other than leaving it as ‘well, they’re Pagans so…’, as if your average Pagan on the street goes around with sacrificial knives in their back pocket and has their local cult’s one outside line on speed-dial. Give some more explanation, please.

I really didn’t mean for this to get so essay-length. Maybe Ari Aster and I have something in common when it comes to making things that are maybe too long for their own good. Ultimately, for me, this film had everything going for it except a working plot with a good pay-off, too much ambiguity and random details thrown in that didn’t matter.

…I kinda miss The Wicker Man (1973 obvs!)

Posted in Theatre, Travels

Life Updates: Mini Show Reviews and an Athenian Adventure

Posted on by Georgia Haze

I’ve had a bit of break from blogging recently. Apart from the odd couple, I’ve not posted much on here over the last two/three months. That’s because it has been a fairly busy time for me. There have been some changes in my life and I went on holiday to Athens recently (scroll down to read more about that!). That doesn’t mean I haven’t been seeing shows or haven’t had anything to blog about though. So, I wanted to do a post about what I’ve been up to these past few months and get back to blogging regularly.

A few shows I’ve seen that I didn’t get around to reviewing…

In June and July I saw three shows, the touring productions of Little Miss Sunshine and Titanic and Bare: A Pop Opera at The Vaults in London. Of these three, I definitely liked Bare best. I already knew I loved the music going into the show and I think the cast did a great job at bringing the emotion to it. When I left both my sister and I were fighting back tears after this production’s powerful addition to the ending.

            I’ve read negative reviews which take issue with the layout of the venue and the staging. Whilst I completely understand these issues I think they did a good job with what they had. The choreography sometimes looked a bit dangerous as the cast were dancing so close to one another on the small stage but I didn’t feel like I missed any of the action due to the staging or direction.

            Little Miss Sunshine is a film I have loved for years. After seeing the musical I have to say I think the story works better in film format but the stage show was still fun all the same. The actress playing Olive was incredible and the VW van staging was clever but the songs weren’t as memorable as other shows.

            I had a similar experience with Titanic, I liked it and thought the cast did a great job. The songs were quite epic but not the kind I’d add to my Spotify playlist. It was a good show but maybe not really my kind of thing.

Six days in Athens…

Earlier this month I went on holiday with my school friends to Athens. Although temperatures during the day made us feel like we were slowly frying, we had a great time. We had a look around the Acropolis, which included stopping at the world’s oldest theatre (of course!), the Theatre of Dionysus.

            The hike up to the top of the Acropolis was tricky in the heat, especially with all the tourists stopping at every patch of shade you come across on the way, but it was so worth it. The views you get over Athens are stunning and it’s amazing to think you’re treading the paths that people have walked along for millennia. We passed the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, another ancient theatre, and the remains of a temple for Asclepius before reaching the great staircase where the audio tours we’d downloaded began. From the staircase, you can see the temple of Athena Nike and the Propylea, the gateway. We walked around learning history and seeing the Erechtheion (this is where history and myth well and truly collide as the holes in the side of the building are said to be the damage left after Poseidon stuck the wall with his trident), and Old Temple of Athena before walking around the Parthenon, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world.

            Another one of my favourite places we visited was Aegina, an island near Athens. Aegina has a lovely beach but even better yet for me, more ancient history. We visited a museum, which led to a ruined Apollon Sanctuary. The views were beautiful and the area itself was amazing to see. As well as visiting the Acropolis and Aegina, we also went to an inspiring Turtle Sanctuary, watched the sunset from Lycabettus Hill, went around Hadrian’s Library, rode a ‘Happy Train’, visited some museums and ate some amazing food. So, all in all, it was a great trip!

Other bits and bobs…

I turned 23 in July and it’s officially been two years since I graduated university, I’m still a little puzzled about where the time has gone! As I said, I haven’t been posting as much as usual recently but I am planning on getting back to regular blogging from now on so expect a lot more on here.

Thank you for reading and I’ll be back very soon.

Posted in Other

Top 10 Tips for English Literature Undergraduates

Posted on by Georgia Haze

A lot of UK students received their exam results this week which means there is a whole new group of freshers about to take on an undergrad course. I’ve been out of university for two years now but I still remember student life and there are a few things I wish I’d known before I started my English Literature degree. So, I’m going to impart some wisdom today. Here are my top ten pieces of advice for English undergrads:

  1. You’re never going to read all the books on the reading list so don’t give yourself a hard time when you still halfway through a novel from last week and haven’t even started on the play for this week yet. Pace yourself and prioritise the texts that you feel you will be able to make the most out of for your essays, presentations and exams. What you don’t want to be doing is writing an exam or essay on a book you haven’t yet finished. Trust me, attempting to write an exam on how A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man functions as a Bildungsroman when you haven’t even reached chapter four yet isn’t fun…
  2. Film versions and plot summaries can be lifesavers, equally they can be the work of the Devil, you’ve been warned. Before delving more deeply into this point, let us all raise a glass to our good friend, SparkNotes. SparkNotes, Wikipedia and Shmoop are the golden trio when it comes to finding a quick plot summary. But, sometimes they can be your downfall when you start rambling on about a part of the story in your seminar and your lecturer asks you about a bit in the plot that the summary seems to have glossed over. Likewise, film adaptations can make the plot stick in your head much easier without you even having to open the book itself but filmmakers love putting their own spins on the source material. So, no discussing the significance of Nick’s retrospective narration from the psychiatric ward in The Great Gatsby please!
  3. English lecturers want originality in your arguments and there are a few easy ways of getting an original argument pretty much every time. If your essay is a comparison between two texts then choose texts that wouldn’t usually be paired together. You can find similarities in any two texts if you look hard enough and don’t forget that finding interesting contrasts in the texts if just as important as finding similarities. And, if you’re choosing your own question, choose to examine an uncommon theme, idea or theory when it comes to the text(s). Significance of doubling in Frankenstein? It’s been done before so anything you try to say about it has likely been said already in many different ways but there are many other topics you can sink your teeth into for this book anyway.
  4. Plays are meant to be performed so if you can watch them, then do. If there isn’t a stage adaptation of the play you’re studying on near you then take a look and see if there are any film adaptations you can watch or even if there are any scenes uploaded to YouTube. Reading a play is like reading a novel without any description so seeing a play performed in front of you by actors who have their own way of interpreting the lines can really help you get an understanding of exactly what is happening.
  5. Your uni library may only have so many copies of your course texts and books on context and literary criticism so find simple work-arounds. Find the books you need at libraries outside your university, buy them second-hand and, if a book is now out of copyright, you may well be able to find it for free on the Kindle store. Plus, you can find quite cheap copies of the complete works of Shakepeare and it’s really worth investing in one rather than buying a copy of each play separately. When looking for articles from critics, Jstor was always my go-to but Google Books and Amazon look-inside are also great tools for helping you find great quotes from critics for free and without having to fight for the last book on the library shelf.
  6. Shakespeare, Dickens, Shelley and Austen will be on your reading list so get used to them. 
  7. Make sure you understand your literary theories because you will be expected to use them throughout your degree. Some of them are definitely harder than others and you’ll naturally warm to a few of them and get comfortable using them in essays again and again. Even so, as tempting as it might be, throwing Judith Butler and/or Sigmund Freud into every essay isn’t always the best way to go. Theories are hard, lecturers know that so if you don’t get it, just ask. Saying that, I don’t think I ever got my head around Cixous’s take on French Feminism…
  8. Make the most of your lecturers. Different unis give you different allowances on how much your lecturers can help you with your essays but even if they can only glance over a plan and give you some feedback in a five minute slot, make sure you take that opportunity. Just getting a nod from your lecturer to know you’re on the right track can help relieve a lot of that essay stress.
  9. Literature degrees have notoriously few contact hours which means you don’t spend that much time with the people on your course so make the most of the opportunities you do get to speak to your course mates. This is one I wish I had done more of when I was at uni but one thing I did do which I would advise was setting up a Facebook group for your course and year group (this goes for any uni course really). There’s always a general Facebook group for your uni or a Freshers page for your year so you can advise your group on there to find other people on your course. It really wasn’t long until the whole of my course were connected on this one group and we used it through our entire degree.
  10. First year usually either doesn’t count to your final mark or counts very little so use it as your practice year. It’s so important to get the balance right in your first year. If you spend too much time enjoying yourself and doing all your essays in a rush at the last minute then you won’t be giving yourself a good chance to see how well you can do from trying your best. However, the jump from first year to second can feel quite intense so enjoy your first year for what it is, a practice year that doesn’t count much to your final grade. So, make sure you try your best but not to the point where it’s keeping you up at night, you’ll probably experience quite a bit of that in your third year anyway (sorry!) so give yourself a break.

I hope these tips help you make the most of your first year as an English undergrad. The most important piece of advice I can give is just to enjoy the overall uni experience as much as possible. It really is a very unique time in your life so make friends, learn about yourself and throw yourself into the subjects you love and you’ll be fine. Good luck!

Posted in Theatre, Travels

My Top 5 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Tips

Posted on by Georgia Haze

It’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe time again and I’m sad to not be heading up to Scotland’s beautiful capital this August (I’m determined to go back next year!) but I have been a couple of times before and it is a brilliant experience. So, for anyone lucky enough to be heading there this year, here are my top five tips for making the most out of your trip to the Festival…

1. Don’t have a plan

There are so many shows to see at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it’s best to go in not being sure what you’re going to see and when. Likewise, if there’s a show you desperately want to see it probably is worth booking in advance to avoid disappointment but, for the most part, you can figure out what to see while you’re there. Trust me, take a walk along the High Street and you’ll be handed hundreds of flyers for all kinds of performances, many of them cheap and many of them great.

2. But also do have some of a plan

This is probably more advice for next year at this point but make sure your travel and accommodation is booked well in advance. So many people descend on the city of Edinburgh in August that all the cheap accommodation is snapped up quickly so book ahead to avoid paying a fortune unnecessarily.

3. Surprise yourself with what you see

There are so many shows to see at the Festival and so many of them are so cheap that it’s a great opportunity to push yourself to see something you wouldn’t usually see without the pressure of paying out a lot of money to see it. I’ve seen musicals, stand-up comedians, magic shows, spoken word, bizarre one-person comedy plays, a live sketch show, a beat boxer, burlesque shows, improvised performances and more at the Fringe and trust me, it’s always the shows you’re most unsure about that end up being the most memorable.

4. Make the most of free fringe but make sure you also have cash on you

Free Fringe shows are perfect for filling your free time between shows but you should be aware that ‘Free’ doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have to pay anything. At the end of Free Fringe shows the performers will usually stand by the doors with a bucket for you to add a tip so it’s important to carry around some cash with you so you’re always prepared.

5. See some variety shows

As I’ve said already, there are so many shows that you could see at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that even if you’re planning to see five or six shows a day (which is actually perfectly doable), you’re still not going to get through them all. A great way to counteract this is to see some variety shows and cabarets. A lot of performers at the Fringe promote their full shows by doing short segments at variety shows. This means you not only get to see a lot of different short performances but it can also help you pick your next show to see if you particularly liked one of the performances. One particular variety show I’d recommend is The Midnight Show at Just the Tonic. It’s a bunch of comedians doing 5/10 minutes of stand-up to promote their shows in a cool underground venue at midnight. I went to The Midnight Show both times I went to the Fringe and saw some brilliant comedians both times.

So, there you have it. If you are heading to Edinburgh for the Fringe this year, lucky you, I’m very jealousI hope you have an amazing time and make sure you take photos and cram as many shows into your time there as possible, you won’t regret it!

Posted in Theatre

Six Reasons to See Six the Musical

Posted on by Georgia Haze

The six wives of Henry VIII + sassy pop music = one of the best theatre shows in recent years… who knew?

Six may be a hit in the West End (and now over in Chicago too!) but if you’ve yet to see this amazing show about girl power and rewriting history to turn it into “herstory” (see what they did there??!), I’ve got six reasons why you need to give Six a shot.

No.1 It has an all-female cast and band

Theatre is traditionally populated with more men in the significant positions than women. A couple of months back the National Theatre came under fire for not including any plays with a female writing credit in their upcoming season. Women are so often overlooked off the stage so to see a show where ten talented and diverse women are on the stage every night is so refreshing. Henry VIII doesn’t make an appearance in the show because, for once, the story that’s being told isn’t really about him, it’s about the six fascinating and fabulous women he royally screwed over.

No.2 It’s contemporary theatre at its finest

Each queen’s song style takes inspiration from some modern-day muses, from Ariana Grande to Adele. This means that though these ladies are from Tudor England, nothing about this show feels stuck-in-the-past, in fact it’s about as contemporary a show on the West End can get. There are catchy tunes with pop and RnB vibes and you can learn a lot about history in a way that is a lot more fun than opening a textbook.

No.3 It rewrites history from the women’s points of view

The separation of Henry VIII and Catherine and Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn is one of the most significant events in English history for bringing about the English Reformation but this is a story that is always taught from a very political and *yawn* male angle. If that’s not tiresome enough, all four other wives of Henry VIII are pretty much always glossed over when this topic comes up in school. To steal a quote from Cathy Parr in Six “there’s so much more” to them than meets the eye. I could tell you all about the amazing things these queens did and their truly awful experiences during their reigns but I don’t want to spoil anything so just go and see the show, it’s all based on real fact just told in the sassiest and catchiest way possible.

No.4 It’s a new British show

Ok, I’m not trying tot get into a debate about whether new British theatre is overshadowed by the Broadway shows that have been coming over to the West End of late. I’m certainly not hating on the Broadway-to-West-End hits either, I was one of the first in the virtual line to get tickets to the likes of Hamilton, Waitress and Come From Away (all fantastic shows, I might add) but it does feel like new British shows are sometimes lost in the sea of already-popular Broadway hits. Six has managed to gain a strong following online (with one of the sweetest fanbases I think I’ve seen for anything but more on that soon) and rightfully so because it’s so damn good. The writing team behind it, Marlowe and Moss, came out of university and got a show on the West End nearly straight away, those are some top musical-writing skills right there!
No.5 Every. Single. Song. Is. A. Jam.

Who doesn’t love a sassy feminist bop? In this show there are half a dozen sassy solo bops with three pretty unique ensemble numbers thrown in as well. Sure, the show might be short with only nine shows in the whole performance but those nine songs were chosen wisely and each one serves a clear purpose (even if Haus of Holbein is a bit weird). The cast album is short and sweet and the songs sound like something you’d hear on the radio yet still have that magical musical theatre quality to them so what’s not to like?

No.6 It appreciates its alternates

The cast is terrific and if you don’t come out of the show wishing you were a part of that girl squad, you’re lying to yourself. And when I say cast, I mean the whole cast. Including the three fabulous alternates. Back when this current cast first took the show to the Edinburgh Fringe, quickly followed by its first run in London, there was one alternate, Grace Mouat, who covered every single queen. How? Some serious talent and presumably a bloody good memory. Since then, as the show’s grown so have the number of alternates. Now Grace is joined by Vicki Manser and Courtney Stapleton and for the first show where all three alternates were going to be on together, the Six Instagram shared a video hyping the audience up to see them all perform! No other shows do that! And they should! It’s created the nicest fandom in the West End. I never see any nasty tweets from people who were sad not to see the main cast because the alternates are so celebrated that audiences treat seeing the alternates like catching Pokémon – you want to see them all! That’s amazing and how I really think theatre should be.

Have I convinced you yet? Go book some tickets and listen to the songs – they’re all on Spotify waiting for you!

How can I see it?

Six is on at the Arts Theatre in London and will be going on a UK tour later this year.

There is also a production in Chicago at the Shakespeare Theatre.

Posted in Theatre

Emilia at the Vaudeville Theatre Review

Posted on by Georgia Haze

Last night I saw the last performance of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s Emilia at the Vaudeville Theatre. It was a play I’d been meaning to see for some time and ultimately I ended up leaving seeing it to literally me last opportunity but I’m so glad I didn’t miss out.

            Emilia tells the life story of Emilia Bassano Lanier, an Elizabethan poet and proto-feminist. She was one of the first published female poets in the English language and is thought to be the “Dark Lady” from Shakespeare’s sonnets. All this was pretty intriguing for me. If she was such an important figure in English literature, why had I never heard of her and why did she never even get a mention on my English Lit degree? Because her story has been silenced and her work forgotten for years.

            The play stars an all-female diverse cast of very talented women. The three actresses who played Emilia, who each took on the role for a different portion of her life, were fantastic. Saffron Coomber who played Emilia 1 took the character from a bright-eyed child, scared to go to court but still mostly untouched by tragedy to a grown woman who had experienced the unfairness of the world she was living in repeatedly and had faced great losses, both personal and professional. The part of the play when Saffron walks from the stage for Adelle Leonce to take her place as Emilia 2 was genuinely incredibly moving and I think it was this section that created the most humour. Seeing the stage transformed into the Globe (the show was performed at the Globe before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre so this scene must have been amazing to watch at the Globe itself) and the actors going into the boxes to watch a scene from Othello was brilliant. This scene created comedy and gave a lot of fuel to Emilia’s fire when Emilia 2 realises not only has Shakespeare stolen her words, he’d also put them into the mouth of one of his characters who is, unsubtly, called Emilia.

            It was Emilia 3, played by Clare Perkins, who had the most powerful speeches however. At the end of the show, her final monologue is more like a rally cry for women to not forget their history and to keep fighting for equality in their present and future. It’s a powerful moment which is followed by an amazing dance sequence which sees the whole cast punching the air and shouting.

            Overall I really loved the humour, history, quirkiness and raw emotion of the play. To see what Emilia went through, even creating a school to educate women, is so inspiring and I can’t praise the cast and creatives enough for bringing this incredible story to light and for making me feel so genuinely proud to be a woman.

            I do think the men were played more as caricatures than human beings most of the time but women have been for years so maybe it’s just evening the playing field. Shakespeare is still shown to be literary genius, I particularly liked the last exchange between Emilia and Will when he’s trying to make sense of her and Henry Carey is at least understanding of Emilia’s plight even if he’s still just interested in getting his leg over.

            I love the current focus on retelling the stories of women forgotten in history in London theatre right now in shows like Emilia, Six and Sylvia. And it’s not just these shows that are forming a feminist revolution on the stage, walking around the West End district you see female faces on so many theatres with the likes of Waitress, 9 to 5, Wicked and Tina on right now. It just feels like a good time to be a female theatre fan. Emilia was funny and inspiring and I hope it goes on to have a life beyond this short run at the Vaudeville so even more women can see it and hear Emilia’s incredible story.

Posted in Theatre

May 2019: Current Musical Theatre Jams

Posted on by Georgia Haze

It’s time for May’s top tunes. These are the MT songs have I been enjoying this month…

Livin’ It Up on Top – Hadestown

Well it’s like he said, I’m an outdoor girl.
Livin’ it, livin’ it up.
Married to the king of the Underworld.
Livin’ it up on top.
Trying to enjoy myself.
Livin’ it, livin’ it up.
Six months out of every twelve.
Livin’ it up on top.

I’m keeping this to one song per musical so this is the only Hadestown track to appear in May’s top five. But, seriously I’ve listened to so much Hadestown this month, I’m one step away from booking flights to New York. Livin’ It Up on Top is probably the song I’ve listened to the most from the original live cast recording. It’s fun, jazzy, funny and it’s got Amber Gray in it. What’s not to love? I just can’t wait for the new cast album to come out next week, I need it now (even though I think this song is really different in the Broadway version!). Check out my blog post on the Hadestown Live Cast Recording to read more about my love for this show.

I Don’t Need Your Love – Six

So I sent that letter to my love,
Got married to the king,
Became the one who survived.
I’ve told you about my life, the final wife.
But, why should that story be the one I have to sing about,
Just to win? I’m out.
That’s not my story.
There’s s much more, remember that I was a writer.
I wrote book and psalms and meditations.
Fought for female education,
So all my women could independently study scripture.
I even got a woman to paint my picture.
Why can’t I tell that story?
‘Cause in history, I’m fixed as one of six.
And without him I disappear.
We all disappear.

Just like Hadestown, I could probably put any Six song on this list since I’ve been loving them all lately but I said one song per show so I’m going with I Don’t Need Your Love. Not only is this a sad and powerful break-up song for Catherine Parr and her one true love (not Henry, obvs), it’s also a ode to the idea that women are way more than what the men in their lives have made them. Cathy P was basically a proto-feminist and this song has probably one of my favourite verses of any song ever. It’s strong, sassy and shows just how amazing and inspiring Parr was and how much of a shame it is that she’s been reduced to just the “one who survived” in history. Thank God Six is changing that. Thank you to our current English history Lord and saviours, Marlowe and Moss.

Somewhere That’s Green – Little Shop of Horrors

I’m his December bride.
His father, he knows best.
Our kids watch Howdy Doody
As the sun sets in the west.
A picture out of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
Far from Skid Row,
I dream we’ll go
Somewhere that’s green.

I feel like I’ve been rediscovering Little Shop of Horrors lately. I completely forgot how funny this show is. I really need to rewatch the film. I’ve been listening to Somewhere That’s Green a lot because it’s one of those songs that combines comedy with sincerity in a genuinely quite moving way. Poor Audrey, she just dreams of the simple things in life and a sweet little guy… like Seymour.

We See the Light – Something Rotten

We see the light.
You’ve changed how we’re thinking,
‘Cause we were blind but you showed us the way.
We’re wrong, you’re right.
Salvation is yours if you do what is true to you
And you do it with Luh-uh-uh-uh-ove.

Goddam is this a jam. Portia loves Nigel, Nigel loves Portia but her preacher dad is stopping them from running off into the sunset together so they imagine what it would be like if their families (and her dad’s whole congregation!) approved of their love and damn is it a tune. There are several real jams in Something Rotten but this has to be my absolute fave.

The Wizard and I – Wicked

Unlimited. My future is unlimited.
And I’ve just had a vision almost like a prophecy.
I know, it sounds truly crazy
And true the vision’s hazy.
But, I swear someday there’ll be
A celebration throughout Oz
That’s all to do with me!

I saw Wicked for the first time in years back in April and of all the songs in the show, this is the one that I left the theatre thinking “I need to listen to that one again”. It’s such a big song for Elphaba but it comes so early in the show that it almost gets forgotten about once the show gets to Defying Gravity but it really is quite a show-stopping moment when this song gets belted out. I won’t be skipping this song when I listen to Wicked ever again!

So there you have it, my favourite musical theatre jams from May. Check out my top April jams as well and thanks for reading!