22 December 2015

Flyrights are here. We met on the Azura in September.We met on the Queen Elizabeth in November.We meet again on the Oceana. But I will not be going to see their performance tonight.The Oceana has two lovely theatres-at the back of the ship, STARLIGHTS, at the front of the ship, FOOTLIGHTS.Tonight is a formal night,it means a black tie and fancy gladrags, and I will be going to see the Headliners Theatre Company and their GOTTA SING,GOTTA DANCE in the Footlights at 8.30. What am I going to wear on this very first night, when the most important impressions are made? With me it is always a last minute decision. On Sunday there was my favourite adaptation of Jane Austen's book Persuasion. In fact this particular 1995 BBC period drama is my absolute favourite of all the small screen adaptations of her books, Amanda Root as the protagonist Anne Elliot and Ciaran Hinds as captain Wentworth.It is the most understated yet superb work.There is nothing to equal it,except,of course, my favourite film Pride and Prejudice with Lawrence Olivier and Greer Garson.I am totally and completely in love with the film.Greer was such an adorable Elizabeth,her mouth quite enchanting.My dear friend Emily has mouth like that-kind of slightly pinched.Lily James who played Cinderella, has a strange mouth,too,it is passable enough, when she smiles and says very little, but when she speaks fast,the lips take this ugly shape and go on a journey of their own. Of course she cannot help it,we are what we are.Lilly is beautiful,but she should be seen and not heard.Now she has been chosen to play Natasha Rostova in a War and Peace production of the BBC.No,please no. Nothing that has been done by any-one but the Russians as far as any Russian novel is concerned, has been any good, no film,no TV adaptation.The best book ever written, the masterpiece never equaled, Master and Margarita by Bulgakov,has never been anything but a novel.And thank God for it.I would hate to see it mutilated and turned into a Hollywood horror.Or a BBC money spinner.