Two words. Sput. Nik.

Hullo!  Would you like to be introduced to my new dress?

Isn't it awful?  It's got a print like a hotel carpet, and it's ORANGE and BLUE.  I found it on the very last page of the Joy sale, and it was love at first sight.  Here it is on me:

I probably shouldn't wear it with blue tights, but I'm going to anyway, so there.

 

Despite the short hemline and overall polyesteriness of this dress, there is something very 1950s-child about it.  The russety colour and the shape of the piping on the chest make me feel I should run around playing cowboys and indians, whilst those sticky-outy Star Trek cap sleeves give it a bit of '50s Atomic style.  Cowboys and Spacemen in one.

 

So, essentially, I'm Toy Story 2 in a dress.

Brilliant!

 

 

I removed the hair-bow before I went out. It was too girly, and I'm not a girl, I'm a cowboy!

 

AND, my 1950s-childhood cup of joy is overflowing because Cath Kidston has finally made my cowboy handbag dreams come true!

 

 

Yee-ha!

 

 

(Also, P.S., many thanks to everyone who said nice things to me following my last blahg post.  I felt a bit twatty publishing it, but I'm glad I did.  You're all nice, and I'm a lucky Bette.)

 



Flouncing around

 

Do you know that when I was a little girl I was a proud tomboy?

 

 

Between the ages of 9 and 13 I did not once wear a dress.

 

I climbed trees and refused to brush my hair and dreamed of being a Gladiator when I grew up.

 

To this day I can't bear to wear pink.

 

 

Today, this post is brought to you by my all-consuming love for the feminine frills of my flouncy petticoat.

 

Funny, innit?

 

(As a post-script, I present a toilet's-eye-view of my beautiful petticoat hanging up to dry over the bath.  SO MANY LAYERS!)

 

 

 

Queen for a Day

"Why Hamlet, dear, you've written us a play..."

"Nothing lasts forever in the theatre.  Whatever it is, it's here, it flares up, burns hot - and then it's gone."


Another production has been and gone.  Or rather, has chugged along unassumingly for months, has sputtered and fizzled a bit, has exploded into glory, and has suddenly, unbelievably, ceased to exist.

I've said it before, I know, but putting on a show is an emotional bloody rollercoaster.  Nowhere else do you experience such completely consuming glee and glumness within such a short space of time.  No flippin' wonder we're all tired, cast-mates!

Truthfully, the Post-Show Bereavement isn't too strong right now.  (There's a lot to be said for a full-time job - I get the after-show blues far less devastatingly now than I did in my student days!)  Everyone is a little sad it's over, and Facebook is comfortingly flooded with photos and reminiscences.  I think the saddest thing is actually the knowledge that the glumness will quickly fade, because with it goes the excitement, too.  I'll always have my memories of this brilliant week, but how much will they mean to me, three weeks, three months, or a year from now? 

In February, you remember, I was in two big-scale shows within two weeks.  I had two scores, two librettos, two costumes, two casts, two opening nights and two final ever nights, and two consecutive Sunday mornings brought fresh show-hangovers.  It was a double whammy, a rollover, of everything I love and hate about performing, and how many times a week does that crazy, exhilerating, exhausting fortnight cross my mind now, four months later?  Hardly ever.  Two months from now I shall be home from Buxton and bitterly mourning Iolanthe, while A Tale of Two Hamlets will be a dusty old has-been of a memory.  Every show is the best one there ever was; every, every time.  Each new one pushes the previous ones further back and knocks off a bit more of their ancient sparkle.  Show-business, my friends, is fickle and heartless! 

In the grand scheme of all the shows in my past, and all the shows I hope will be in my future, it was small fry.  But while it was here it was a cracker, and worth celebrating.  Commemorating, if you like, since we're on a royal theme.  The best one there ever was, for now at least.  Queen for a Day.

Hmm.  Introspective eloquence an unexpected side-effect of post-show blues?  This lengthy blog post has been maudlin and self-indulgent, but I quite like it!  Makes a change from the wittering you get when I talk about dresses and lipstick, at any rate!

Dress rehearsal photographs of A Tale of Two Hamlets taken by my candy-floss-haired chum Liffy Wood.

Cool Brittania

Hello viewers, here is the one thousandth Jubilee-themed blog post you will have seen this week.

We kicked off the jubilations on Friday with a red, white and blue non-uniform day at school.  I'm usually wearing some patriotic combination of those colours on any given day, so I tried to think of something to give my outfit a little extra something to bring it from everyday clothes to dressing-up-at-work funtimes.  My accessory of choice turned out to be...

...white tights!

I swear, each time I have to grudgingly pay good money for a show-costume accessory, adamant that I will never wear said item again, it always ends up coming in useful at the most surprising of moments!

All day I was compared to either Snow White or Alice in Wonderland, which was rather flattering!

Red shoes: Charity frock swap

Red belt: Christmas present a hundred million years ago

Red lipstick:  Jemma Kidd

White tights: Can't 'member.

White blousey thing: Jumble sale

White pearls: Market stall in Bulgaria

White hair flower: No idea.

Blue dress:  Dorothy Perkins.

Blue eyes: model's own!

I think I looked swell, but all day I had dress jealousy.  Imagine being surrounded by hundreds of small girls, all in full-skirted, polka-dotted, striped or Union-Jack-ed red, white and blue dresses, cardis, socks and shoes!  We have some very well-turned-out children at our place!  I must say though, it made me very sad that almost all the little boys' contribution to the theme was an England football kit.  Words can not describe how much I hate, loathe and despise football.

Anyway, after one of those brilliant work days where by morning playtime you're already able to say that the amount of cake eaten has far surpassed the amount of work done, I turned my back on school for a whole week. (Which is almost over already!)

On Saturday I journeyed down to the capital to see Alexa's new house, celebrate her birthday and, of course, to see the Queen!

There she is!

It was chilly and drizzly down at the Thames river pageant, but we had a jolly good time.  We saw all of the action on a big screen, and when the flotilla finally reached our bit of the river the crowd got really excited.  It was all very infectious.  When her Majesty's barge went by, everybody got the giggles!  Here are a couple more snaps:

And then I came home and dressed up like the Queen.

(disclaimer: there was an actual good reason behind this!)

What I Wore Today (Selection of garments, no particular order)

Pyjamas
Snow boots
Fur coat
Mob cap
'Generic Victorian Lady' blouse
LEGGINGS AS TROUSERS
Character shoes
Black tights
White tights
Piratey belt
Hoodie
Slippers

Yes, you've guessed it, it's show time again.  I'm currently in the final days of "I'm sorry, I can't come, I've got rehearsal", and the curtain rises for realz on Tuesday.  This year I'm being particularly idiotic and performing in TWO different Gilbert and Sullivan shows, in two different cities, on two consecutive weeks.  So it's medieval aestheticism (I'm playing Lady Angela in Patience - just WAIT until I show you a picture of that costume!) next week, and Isabel in the jolly old Pirates of Penzance the week after that.  Expect a few boring "This one time I was on the stage, look at all of these pictures of me being on the stage" posts in the near future!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go and move a hook and eye a vital centimetre, attempt some amateur millinery, and brush up on my rag curling prowess.  On with the show!

In Hollywood Minnie travelled far, They changed her name to Minnie LaMarr

Polkadots.  My wardrobe is bursting with them. (See?)  Most of 'em are red and white.

Dressing up.  I heart it.  Particularly when there are alcoholic drinks, cameras and my bestest chums present.

Small wonder, then, that when I hear the siren call of a fancy-dress party I frequently fall back on my favourite costume, the ever-stylish Miss Mouse.

When I was very little I had a treasured Minnie Mouse dress.  It was t-shirty, and the skirt was red and white stripes and the top had a picture of the Mouse herself chalking "I <3 Mickey" onto the wall.  I loved it! 

Well, we're not going quite that far back in time with this pictorial Toast Post, but we are going time-travelling.  Here is youthful me as Minnie Mouse way back in 2007, and ginger me as Minnie Mouse in 2009...

I made those ears out of coloured card and a polkadot headband, wore them twice, carried them through four house-moves, and then dug them out once more for last month's 'Kayleigh's moving away, so let's all dress up as cartoon characters and get drunk' party.

Oops.

So Magic Box it was, then, for some generic mouse ears that were too big for my head, and an irritating sponge mouse nose that Simon made me buy even though it kept falling off and it smelt bad.  Oh, and I finally found a use for my silly dungaree skirt. Behold!



Squeak squeak!



The night is bitter, the stars have lost their glitter

Oh mannn, how have I been SO absent from this little haven of narcissism?  I have gone almost a month without talking about, or posting gratuitous photographs of, myself!  Let me rectify that immediately:

During my radio silence, I seem to have gone up to 46 followers.  Jiminy!  Hello, new friends-on-the-Internet!

I have got a post about cartoon mice in the pipeline for you, which will maybe go up this weekend, if I can be mithered.

Here is another photograph, in homage to my new red trousers (My little Oasis problem strikes again)

I went to see 'End of the Rainbow' on Friday night, which was excellent, although not exactly a barrel of laughs.  I was so captivated by Judy's costumes, all sequin twin-sets and huge neck scarves, that when it came to dressing to go out on Saturday night, I couldn't help but try to evoke a little 'late-'60s cabaret' with my outfit.  Turns out I've got woefully few sequinned items in my repertoire, so this was the best I could do.  Not terribly Judy, but I like it anyway.

Of course, I couldn't resist having a go at the Signature Judy Hand, as demonstrated so marvellously by both Tracie Bennett and the lady herself...

She came to a sticky end alright, but WHAT a performer.

Colourblock

One, Two, Three

One

Two

Three

I like my Dorothy Perkins colourful dresses. I like bright tights and plastic jewellery, too.

Best of all I like convincing Kayleigh to buy one two as well and going to parties as creepy awesome twins.

 

(Should have been red shoes, I know... 

There was a complicated tights situation that you just wouldn't understand.)

 Sunday Girl necklaces, naturally.

Miss you already, Ginger McDramaQueen.