10/22/2105
Stephanie, Patricia's daughter, and I went to the Science Museum and V&A today. She took me via the back streets to the Russell Square tube station, which she says is closer to the apartment than King's Cross. Guess I never bothered checking! There's significantly less people at the Russell Square stop too, so you don't feel like a salmon swimming upriver.
 |
| Churchill |
The Churchill's
Scientists exhibit at the Science Museum was pretty interesting. One of the most prominent scientists of the time, known as
"The Prof", became Churchill's good friend and later counseled on
post-war science programs in the UK. He was a vegetarian so whenever he came
around, Churchill would say "Beetroot is coming."
Love this poster! Our society is so wasteful today. Just think of the severe rationing they had to endure during the war!
 |
| Churchill's cigar |
After the Science Museum, we headed over to the V&A Fabric of India
exhibit, which was so incredibly massive, even I got museumed-out for the
day. It does a great job of explaining how India makes textiles and how
important a role Indian fabrics played on an international scale in centuries
past. In the 1800s, the Dutch were complaining because Indian textiles
dominated the fabric trade. India could produce beautiful cloths on the cheap,
which contributed to why it became a global powerhouse for textiles. Plus the
Western fascination with Eastern patterns...this was reciprocated by the
Indians. The rulers would often wear Western clothes at court to show off (to
them) exotic styles. One visiting Western king gave the nawab (Indian king) a
traditionally styled red velvet gold crown, and soon all the nawabs were
copying this...with fabric crowns. If you look from far away, you can't even
really tell it's fabric!
But when England
learned how to manufacture cotton cloths and silk on the cheap too, British
manufacturers began campaigning "Buy British". Indian manufacturing
went on a spiral of a decline. A lot of people lost their jobs and were
displaced. Disenchanted, until Gandhi comes along and rallies the people to
independence. So in a way, the rise and fall of their fabric production led to
India becoming an independent country! Gandhi believed in village economies in
which each village produces enough to sustain itself. He believed that this, as
opposed to mass production, would save his country. So he encouraged trade
among different people in each village. One cheap way to do this is to make
khandi (might've misspelled) fabric. Gandhi believed in this so much, he began
wearing the fabric everywhere as a promotional tool. When he arrived in the UK
wearing the khandi to plead for independence, Churchill realized this and
complained that Gandhi was using unfair political propaganda by showing up as
"a half-naked man." Indeed, the first flag for independent India has
a spinner on it to signify the importance textiles had for helping them regain
their country.
Oh, and as we were
walking around the exhibit, we see a man (late 20s) dressed in a top hat, brown
fur-lined navy wool trenchcoat, waistcoat, trousers...much like a full-on
Sherlock Holmes regalia (Guy Ritchie version). Everyone was whispering about
him, curious why he was dressed that way. I just zeroed in on where did he get
that tophat??? I want one too! So I went up and asked. He said Brighton.
Dammit. There's a vintage store there that he frequents. Brighton. Bright. On.
Argh.
At night, I went to
see Gypsy with Imelda Staunton:
As predicted, she was laugh out loud funny! She has such comedic timing--one minute she's screaming, the next she's calm, the next second she's preening, then scowling, then scolding. It's very entertaining watching her careen back and forth. And I didn't know she sings! Her voice is so beautiful, I can't believe she's not a singer. But I guess the acting world would be a sad place without her in it--she's that good! The true story is based on Gypsy Rose, a burlesque headliner in the 1920s. But the musical centers more on the ambitious show business mother pushing her two daughters, always demanding more of them, and the consequences of that. It's a comedy (like Elder Price's "Me" song, Imelda Staunton has a song along those veins--it's because she's the one who has always wanted to be a star, but couldn't. So she's transferring all her hopes onto her daughters). They start out in Seattle, so all the actors have American accents. I couldn't even tell it was Imelda, she was that good. She definitely got down the 1920s-40s American speech down, and can change from nagging mother to sultry seductress in the blink of an eye. I love her!
At first, I thought the seat was terrible because a boy's head was blocking my view. We're very high up and if they had staged it any closer to the edge of the stage, that might have been the case where all I'd see is the boy's head for the rest of the performance. But since they staged it quite in the back, I could see everything clearly.
After the 3rd encore, the actors just left the stage. I thought Imelda would talk a little about the charity they will be collecting for, but nope.
London is very packed this week. It usually takes me 40 minutes to walk from our apartment to The Strand; it's a nice walk with several Sainsbury's, etc. I thought I'd go home via tube tonight because I was carrying M&S Viennese boxes with me, but the tube was so congested, it took me 40 minutes to get home! I should've just walked the thing! Going down to the Piccadilly line was nearly impossible. It was just a bunch of sardines packed in a can and nowhere to go. The guard finally opened up the Way Out pathway to divert traffic down to the trains. :T
 |
| Rugby World Cup 2015 |
No comments:
Post a Comment