Oh, to be in England
Jun. 18th, 2003 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakBeing in London gives me a rush, each time. Of course it's bad for my purse; between the theatres, the book stores and the Virgin and Towers stores, I'm doomed. But happily so.
The flight arrived on time which for Heathrow is nothing short of amazing. No endless circles in the air while waiting for a free corridor. Coming from a heat wave in Germany to clouded sky and cool air in Britain was refreshing, literally.
Not that I spent that much time outside, because hey, bookstores. And DVDs. They've got "I, Claudius" on DVD, the complete series, interviews with cast and crew AND the documentary "The Epic that never was" about the unfinished Korda film version of "I, Claudius." Resistance was futile. Historical novels happen to be something more than a hobby to me, so I've read quite a few, and Robert Graves' "I, Claudius" is still a favourite. But what the BBC did with it is the rare, very rare case where a TV version not only does justice to its source but actually manages to improve it in parts. I'd put it on a par with any of the Sci-Fi and Fantasy tv shows I've raved about here; the dialogue is razor-sharp, the acting is brilliant (by everyone involved, but Derek Jacobi, going from Claudius as a teenager to Claudius as an old man, making the painful shyness and clumsiness as real as the quiet intelligence beneath, Sian Philipps as Livia, ruthless, brilliant and the true founder of the Empire, and John Hurt as Caligula are particularily outstanding. There is one scene featuring the three of them, shortly before Livia's death, which takes my breath away to this day.
Trivia alert: reading an interview with Sian Philipps a couple of months ago, I realised that she had been involved with and married to Robin Sachs (after a long marriage with Peter O'Toole). The image of the Empress Livia and Ethan Rayne is only slightly more bizarre than Livia and Lawrence of Arabia.
Second trivia: and then there's Patrick Stewart as Sejanus, competing in evil, sexy ruthlessness with the rest of the cast. Drool.
Aside from finding "I, Claudius", the highlight of my day was meeting up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rozk for tea, dinner and raiding bookstores. Note to self: remember Roz whenever you get irritated with fandom. I first "met" her through a Buffy discussion list, and she turned out to be one of the smartest, wittiest and unabashedly enthusiastic people I've ever had the pleasure to encounter.
The flight arrived on time which for Heathrow is nothing short of amazing. No endless circles in the air while waiting for a free corridor. Coming from a heat wave in Germany to clouded sky and cool air in Britain was refreshing, literally.
Not that I spent that much time outside, because hey, bookstores. And DVDs. They've got "I, Claudius" on DVD, the complete series, interviews with cast and crew AND the documentary "The Epic that never was" about the unfinished Korda film version of "I, Claudius." Resistance was futile. Historical novels happen to be something more than a hobby to me, so I've read quite a few, and Robert Graves' "I, Claudius" is still a favourite. But what the BBC did with it is the rare, very rare case where a TV version not only does justice to its source but actually manages to improve it in parts. I'd put it on a par with any of the Sci-Fi and Fantasy tv shows I've raved about here; the dialogue is razor-sharp, the acting is brilliant (by everyone involved, but Derek Jacobi, going from Claudius as a teenager to Claudius as an old man, making the painful shyness and clumsiness as real as the quiet intelligence beneath, Sian Philipps as Livia, ruthless, brilliant and the true founder of the Empire, and John Hurt as Caligula are particularily outstanding. There is one scene featuring the three of them, shortly before Livia's death, which takes my breath away to this day.
Trivia alert: reading an interview with Sian Philipps a couple of months ago, I realised that she had been involved with and married to Robin Sachs (after a long marriage with Peter O'Toole). The image of the Empress Livia and Ethan Rayne is only slightly more bizarre than Livia and Lawrence of Arabia.
Second trivia: and then there's Patrick Stewart as Sejanus, competing in evil, sexy ruthlessness with the rest of the cast. Drool.
Aside from finding "I, Claudius", the highlight of my day was meeting up with
rozk for tea, dinner and raiding bookstores. Note to self: remember Roz whenever you get irritated with fandom. I first "met" her through a Buffy discussion list, and she turned out to be one of the smartest, wittiest and unabashedly enthusiastic people I've ever had the pleasure to encounter.
