My sister as Lady Bracknell
I drove down to Aylesford this evening after Mass to see my sister Sarah playing Lady Bracknell. Each summer, the Hazlitt Theatre and Changeling Theatre Company put on a programme of open air performances of Shakespeare. Unfortunately, I was not able to get to any of the venues to see Macbeth which is running on the programme alongside The Importance of Being Earnest. As the publicity puts it:
Hard to believe that these two cornerstones of the British theatrical firmament are not regularly presented as a double act. Not hard to believe, however, that the Hazlitt/Changeling combo are the ones to do it.Biased as I am, I cannot refrain from congratulating Sarah on a superb performance. (The other actors in the company were all very good as well, you understand.) It must be a coveted role to play. Everybody knows the lines "A handbag" and "to lose one parent etc." but the part has many gems. One I particularly like:
I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.