My name's at the bottom, but I'm nowhere to be found

[sovay]

I had no idea of the origins of the word "bumf." Leo Marks in Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941–1945 (1998) spells it "bumph" and uses it to mean paperwork, busywork, bureaucratic static of all kinds. The change in spelling, of course, makes it harder to link to its etymology, but I bet he would have agreed thoroughly if he'd known.

I wish I had seen any of these instances of cross-cast female Shakespeare. So many of these productions look so great.

Somehow this is also a busy week and I have a really sore throat, which I am uneasily not confident is all the product of accidentally inhaling a piece of almond peanut butter cup last night. I swear I wouldn't die if I got a break. I might even enjoy it.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

I knew that! (*coughs* Sorry, this is just so rarely true. :-D)

I haven't seen any of those productions, but I have seen pics of a lot of them about before. It's very cool.

[sovay]

Sorry, this is just so rarely true.

You're allowed to be pleased about knowing things!

I haven't seen any of those productions, but I have seen pics of a lot of them about before.

About half of them were new to me, and some of the new ones were the most compelling-looking—that Troilus and Cressida? Henry IV? Othello? Maybe there are recordings.

[moon_custafer]

Agamemnon, in that Troilus and Cressida, looks awfully like Doc Brown after a trip to the Mad Max timeline.

[sovay]

Agamemnon, in that Troilus and Cressida, looks awfully like Doc Brown after a trip to the Mad Max timeline.

That is Suzanne Bertish, who was part of the amazing 1980 RSC Nicholas Nickleby that I never wrote about except for the one character. I have to say it looks good on her.

[rydra_wong]

There is absolutely a recording of the Henry IV, and the Julius Caesar and Tempest that were the other two of the Donmar's all-women trilogy -- they were filmed for the BBC. So hopefully at some point you will be able to see them!

(I saw it live and it was stunning.)

Am immediately going to start scheming to get hold of tickets for Timon; I have had the privilege to see two extraordinary actors (Michael Pennington and Simon Russell Beale) knock it out of the park as Timon, and Hunter is remarkable enough that she could well be a third ...

[rydra_wong]

P.S. please enjoy these photos of Ruth Negga as Hamlet:

http://fuckyeahhamlet.tumblr.com/post/178606943077/gael-garcia-first-images-of-ruth-negga-as-hamlet
http://gael-garcia.tumblr.com/post/180144167523/ruth-negga-as-hamlet-gate-theatre-dublin

[sovay]

P.S. please enjoy these photos of Ruth Negga as Hamlet

I've seen those! I believe I spammed selkie with them as fast as my fingers could type.

[rydra_wong]

GOOD GOOD. I suddenly realized that you needed to see them and it would be an incorrectness in in the world if you had not!

[selkie]

YES MHMM CORRECT AND APPROPRIATELY SO

[sovay]

There is absolutely a recording of the Henry IV, and the Julius Caesar and Tempest that were the other two of the Donmar's all-women trilogy -- they were filmed for the BBC.

Excellent! I remember when their Julius Caesar went up; it had Harriet Walter, so I paid attention, but I was still on the wrong side of the ocean to do anything about it. I look forward now to her Prospero as well.

(I saw it live and it was stunning.)

(I'm so glad.)

I have had the privilege to see two extraordinary actors (Michael Pennington and Simon Russell Beale) knock it out of the park as Timon

Oh, nice. I have seen one production of Timon of Athens; I took very bad notes on it and I loved it. It also had one of the great pre-show warnings I have ever seen in a theater: "Warning: set will collapse partway through show." It did.

[lauradi7dw]

I saw the Henry iv at the Donmar. Walter was good, of course, but some of the others were extraordinary. I didn't care much for the framing (set in a women's prison, which included having the ushers dressed as guards)
Saw Terry's Hamlet at the Globe this summer.

[thisbluespirit]

There do seem to be a lot of recordings about these days! Those were all major productions - I know the Globe does recordings, and the Royal Exchange and the RSC, so probably most if not all of them are out there somewhere. *nods*

[ethelmay]

I knew bumf was from toilet paper, but had forgotten why.

[sovay]

I knew bumf was from toilet paper, but had forgotten why.

I always saw it with Marks' spelling. It made perfect sense as the kind of onomatopoeia to describe make-work in triplicate that just takes up space.

[cmcmck]

Generally still spelled 'bumph' here in the UK.

I believe it was originally a slang term for toilet paper but the meaning shifted.

[sovay]

I believe it was originally a slang term for toilet paper but the meaning shifted.

That's what it said in the tweet. I was reading spatch's Twitter over his shoulder and said, "Wait, scroll back . . ."

[gwynnega]

I misread your link as "cross-cats female Shakespeare" and was expecting cats in Elizabethan garb.

I hope your throat feels better soon.

[sovay]

I misread your link as "cross-cats female Shakespeare" and was expecting cats in Elizabethan garb.

I'm sorry, that really makes me think of a book I grew up on: Janis Mitchell's The Hamster Ballet Company (1986).

(It was my introduction to most of the major ballets.)

I hope your throat feels better soon.

Thank you.

[nineweaving]

Those balletic hamsters look adorable.

I hope your throat responds to soothing potations (honey and lemon? toddies? iced drinks?).

Nine

[sovay]

I hope your throat responds to soothing potations (honey and lemon? toddies? iced drinks?).

Thank you. I had to do a three-and-a-half-hour rehearsal on nothing but hot water and cough drops, but I seem to have survived. I am now home and not talking extensively to people.

[selkie]

Leo Marks! Always thematic!

*sends more juniper berries in rectified spirits* Gargle?

[sovay]

Leo Marks! Always thematic!

Especially now!

Gargle?

Hit me again!

[nineweaving]

Bumf is the sort of thing I know about.

Those productions look amazing. I have checked the Globe shop wistfully, but nothing yet.

Nine

[sovay]

Bumf is the sort of thing I know about.

I should have expected nothing less.

Those productions look amazing. I have checked the Globe shop wistfully, but nothing yet.

Do you have (or do you know someone who has) access to BBC iPlayer? Because if so, the Donmar Warehouse Shakespeare can be streamed.

[thanate]

That will now be forever linked in my brain with "bumfe" (pronounced "bum-fee") which my father's submarine crew came up with as a code-name for the "big ugly MF elephants" that the officers' wives (with the exception of my mother) all insisted on getting while visiting Hong Kong in the early 1970s.

[sovay]

"bumfe" (pronounced "bum-fee") which my father's submarine crew came up with as a code-name for the "big ugly MF elephants" that the officers' wives (with the exception of my mother) all insisted on getting while visiting Hong Kong in the early 1970s.

That's an amazing acronym.