#Blitz: The playwright

[hesbuckcompton-baby]

Notes on historical context

A huge part of fic writing in the HBO War fandom lies in historical research - I'm sure my writer friends can all attest to this - and it's personally one of my favourite parts of the whole process! As a result, I've decided to compile a few notes on the history used in my two current MoTA fics; I'm Your Man and Better Off

I'm aware this probably isn't interesting to a lot of people, but to any kindred spirits I hope you enjoy 😂

I'm Your Man

Frankie's hometown - Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town in the county of Warwickshire in the English West Midlands, which has existed as a settlements since the Roman occupation, but is particularly notable for being the birthplace of famous playwright William Shakespeare. The house in which Shakespeare grew up in remains a popular tourist attraction, evidencing visits from several notable writers including Charles Dickens and Lord Byron.

The Coventry Blitz

In Chapter 4, Frankie references the Coventry Blitz - a series of bombing raids between 1940-42, most notably on the night of 14th November 1940. In a single night, two-thirds of the city's buildings were damaged or destroyed, making it the most concentrated bombing of an English city in the entire war. In the aftermath, the word 'Coventration' was coined by Joseph Goebells to refer to the act of completely destroying a city through aerial attacks. I have spoken to people who lived in the towns around Coventry during this time who recall large groups of displaced families walking from town to town in search of shelter, as the destruction of housing was so extensive that people could not remain within the city.

Rationing

In the first few chapters, Frankie makes several references to the state of food rationing in 1943. Throughout the Second World War, food supply in the UK was severely limited due to its reliance on imports, and the economic state was so dire following the war that Britain continued rationing until 1954. Huge campaigns were introduced encouraging people to grow and supply their own food, and many commodities became unavailable due to shortages in certain ingredients. One such example was the production of Cadbury's chocolate, which had to be altered to 'Ration chocolate' due to milk shortages.

The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford

In Chapter 7, Frankie is seen reading The Young Visiters, a hugely popular book published in 1919. The book's charm and popularity came from its author, as Daisy Ashford was allegedly only nine years old at the time of publication, and her unconventional writing and youthful misunderstanding of Victorian high society lend to the book's rather bizarre sense of humour.

Education

In Chapter 6, Rosie learns to his surprise that Frankie has not attended school since she was 14 years old. Under the 1918 Education Act, the school leaving age was raised from 12 to 14 years old, with high drop-out rates due to the inaccessibility of many schools to the working class.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Better Off

The ATS

The Auxiliary Territorial Service was active from 1938, and operated as the women's branch of the British Army until it was absorbed into the Women's Royal Army Corps in 1949. The National Service Act of 1941 called for all unmarried women between the ages of 20 and 30 to join one of Britain's auxiliary services, and by 1943 nine of out every ten women were taking an active role in the war effort. Due to manpower shortages, many ATS women took on roles in radar and anti-aircraft defense, resulting over 700 casualties throughout the war. Most notable of the ATS volunteers was Princess Elizabeth Windsor (later Elizabeth II), who worked as a mechanic as well as driving lorries and ambulances.

The Manchester Blitz

The attack which killed Susie's sister Ellie was a part of a series of bombing raids known as the Manchester Blitz, which took place between 1940 and 1942. Manchester and its surrounding towns were key for war production, and as such targeted heavily by the Luftwaffe, resulting in approximately 1,000 deaths. The nights of the 22nd and 23rd of December 1940 were the most devastating attacks on Manchester during the war, with more than 450 tons of explosives dropped across the two consecutive nights.

Back-to-back houses

The home that Susie's family were raised in was part of a large wave of construction in the UK of so-called 'back-to-backs', designed to support the huge influx of working-class families moving into urban areas during the Industrial Revolution. Back-to-backs were built quickly and cheaply, and named due to their shared back walls, which saw one row of houses facing the street and another rear row facing either another road or an interior courtyard. These houses were often very cramped, with only one room per floor, and usually had two to three stories, occasionally with a cellar too.

It was rare for back-to-backs to accommodate indoor plumbing, with washhouses and toilets located outside in the yards. Due to poor living conditions, the construction of new back-to-backs was forbidden in 1909 after a report discovered mortality rates to be significantly higher than those of people living in other styles of housing. Waves of slum clearance before and after the Second World War saw the numbers of back-to-backs decline rapidly, and Leeds remains the only area of England that still contains large numbers of livable back-to-backs. The only surviving courtyard back-to-backs now exist in Birmingham, preserved as a museum.

[blackinperiodfilms]

The Color Purple | Official Trailer 2

Experience the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond in The Color Purple.

This bold new take on the beloved classic is directed by Blitz Bazawule. The screenplay is by acclaimed playwright Marcus Gardley. His script is based on the novel by Alice Walker and based on the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.

The Color Purple only in theaters December 25.

[rabtbooktoursandpr]

Book Blitz: To Sing Like a Mockingbird by Jan Notzon #literary #fiction #giveaway #rabtbooktours @jannotzon

    Literary Fiction Date Published: 01-13-2025     In a school/reformatory, a teacher fights his own loss of faith in the power of education and the twin assaults of drug cartels, their hired assassins among his students. and the blind idealism of his principal.     About the Author Jan Notzon is a novelist and playwright in Charlotte, NC. His first novel, The Dogs Barking, is a coming-of-age story set in a sleepy backwater Texas border town in the 1950s. And Ye Shall Be As Gods, recounts a brother’s fight to rescue his sister from the clutches of despair and his lost love from catatonia. The Id Paradox, is the story of three friends, assumed betrayal, rescue and healing from the horrors of spiritual annihilation.  Song for The Forsaken chronicles the tale of two sisters and the loss of faith that tests the bond between them. Suffer Not the Mole People, is the story of a family's travails as they make their way from Poland to the United States in 1866. ONLY THE DEAD tells the personal stories of three families, one Anglo and two Mexican as they participate in the establishment of the Mexican and Texas Republics. His seventh novel To Sing Like a Mockingbird is now available on Amazon.   Contact Links Website Facebook Twitter Goodreads Instagram   Purchase Link Amazon     a Rafflecopter giveaway  via https://ift.tt/pn3AD7r

[cocktailsfairytales]

Eva is Waiting

by Romola Farr

Publication date: February 14th 2025

Genres: Adult, Historical, Thriller

Synopsis:

Following the death of her mother, Lily is sent to a remote girls’ boarding school, tearing her away from all the excitement of London in the Swingin’ Sixties. Bereft, she develops a relationship with Rainer, the husband of Sylvia, the headmistress.

One day, Bella, the school Collie, goes missing whilst playing on the shore below sheer cliffs. Despite a rising tide, Lily is determined to find the beautiful dog and discovers her trapped between rocks in a cave. Deepening water swirls around them as her fingertips dig into the sand and touch the smooth surface of what she believes to be an animal skull. From that moment on, she is haunted by a young girl pleading for help.

Lily speaks to her headmistress and learns that eleven years previously a pupil went missing. Eva was a refugee from Hungary, and it was assumed by the police that she had run away.

Forced to stay on at school during the Christmas holiday, Lily is caught between those who know what really happened and wish to silence her, and her determination to end Eva’s wait for justice.

But is history about to repeat itself?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228007043-eva-is-waiting

Purchase:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/43EhJVc

AUTHOR BIO:

Romola Farr first trod the boards on the West End stage aged sixteen and continued to work for the next eighteen years in theatre, TV and film - and as a photographic model. A trip to Hollywood led to the sale of her first screenplay and a successful change of direction as a screenwriter and playwright. Bridge To Eternity was her debut novel, and Breaking through the Shadows and Where the Water Flows are standalone sequels. All are set in the fictional town of Hawksmead.

Romola Farr is a nom de plume.

Author links:

https://x.com/romolafarr

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18970006.Romola_Farr

GIVEAWAY

Blitz-wide giveaway (INT)

$25 Amazon gift card

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d04251235947/

Hosted by Xpresso Book Tours

[markbringelson]

Luca Guadagnino's new film is EVERYWHERE on my internet this morning. Blitz! Here is a very good piece on the writer.

[thenextchapterbegins]

to blitz: △ who was your 1st kill as the playwright?

Send me a △ and ask a really invasive question aimed at my character

"honestly this is a 1. whilst i did kill some assholes, my kills were sloppy, i didnt have a true direction i was angry, i consider the start of my career in honest was my father. that was the kill that brought me into my purpose. only sad thing about it is i cant do it twice."

[bobmccullochny]

History

December 29, 1170 - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by four knights acting on orders from England's King Henry II.

December 29, 1890 - Members of the U.S. 7th Cavalry massacred more than 200 Native American (Sioux) men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota.

December 29-30, 1916 - In the waning days of the Romanov dynasty, Russian 'monk' Rasputin (Grigory Yefimovich Novykh) was assassinated. A group of conspirators had lured him to a private home then poisoned and shot him, although he did not die. They then tied him up and threw him into the Neva River, in which he drowned. Rasputin had gained enormous influence with Russian Emperor Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra, claiming Divine inspiration and the ability to perform miracles, especially in helping young Nicky, the Czar's son who was a hemophiliac. He also urged severe measures in dealing with the peasant masses and for a time had virtually dictated government policy.

December 29, 1940 - During the Blitz, German aircraft dropped thousands of incendiary bombs on the center of London, causing the worst fire damage since the great fire of 1666. St. Paul's Cathedral survived but eight other Wren churches along with the Guildhall and Old Bailey were badly damaged.

December 29, 1965 - During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh rejected unconditional peace talks offered by the U.S.

December 29, 1989 - Playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel was sworn in as president of Czechoslovakia. He had formerly been denounced by Czech Communists as an enemy of the state and had spent five years in jail for his beliefs.

Birthday - Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) the 17th U.S. President was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was Abraham Lincoln's vice president and became President upon Lincoln's assassination in 1865. He went on to become the first President impeached by the House of Representatives. He was acquitted in the Senate by a single vote. He later served briefly as a Senator from Tennessee until his death on July 31, 1875.

Birthday - Cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was born in Venrdell, Spain. He was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century whose superb ability in playing the cello set new performance standards.

[justforbooks]

In a brief biographical sketch, the crime writer Christopher Fowler, who has died aged 69, claimed he had achieved several of his “pathetic schoolboy fantasies”: releasing an “appalling” Christmas pop single; working as a male model; posing as the villain in a Batman graphic novel; running a Soho night club; appearing in The Pan Book of Horror series; and standing in for James Bond. Rather than examples of Fowler’s wicked sense of humour, all these claims were true. Time Out, meanwhile, called him “an award-winning novelist who would make a good serial killer”.

He was best known for his Bryant & May thrillers, featuring the elderly, venerable detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, who head up the Peculiar Crimes Unit, a department of the London police set up during the second world war to investigate cases that might cause a national scandal or public unrest. The pair had made appearances in some of Fowler’s early novels – Rune (1990), Darkest Day (1993) and Soho Black (1998) – before breaking out into their own long-running series, starting with Full Dark House in 2003.

Bryant, an irascible technophobe, and May, more accepting of the ways of modern life, have been partners for more than 60 years, having first teamed up in 1940 when they were 23 and 19 respectively. The first novel begins with the death by explosion of Bryant; while May investigates, he discovers connections with the pair’s very first case, the killing of a dancer during the blitz, which is told in flashback.

The Gothic air and clashing personalities continued into sequels, each intended to explore a different sub-genre of crime fiction, described by Fowler as “all the devices of classic murder mysteries, including disguised identities, locked room puzzles, surprise ending and nick-of-time rescues”.

The intended one-off novel became six books, then 12 and eventually 20, including two collections of short stories. Central to the series – and many of his other works – was Fowler’s love of London. He found the city endlessly fascinating and delighted in discovering its odder corners and the strangeness of its inhabitants, past and present. “The most bizarre facts in this book are the truest,” he noted in the acknowledgments of The Water Room, the second in the series, published in 2004.

Fowler began writing books alongside a career in the film industry, having co-founded the film promotion agency the Creative Partnership while in his 20s. This gave him the freedom to write what he liked, which made him a publisher’s nightmare: the unclassifiable author. After producing two novels that failed to launch and publishing two humorous titles, How to Impersonate Famous People (1984) and The Ultimate Party Book (1985), Fowler sold two collections of horror stories – City Jitters (1986) and More City Jitters (1988) – to the publisher of his near-neighbour, the novelist and playwright Clive Barker.

He followed this with Roofworld (1988), an urban fantasy novel about battling gangs and secret occult societies who use zipwires and bungee cords to travel above the city – inspired by the interconnected rooftops of London’s densely packed streets and his knowledge of how burglars would break into buildings through the top floor.

Roofworld established some of Fowler’s common themes – warfare between classes, battling evil corporations, and secret worlds existing within touching distance of unsuspecting Londoners – and introduced recurring characters, including DS Janice Longbright, who later served in the Peculiar Crimes Unit.

The real myths and mysteries of London held more interest to him than the supernatural horror of his earlier novels, although that did not stop him writing disturbing and blackly humorous takes on old themes: Rune’s subliminal messages echo MR James’ Casting the Runes; in Red Bride (1992) an ordinary man is seduced by a succubus; and in Spanky (1994) the hero engages in a Faustian pact with a demon.

The family at the heart of Psychoville (1995) are driven out of the suburbs by its change-resistant middle-class community; Disturbia (1996) has its hero uncover the machinations of a secret society; Hell Train (2011) is a homage to Hammer Films; Nyctophobia (2014) is a haunted house story; Little Boy Found (2017, as LK Fox) a psychological thriller; and Hot Water (2022) a murder mystery.

Fowler’s influences included Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy (which he called “powerful, black and funny”), John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man (“the ultimate in sleight-of-hand”) and JG Ballard (“his ‘five minutes into the future’ books were startling in their prescience”), the latter strongly influencing The Sand Men (2015).

His short story Left Hand Drive was filmed in 1993, and The Master Builder was made into the TV movie Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992), with Tippi Hedren. He won five British Fantasy awards, including for Full Dark House. Other Bryant & May novels won prizes and he was awarded the 2015 Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library award for his body of work. His memoir Paperboy (2009) won the inaugural Green Carnation award.

Fowler was born in Greenwich, south-east London, the son of Lilian (nee Upton), a legal secretary, and William Fowler, a glass-blower and designer of scientific instruments with whom Fowler had a troubled relationship. He grew up reading fantasy, horror and science fiction, graduating from Superman comics to Tolkien and Ballard in his teens.

He was educated at Colfe’s grammar school in Lee before enrolling to study art at Goldsmiths College in 1972, although he left to take up work as a copywriter in various advertising agencies. At the age of 26 he set up the Creative Partnership with the producer Jim Sturgeon to market films, becoming a one-stop shop producing trailers, posters and commercials for radio and TV.

The company worked on campaigns for Bernardo Bertolucci, Peter Greenaway, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, David Cronenberg, Mike Leigh and many others, on movies ranging from Alien – they were paid £20 for the line “In space no one can hear you scream” – and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, to GoldenEye and Reservoir Dogs.

The Creative Partnership opened an office in Beverley Hills and Fowler spent the early 80s in the US, but could find only badly paid, uncreative work. With time on his hands he began writing, finding success after returning to London. He was able to maintain a steady output, including a graphic novel (Menz Insana, 1997), a stage play (Celebrity, produced at the Phoenix, London, in 2010), and the War of the Worlds video game (2011) for Paramount.

He also wrote a 319-episode series of short essays on forgotten authors for the Independent on Sunday, partly collected as Invisible Ink (2012) and The Book of Forgotten Authors (2017). Essay 319 featured Christopher Fowler, described as “a typical example of the late 20th-century midlist author ... [whose] ability of turning his hand to most literary forms granted him the honorary title of ‘Wordslut’”.

Fowler was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in March 2020. He worked on his 20th Bryant & May novel, London Bridge is Falling Down (2021), while undergoing chemotherapy in hospital, and the following year published Bryant & May’s Peculiar London, in which his characters explore the true life eccentricities and elusive byways of the city. His third volume of memoirs, Word Monkey (following Paperboy and Film Freak, 2013), is due out in August.

Fowler formed a civil partnership in 2007 with the TV executive Peter Chapman, and 10 years later they married. Peter survives him, along with his younger brother, Steven.

🔔 Christopher Robert Fowler, author and screenwriter, born 26 March 1953; died 2 March 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[rabtbooktoursandpr]

Release Blitz: Bound to Happen by Annie R. McEwen #paranormalromance #romance #newbooks #releaseday #rabtbooktours

  Paranormal Romance Date Published: 02/04/2025 Publisher: Harbor Lane Books, LLC The women in her family have a history of falling in love with ghosts. Aoife's positive she's the exception to the rule. She's wrong.   Aoife 'Fee' Gowdie is exploring a derelict London music hall when she discovers a seventeenth century theatre below. The problem? It's got a seventeenth century ghost in it. And he has a pet-Fee's mouse, the one she buried that morning. Gilbert 'Gil' Sorley-orphan, thief, actor, playwright-was born in 1613 and died... The jury's still out on that. He remembers the moment. The fight, the blade, the blood. It's been a gray wasteland since then. Until the miracle of her. And the mouse. The old theatre has protected Gil for centuries, but now it's slated for demolition. To stop time and death, Fee and Gil have nothing except desperate, impossible love. Is it enough? BOUND TO HAPPEN by Annie R McEwen is perfect for fans of Discovery of Witches and Practical Magic, the A Stitch in Time books, Ghost, and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.   About the Author Find out the good stuff, get free, cracking good short fiction, book release dates, an outrageously interesting blog, and a monthly funny paper just by going to my website and tapping SUBSCRIBE on the Contact page. Here's the bio: A career historian, Annie R McEwen has lived in six countries and under every roof from a canvas tent to a Georgian Era manor house, all of which helps her create award-winning romance set in faraway times and places. Annie has novels and series available on every major sales platform. Her publishers are Harbor Lane Books (US), Bloodhound Books (UK), Rowan Prose Publishing, and The Wild Rose Press. When she’s not in her 1920s bungalow in Florida, Annie writes, blogs, and explores castles in Wales, which is just about the most magical place on the planet. Winner of the 2022 Page Turners Award, Genre (Romance) Category, Annie also garnered both First and Second Place 2022 RTTAs (Romance Through Ages Awards from Romance Writers of America), the 2023 MAGGIE Award, and the 2023 Daphne du Maurier Award. A Finalist for the 2024 Page Turners Writing Award, she was Shortlisted for a Writing Mentorship Award. Her short fiction appears in multiple anthologies. Annie's got more WIPs than kittens. Here's one: a romantic suspense novel about pirates on the Kentish coast in the late 1700s. In it, her third great-grandad, a 4th Light Dragoon, makes a cameo appearance.   Purchase Today via https://ift.tt/pVGTJYL

[thenextchapterbegins]

Blitz walks forward silencing all the rest his eyes narrowed. He takes out his blade and grips the blade with his palm cutting it as his eyes ignite with a reddish glow.

blood magic.

"No..hes mine."

"Your perfect you know..running this city, preparing it for the purge, raising our status as imps...its been stressful, so many changes, so little time. I havent done a good killing in a long time." He raises a hand to his face.

"look at my face. let fear run back and let memory take hold. remember this face for it is the face that killed the prince of goetia. it is the face of the playwright killer, it is the face of the first overlord imp. Remeber this face and know you a sinner walked into my territory, into my home, and threatend my people and know you hold not a candle. not a chance. for your only chance is to prostrate infront of me and beg for what remains of your miserable life and hope by the fates of the gods i decide to give mercy upon to you."

"I usually don't mind Imps. Despite their penchant for cultural mimicry. For instance, they can be very, very useful. The tail for instance, can be used in any number of spells."

{ Roth's excited eyes suddenly turn stark mad. An expression of cruel curiosity and wonder. }

"Any volunteers?"

[phanfictioncatalogue]

AU (11) Masterlist

Links last checked: February 23rd, 2025

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, part eight, part nine, part ten

A million little suns (ao3) - jestbee

Summary: Dan is just trying to get as far away from his home town as possible at Christmas when he gets stuck in a snow storm. He's rescued by an enigmatic stranger who take him back to his cabin in the mountains. What Dan doesn't know is that his rescuer is prolific, best-selling writer of erotica, Ricky Blitz. Will Dan end up with a porn-worthy situation all of his own? (hint: yes)

A Strange Mirror (ao3) - glowingatmosphere

Summary: Dan felt safe escaping to the attic of his grandma’s house, until he found a strange mirror with a strange man trapped inside. The man refuses to reveal the details of his entrapment, but Dan’s feelings urge him to solve the mystery even if it’s the last thing he does.

Barbie Horse Adventures (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: Sometimes friends force you to get over your worst fears, sometimes you meet your soulmate in the process.

Beautiful Liar (ao3) - withawhimper

Summary: A devastating revelation from a cute stranger sitting in the bar where Dan is supposed to be meeting his boyfriend rocks Dan's world- but it turns out that might not be such a bad thing

break free (ao3) - wiccamoody

Summary: Dan is a competitor on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

comedy = tragedy + time (ao3) - danisnopeonfire

Summary: He’s messy and bright and fantastic, and he is probably the best person to not-survive an apocalypse with.

familiar faces (ao3) - watergator

Summary: there's a handsome tesco delivery man standing in phil's doorway and he can't figure out where he recognises him from. until he does

(from the wings) i'll be watching (ao3) - moonanonymous

Summary: Phil is the assistant lighting director. Dan is the nutcracker prince. It's going to be a long day.

genre of choice (ao3) - dizzy

Summary: Dan and Phil have a romcom meet cute at a horror con.

Glow - mandyjpg

Summary: Being a witch is fun until everything is blowing up around you.

Graveyard (ao3) - Tidbitswithtoby

Summary: "You're bringing me lunch in a graveyard?"

"Sounded more romantic in my head."

Home - placingglaciers

Summary: What do you get when you cross a troubled runaway with a lost photographer? A mess, that's what.

How Do You Feel? - ominousdan

Summary: phil gets abducted by a beautiful alien who just wants to learn about human emotions

Inheriting love (ao3) - Fictropes

Summary: Dan lives and works in a small village where everyone knows everyone. A place where everything is typical, until Phil comes along.

Lost for Words - theawkwardfanblog

Summary: soulmate au where for the first time you meet your soulmate you are lost for words, quite literally..

married at first sight (ao3) - nothingbutniall

Summary: Dan and Phil get matched together on the new season of Married At First Sight.

meant for me (ao3) - graydar

Summary: Dan doesn’t believe in soulmates. Phil believes in everything. Dan is scared of everything. Phil is scared of Dan.

must have been the wind (ao3) - dvp_95

Summary: Phil's apartment building has thin walls, and one of his neighbours sounds like they could really use a friend. Honestly, so could Phil.

My Juliet (ao3) - RyRyCaptain

Summary: Phil is a world-famous playwright, and he's directing his newest play, Romeo and Juliet. Dan is an actor who luckily receives the part of Juliet.

Other (ao3) - philsmeatylegss

Summary: Phil’s journey of being gay except it’s completely made up by me

Peach and Lime (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: Phil doesn't do relationships. And then he meets Dan. He still doesn't do relationships, but he has a fun angst-filled night.

Redemption Arc (ao3) - philsmeatylegss

Summary: classic, slightly dramatic rags to riches au

seeing stars, sinking these dreams (ao3) - sunflowerwitches

Summary: dan's daughter finally demands to go trick or treating on halloween, much to dan's delight, but he isn't aware that he'd get a treat of his own

Serendipity (ao3) - philsmeatylegss

Summary: Dan and Phil are a generic, cute suburban couple when a brief apocalypse decides to happen

Stranger Danger (ao3) - intoapuddle

Summary: Dan thinks he's the most awkward guy on the tube until he spots a guy that seems to be in an even worse condition than himself.

The Traces We Leave - lesteresce

Summary: AU where Dan is working in a café for uni and Phil is a customer with paint splattered arms who takes his coffee with an unnecessary amount of sugar.

The Trampoline - jilliancares

Summary: Dan’s very gay and very in love with Phil, who has always been 100% straight. Also, there’s a trampoline.

Up With the Birds - irphanfic

Summary: Dan is a single parent and he decides that his son Theo and him need to move into a new house. What will happen in the new neighbourhood?

[thenextchapterbegins]

With a single act a shows curtain can fall on an entirely different ending.

@constellation-owl-prince

Something was wrong, wasnt it? a tension in the air, a way of movement, a look in the eyes, a way a word is spoken. That had been the coming weeks the passing months that had been blitz after ozzies club.

A twist, the building climax of a plot which had seemed romantic had shifted into horror. a carefully constructed mask come undone and years of lingering rage, resenement and anger building in a catalysr of hope.

The coming months had led to a resurgance of death, the playwright a reknown killer just a decade or so ago. that had brought a level of fear not seen since the radio killings. now resurgent, bringing with it a level of practice that made the sloppy rage filled killings seem like just the practice runs.

things had come out, that the killer was believed to be hellborn using an ancient form of magic mostly seen used in cannibal town...blood magic. A user of it seemed to have mastered its arts.

All the while the strained tensions between blitz and stolas had reached their limit, and finally all of the pain, suffering, rage and anger built to a final showing that finally let so many truths come.

A show that took control a single night seemingly normal was ruined when tv's across the pride ring shifted, staticed and switched to the form and visage of the white masked dressed akin to a playwright, elegan refined clothing with a stroke of theatric.

The playwright spoke of many things, of anger and pain, or rising and change before he grabbed the camera pivoting it to look at an overlord known mostly for ruling over imp city with an iron fist.

Taking a vial filled with a drop or two of blood and crushing it filling himself with overwhelming power and magic and easily ending the life of said overlord.

Yet none of that truly mattered or none of it would for the killer reached and clicked the mask from their face and moved to face the camera once more revealing the killer was indeed a hellborn, a face that not one could have ever suspected or thought.

An oaf, a fool...a coward such as himself? it was none other then blitz. to many this was shock to others, to others that followed his work it was a joyous moment, for others still an oaf or not what he had done meant for the first time in forever an imp has claim to rule and look over imp city.

The camera finally pivoted to his final magnum opus a powerful figured shrouded in darkness, face of a bird, being given sacrifices of food and blood...just barely in frame was the visage of blitz's form staring at the painting before an audible sigh could be heard. "its time to get to work.." was what could finally be heard before a sound sounding similar to a portal openning but different as a red glow could be see just off camera then closes leaving the camera pointing at the painting before eventually the feed went down and instead switched to a special bulletin announcement on what just occurered.

For blitz he reappeared in his office, building empty as he walked over placing his mask on a table before taking a look outside his window.

Even now he could see celebrations beginning...so why did he feel so..confused?

[carryonthroughtheages]

Hello everyone!

Another year of Carry On Through The Ages is over and done! We have emotions and exhaustion, but we're so happy that this year had the hype and excitement that it did.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to all of the AMAZING creators who spent the last several months working away at their historical content!

Thank you also to the hard-working mods: @bazzybelle, @giishu, @palimpsessed, and @xivz . This fest would not have been as successful as it has been without you!

We encourage everyone to look under the page break for all the fics and art. They're all fantastic!

Here is the link to the AO3 Collection: Carry On Through The Ages 2021!

Thank you all, and until next year! 🧡🧡🧡

MONDAY:

1) sun on the sea (T) - @trenchcoat-moth : AO3 // Tumblr

Tensions run high in England, and Malcolm decides it's for the best he sends Baz to live with Fiona, where he'll be safer.

That is, until Baz's ship is attacked.

2) The Words I Long To Say (M) - @bazzybelle : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon Snow was dead.

Baz Pitch was sure of it. Simon had gone away seven years ago to fight a war in the jungle and he hadn't come home.

So, when Simon shows up in Baz's club, investigating a string of brutal murders, all Baz wants to do is hold him close and never let him go.

But these aren't the same boys from 1960 and Baz has a lot of processing to do before he's ready to believe in Simon again.

3) we are slaves to gods, whatever gods are (M) - @wellbelesbian : AO3 // Tumblr

I don’t fully understand what plagues him, but I know it’s bad, and I know it goes deeper than guilt. He didn’t want to kill his father, not really, but we were instructed to do so by Apollo. Cleanse the house of its sins, dispose of a murderer to set things right. It was only right that I join him; he was avenging my mother as much as his. Clearly, Apollo didn’t seem to consider that such an act would make Simon a murderer in his father’s place. It seems I got off fine, but as far as Simon is concerned, the vengeful spirits that once spun and danced on the roof of the palace now hunt him down, determined not to stop until he rids the world of himself.

4) World War II Era Art - @stardustasincocaine : Tumblr

TUESDAY:

1) the art of loving you (E) - @one-more-offbeat-anthem : AO3 // Tumblr

1955. London. Young love.

Forbidden love.

A year ago, starving artist Simon Snow met Baz Pitch, son of a wealthy art patron, at a party, and their days (and nights) together have been a wonderful secret.

But Simon is tired of being a secret and knows it's time for things to end.

(Baz has other ideas.)

2) Reliquary of an Arsonist (T) - @tea-brigade : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon Snow grew up a ward of Watford Abbey, but when his magic manifested in an explosive accident as a child, he became the Abbey’s anchorite—never to leave Watford’s walls, for his own protection. That is, until Abbot David sends him on an important errand…

Basilton Pitch paints portraits for his patron, Lord Grimm. But he’s never forgotten the magic he learned from his mother—nor the men who condemned her to death as a heretic. When Simon arrives and offers Baz a commission from Watford Abbey, he sees his chance to avenge his mother once and for all...and he’s willing to burn down everything in his path to that end.

But it was no coincidence that pulled these two unlikely souls together. Something more sinister is underway at Watford Abbey, and only Simon and Baz can uncover the truth before everything goes up in flames.

3) Westward Son (E) - @aristocratic-otter : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon and Baz have found each other again, but there's nowhere in Brooklyn or Virginia where they can safely be together. So now, they venture the hazards and struggles of the Oregon trail, to perhaps find a little homestead in Oregon of their own.

4) A Way Out (T) - @lying-on-the-sofa : AO3

I frown at him..“You don’t know me.”

He offers his hand. “Simon.”

Simon. I feel the name around in my mind and assign it to his face. Simon. I don’t shake his hand. They’ve still got my arms pinned. “Basilton.”

Simon nods at me. “Now we know each other. Let him go.” Very casually, he takes his other hand from behind his back. A sword, flashing. He leans on it and smiles invitingly. “Let him go.”

This time, they listen.

--

Simon Snow has been trained for years to become a tribute—one of the fighters Athens sends every ninth year into the Minotaur’s labyrinth. He wants to know the way out, if only for Penny’s sake. Luckily for him, Prince Basilton of Crete also wants a way out—off the island, where no one will know he’s the half-brother of the Minotaur.

Unluckily for both of them, they don’t exactly form the most agreeable pair.

WEDNESDAY

1) long is the road the leads me home (G) - @wellbelesbian : AO3 (Version 1) (Version 2) // Tumblr

Baz has a rather unremarkable life, and he's fine with that. Running his late mother's beloved inn with his temperamental aunt, estranged from his father and step-siblings, he's successfully convinced himself that he's better off without attachments.

Then Simon barrels into his life, guns blazing and rapier drawn, and Baz is swept up in dramatic plot he never bargained for.

Worse still, he finds he quite likes the thrill.

2) New Romantics (T) - @ninemagicks : AO3 // Tumblr

Basilton Pitch, twenty-two years old and a famed poet of the Romantic era, has fled to the countryside. In Mummers House, the fabled haunt of literary greats, he sulks himself into oblivion and awaits a sad, disappointing end to his brief years of brilliance. The cause of his downfall? None other than Simon Snow, the so-called “bad boy of English poetry”, breaker of rules and eternal thorn in his side. Baz hopes that Mummers House might mean an escape from London, from Snow and his increasingly virulent popularity... but the rain that comes has other ideas.

3) thnétos (T) - @snowybank : AO3 // Tumblr

thnétos: subject to death, mortal

a retelling of Apollo and Hyacinthus

4) A Medieval AU art piece - @thewriterxj : Tumblr

THURSDAY

1) From Eden (E) - @orange-peony : AO3 // Tumblr

I wonder if his skin is warm or cold to the touch. I tell myself it’s simple curiosity, that I’m an artist and capturing things on paper or canvas is my way to make sense of the world. That drawing him feels so natural, so I should just follow my instincts. Ebb used to say it all the time. Follow your heart. It knows where you’re supposed to go.

I wish I could. I wish I had enough money and freedom to just draw what I want. To paint him in his unattainable beauty. To draw him the way I want to. Naked and vulnerable, raw. Without frills and expensive suits.

Just Baz on paper, my fingers tracing his delicate and beautiful lines with simple charcoal.

2) Slings and Eros (M) - @palimpsessed : AO3 // Tumblr

Young god of love Simonides is tasked by his father, the god of war, to bring about the ruin of a mortal prince to punish his blasphemy. However, once Simonides sees his intended victim, he begins to have misgivings. Prince Tyrannus might have offended the gods with his very existence, but all Simonides can see is how beautiful and lonely he is.

Or, a very loose interpretation of the Eros and Psyche myth.

3) I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire (M) - @knitbelove : AO3 // Tumblr

September 1940: Going back to Watford feels different this year, and not just because England is at the brink of war with Germany and Italy. Penelope seems unsettled by everything, and Agatha is distant, and Baz is … simply not here.

What if Carry On but during the Blitz?? Yeah.

4) A Fool's Oath (M) - @thewriterxj : AO3 // Tumblr

A simple soldier is invited to join the ranks of the royal guard. He and his appointed mage arrive at the royal city to find themselves at the mercy of an unmerciful court. As he struggles to find his place in this foreign environment, he also finds himself entranced by music that only he seems to hear that floats out about the city. He makes an oath to wed whoever makes such beautiful music.

Too bad that person is the crown prince.

FRIDAY

1) Stranger Tides (T) - @tea-brigade & @xivz : AO3 // Tumblr

“If some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep, even so I will endure…” Captain Simon Snow of the Chosen One is many things—cunning, handsome, ruthless. Greedy. It’s no surprise that Snow finds a way to piss off the God of the Sea, he always manages to get himself into some type of trouble. This time, however, he’s not the only one who will suffer the consequences. Poseidon promises to not stop his pursuit until Snow and all of his men are dead.

Enter Basilton Pitch—rich, beautiful, mysterious. Suspicious. He offers the crew of the Chosen One a hefty sum to take him back to Europe from the Caribbean. And who is Captain Snow to refuse so much coin? After all, Greek gods aren’t real.

Right?

2) The wayward heir [comic] (M) - @letraspal : AO3 // Tumblr

Like a folk song, our love will be passed on. Simon Snow wants to be an artist. He used to live in Fiesole where he worked in the wool shop of his good friend Ebeneza Petty. He has now chosen to return to his native Florence in order to participate in an art contest hosted by the Pitch family, the most important bankers in all the three continents and Simon’s last chance for an art patronage. No matter how much he hates them.

But being back in Florence also brings back the memories Simon wanted to leave behind : his days as an orphan, the mystery about his mother, and once more being under the inquisitive eyes of his godfather, the new archbishop Davy. The archbishop is very same man who would never forgive him for dropping out the priesthood and ruining his secret plans against the Pitches.

The last thing Simon needed was an unbearably handsome jerk getting him into trouble on his very first day in Florence. How can focus when this man is the most annoying person he has ever met and yet his major source of inspiration.

3) Prohibition Blues (T) - @heyyyandrea : AO3

Simon Snow is a baker and aspiring playwright in Prohibition Era New York City. When he meets a handsome man at Shepherd's speakeasy who is interested in his work, he can't help but think it feels too good to be true.

4) Earth Below & Sky Above (M) - @phoxphyre : AO3 // Tumblr

In the depth of the palace of King Minos of Crete lurks a creature known as the Minotaur.

Baz, prince of Athens and chosen of the god Poseidon, has heard the stories. And now he’s volunteered to come to Crete as one of the annual tributes—to dance with the king’s bulls and fulfill his destiny. He just wants to survive the bulls, protect his people, and go home.

But what if the Minotaur isn’t a monster—but just a boy? And what if instead of slaying him, Baz fell in love with him?

A Carry On retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, set in Bronze Age Crete.

5) A 1980s AU Art piece by @stardustasincocaine : Tumblr // Instagram (Slightly NSFW)

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #113 (Year 3/Week 9):

🍿

2 with both Anthony Hopkins And Vanessa Kirby:

🍿 The son, my second by French playwright Florian Zeller (after ’The Father’). A very slow and atmospheric family drama about not-intuitive father Hugh Jackman who can’t realize that his estranged 17 year old son is being crippled by an overwhelming cloud of depression. I liked the Hans Zimmer score. 5/10.

🍿 “... Good evening, Pussy...”

The Dresser by Richard Eyre is based on a British play and movie from the early 80′s. It tells of an aging Shakespearean actor who is playing ‘King Lear’ during the Blitz. Hopkins is the grand old master, and Ian McKellen is his loyal assistant. Grand acting all around in the old theatrical tradition, where each movement is busy and even small physical gestures are extended and emphasized. Majestic and mesmerizing - 9/10.

🍿

3 more with Bill Nighy:

🍿 Notes on a scandal (2006), another English film directed by Richard Eyre. Cate Blanchett is a pretty teacher who starts an affair with a 15-year-old pupil of her, and Judi Dench is an older school colleague who’s infatuated with her. It also features Bill Nighy, cute teenager Juno Temple, and Joanna Scanlon (From ‘After Love’). 6/10.

🍿 I recently saw Kurosawa’s classic ‘Ikiru’ again, in anticipation of the new British adaptation, Living. So now I can say, it was a serviceable retelling, but why was it necessary? 6/10.

🍿 Another mandatory re-watch of Hot Fuzz, the perfect buddy-cop comedy-action homage to everything from ‘A fistful of Dollars’ and ‘Chinatown’ to ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘The shining’.

The dialogue is one quotable line after another: ‘What's the matter, Danny? Never taken a shortcut before?’, ‘Feel free to spool through!’, ‘Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?', ‘No luck catching them killers then?’, ‘If we don't come down hard on these clowns, we are gonna be up to our balls in jugglers’, ‘Everybody and their mums are packing ’round here.’ The whole brilliant script is exquisite. 10/10.

Bonus: A reel of Bloopers and gags. Yarp.

🍿

Life among the ruins: my first by ‘least-known’ black filmmaker Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep. A masterpiece of Italian Neo-realism in Watts, CA of the early 70′s, and the most blatant example of how industry snubbed and crushed Black film throughout the 20th Century.

This was Burnett’s no-budget student film thesis at the UCLA School of Film, and was practically ignored and unseen until recently. A profound slice of life poem of a poor community struggling to survive. Especially sad are the children playing in the street, jumping on roof tops.

The allegory of the ‘Sheep to the slaughterhouse’ (The main character, Sam, works at a meat factory) was a bit thick, but the tender dancing scene played on the background of Dinah Washington's ‘This Bitter Earth’ and the rest of the film was devastating. 8/10 poetry. I plan on watching Elvis Mitchell’s new film essay ‘Is That Black Enough for You?’ about The History of Black Cinema in the 1970′s next.

🍿

2 new Belgians dramas about little girls:

🍿 The remarkable Playground, an extremely simple but brilliant story of schoolyard bullying. A shy 7-year-old girl witnesses her brother being abused as she is drawn into it with tragic results. Quiet, powerless and nearly mute, she has to go through small traumas that are too real and overwhelming. Told exclusively from a child’s (literal) point of view. Oscar-submitted debut feature from a young female director. And Again, the little girl was tremendous. 9/10. 

🍿 The Broken Circle Breakdown, a 2012 drama about a Belgian couple of Bluegrass musicians who can’t cope with the death of their 6-year-old daughter. The exact first half as they fall in love and their daughter is born and then gets sick is hard to watch. The second non-linear half is more of a melodrama.

🍿

Late Spring, my 4th by Yasujirō Ozu, and my 2nd of the “Noriko trilogy”, about the life of single women in postwar Japan, in this case a woman who lives with her widowed father, and who doesn’t want to marry so as not to abandoned him. An understated poem, like a sound of a flute.

🍿

Revisiting Roy Andersson:

🍿 Being a human being (2019) is a loving portrait of Roy Andersson, my favorite Swedish director, in the three long years as he was shooting his final movie. A slow and wistful journey of a unique iconoclast crafting meticulous Trompe-l'œils in his Stockholm studio. Vulnerability, insecurity and mortality are mixed with his alcoholism, his relationship to Goya, the perfection of his craft.

I’ve seen all his work, (except of Giliap!). It’s a pity he will probably not do more. The trailer. My favorite film of the week.

🍿 So I had to watch again his moving About Endlessness, the subject of the documentary above. A sad, absurd masterpiece composed of 31 small visual poems, a flawless gem of art. Every word I wrote about it last year still stands.

🍿 I also learnt about his 1987 “educational” short about AIDS Something Happened (Någonting har hänt), which caused controversy because it already featured the signature style that he used in his last 4 films. I can’t find a full copy of this 24 minutes film: Only clips: The Sex-ed class applying condoms, the Volunteers in prison and the Congress of Physicians.

Bonus, his Studio 24 YouTube Channel offers some of the many commercials he directed during his Wilderness Years.

🍿

First watch: Richard Linklater hilarious classic School of Rock, which retained its freshness due exclusively to Jack Black’s irreplaceable commitment. Few comedies from that period stayed wholesome. Sarah Silverman plays the bitchy girlfriend. 7/10.

🍿

2 more with Samantha Morton:

🍿 The Whale, my 2nd by Darren Aronofsky. Brendan Fraser will surely win this year’s Oscar for his portrayal of the morbidly-obese father who tries to connect with his estranged daughter before he expires. And he will 100% deserve it. The whole movie takes place in one living room, and there are only 5 characters, 4 of which are good. 9/10.

🍿 Sweet and lowdown, Woody Allen’s Django Reinhardt’s mockumentary with Sean Penn playing the fictional jazz guitarist Emmet Ray. The ‘Genius Artist’ as a misbehaving louse, who’s always excused because he produces such sublime ‘Artworks’ - the usual Woody Allen dilemma. And Samantha Morton was nominated for an Oscar, in spite of the fact that she does not utter a single word of dialogue in the film, as she plays a mute laundress. 3/10 for the story - 9/10 for the soundtrack.

🍿

I decided to take a bite of the list of films with 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which I haven’t seen yet. The earliest one (1920) is the classic The Golem: How He Came into the World. A silent German expressionistic-style monster classic with distinctly medieval Jewish flair. Some interesting special effects and an ending with ‘a little girl meets the monster’ that was later copied in ‘Frankenstein’. (Photo Above).

🍿

God’s angry man, Werner Herzog’s 1981 documentary about Gene Scott, the earliest of the televangelist grifters. What an amazing phenomena, how the religious scammers, charlatans and con-men took over the world! 7/10.

At the heart of the Herzog’s touch is him finding an outrageous topic and simply sticking a running camera in front of it.

Bonus: Robin Williams as Gene Scott.

🍿

First re-watch in many years: Peter Weir’s thriller Witness. Well-executed, unhurried direction in a rare story set up among the Amish. The sub-plot of pretty widow Kelly McGillis looking for love with TWO males right after her husband was dead and buried seems out-dated. With a cameo by Viggo Mortensen in his first film role. 5/10.  

🍿

Chelsea Handler: Revolution, her latest stand-up special with screeds about Covid, choosing to be childless, sex and pot. 3/10.

🍿

Grand Canons, by Alain Biet. A Visual Symphony of Thousands of Everyday Objects, from flyswatters to light bulbs.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[hello-robin-goodfellow]

TOP 12 FAVORITE IAN HOLM ROLES

@superkingofpriderock​ @amalthea9​ @ohiwannatakeyouhome​

DAVID PETERS (MOONLIGHT ON THE HIGHWAY, 1969)

A troubled young man, David Peters (Ian Holm), claims, "Once dreams were possible, that's what the popular songs told us." Rejecting rock music of the day, Peters is immersed in the tunes of Thirties crooner Al Bowlly (killed during the London blitz). He collects Bowlly memorabilia, publishes the Bowlly fan-club newsletter, and finds pleasure in lip-synching Bowlly records but his obsession with Bowlly masks certain darker events in his past.

DOCTOR ASTROV (UNCLE VANYA, 1991)

In this televised production of Anton Chekhov’s play, Sir Ian Holm plays a village medic who, at the start, is an idealist with great passion for the preservation of trees. But, as time passes, everyone ignores what he says and he falls in love with a married woman, the character of Doctor Astrov slowly grows more and more tired and disappointed with himself, the world and humanity, fallin in alcoholism.

POD CLOCK (THE BORROWERS AND RETURN OF THE BORROWERS, 1992-93)

I dare say that, despite being 61 years old at the time, this is the role in wich i felt Sir Ian Holm performed the most of phisical acting. Pod Clock is the patriarch of a family of people that are the size of little fingers, and to raise his family, he has to ride sinks, run away from cats and big birds and be carefull of mouse traps to borrow food and other needs. All the while trying to avoid being seen by humans. That’s what i call an action hero.

ASH (ALIEN, 1979)

The amoral android that made him a movie star. Do i need to say more?

CAPTAIN FLUELLEN (HENRY V, 1989)

In this Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the William Shakespeare historical play, we see Sir Ian Holm performance as Captain Fluellen, a man that is a geek of military tactics history as he is proud of being welsh. Fluellen has a fun energy that makes him likable, at the same time that he is intimidating in his ruthleness in support a cruel execution in the name of military discipline.

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN/THE CREATURE (MISTERY AND IMAGINATION: FRANKENSTEIN, 1968)

Before Benedict Cumberbatch in theater, there was Sir Ian Holm portraying both Doctor Victor Frankenstein and his Creature in this televised 1968 adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous gothic sci-fi novel. His portrayal of the two characters is one of the most closest to the book characterization’s to this day: Victor Frankenstein as an ambitious and self-absorved student, and the Creature as a person who tries to be good, but due to abandonment and discrimination suffered due to his phisical appearance, becomes corrupted with an obsession for revenge against his creator. And Sir Ian puts those foil personalities marvellously.

LENNY (THE HOMECOMING, 1973)

The Homecoming is a 1973 British-American drama film directed by Peter Hall based on the play of the same name by Harold Pinter.

In a dreary North London flat, the site of perpetual psychological warfare, a philosophy professor , Teddy, visits his family after a nine-year absence, and introduces his father, Max, his uncle, Sam, and two brothers, Lenny and Joey, to his wife Ruth.

Sir Ian Holm plays Lenny, a pimp who only makes discreet references to his "occupation" and his clientele and flats in the city (London). He is the character with the most cynical lines and who start the sexual tension between the man of the family with Ruth, not carrying at all if she is married to his brother Teddy.

There’s a character that anyone will love to hate.    

PHILLIPE D'ARNOT (GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES, 1984)

A Belgian explorer who discovered Tarzan (John Clayton) in the jungle, taught him the way of man, and brought him to his family in England. Is Phillipe’s friendship with Tarzan and their eventual departure that becomes the emotional core of the picture.

LEWIS CARROLL (DREAMCHILD, 1985)

“Dreamchild” is a film written by screenwriter and playwright Dennis Potter. It was actually effectively a remake of an earlier project of his: the 1960s TV Play “Alice,” which had starred George Baker as Charles Dodgson, a.k.a Lewis Carroll – the man behind the “Alice” stories. But while “Alice” had been focused on Dodgson himself and his experiences with Alice Liddell (the little girl who inspired him to write the stories) and her family, “Dreamchild” takes a different approach. The 1985 film focuses instead on an elderly Alice Hargreaves (nee Liddell), who visits America to celebrate Dodgson’s centenary. During her stay, she has various nightmares, flashbacks, and hallucinations. Some of these have her seeing characters from the books, such as the Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter, and the Caterpillar. Others are reflections on her childhood and the time she knew Lewis Carroll. Holm plays Carroll in these sequences, and the film plays with several myths and rumors about his relationship with Alice and her family…but it does so in a very clever way. Unlike the earlier TV play, which seems to treat these rumors and myths as fact, “Dreamchild” is far more ambiguous: nothing is confirmed or denied. It’s simply presented, and the audience is left to decide what is true, what is false, and how much it all really matters in the end. Holm brilliantly handles this ambiguity: in another actor’s hands, the character could have been perceived as thoroughly unsavory, but there’s such a gentleness, kindness, and overall innocence to Holm’s work that you can never really feel frightened or bothered. You feel for the man, no matter his flaws, and it makes his story just as compelling as Alice’s own.

RICHARD III (THE WARS OF THE ROSES, 1965)

The Wars of the Roses was a 1963 theatrical adaptation of William Shakespeare's first historical tetralogy (1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI and Richard III), which deals with the conflict between the House of Lancaster and the House of York over the throne of England, a conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. The plays were adapted by John Barton, and directed by Barton himself and Peter Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The plays were adapted by John Barton, and directed by Barton himself and Peter Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The production starred David Warner as Henry VI, Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret of Anjou, Donald Sinden as the Duke of York, Paul Hardwick as the Duke of Gloucester, Janet Suzman as Joan la Pucelle, Brewster Mason as the Earl of Warwick, Roy Dotrice as Edward IV, Susan Engel as Queen Elizabeth and Ian Holm as Richard III.The plays were heavily politicised, with Barton and Hall allowing numerous contemporaneous events of the early 1960s to inform their adaptation. The production was a huge critical and commercial success, and is generally regarded as revitalizing the reputation of the Henry VI plays in the modern theatre. Many critics feel The Wars of the Roses set a standard for future productions of the tetralogy which has yet to be surpassed. In 1965, the BBC adapted the plays for television. The broadcast was so successful that they were shown again, in a differently edited form, in 1966. 

In this production, the major theme is how the dispute for the crown of king is an endless cycle of violence that traps people, and this theme is highlighted in Sir Ian Holm’s performance as Richard III. His portrayal is more humanized and tragic, showing he was first a loving son and brother, until the vision of his father’s death in battle and the mistakes that his older brother, Edward IV,  makes at the start of his reign, motivates him to become king, no mather if it is even at the cost of his relatives lifes. At first, Richard looks like he is in control of the situation, but later, as the final battle comes close, frightened by the ghost of the people he killed, he has to confront the harsh truth: Richard is only another pawn in the game of chest of a bloody History. Just like every other king that camed before him.

PUCK (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, 1968)

Sir Ian Holm played the character of Puck, a.k.a Robin Goodfellow, in a 1968 feature film adaptation of the play. The feature was poorly received at the time, but has gained a bit more of a following in recent years, particularly from avid Shakespeareans. Its chiefest pro is probably the casting of Holm in the role of Puck:  he’s quick-witted, curious, and just a little baudy, but with a sharp and slightly dangerous intensity to him. You’re never quite sure what to make of Puck, and that makes him interesting, as he leaps from scene to scene, spreading chaos everywhere he turns.

FRODO AND BILBO BAGGINS (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, 1981 AND 2001-03)

The most famous nephew and uncle in literature. He played the nephew in the radio in 1981, and the uncle in the feature films between 2001-03.

A lot of people were introduced to Sir Ian Holm’s work and becamed Lord of the Rings after being introduced to those performances.

In both roles, he was merry, he was funny, he was frightened, he was scary, he was brave and determined, he was sad. And all of us, listeners and viewers, related to those feelings transmited by his performances as Frodo and Bilbo.

Everyone has talked a lot about those performances, and everyone will probably will still be talking about them in the future.

[thenextchapterbegins]

There was the sound of breathing on the other side of the line before a faint, dark and sinster chuckle. “Did you enjoy my work crim? Greed was all in a buzz today..”

@thenextchapterbegins asked: Ring, ring, ring. The phone is ringing crim. Pick it up.

"What. I am very bust and not in a good mood. This better be good."