#media: bumps

[gatespage]

Clowning around… with a difference!

29 Apr 1982 - The Stage

Transcript below

IF THE MENTION of clowns conjures up images of empty-headed buffoons, then "Bumps" at the Lyric, Hammersmith, should be a pleasant surprise. For these clowns are different.

They're eccentric yes, most sport false noses, and all wear extraordinary garb; they're remarkably funny too, not in the slapstick tradition, but in the manner of misfits, who talk in riddles and non-sequiturs to expose characters who are also vulnerable and lovable - even the grumpy ones. The show's creator, Cheryl McFadden, has woven great charm into the proceedings.

Cheryl was "discovered" during the New York run of "Nicholas Nickleby". Several of the actors heard about her locally-famed clown improvisation classes, attended one and were hooked enough to insist on regular sessions for the rest of their season.

Indeed, her adroitness, in drawing fresh skills from accomplished actors so fired Edward Petherbridge that he determined to bring her over to create a show for British actors. He asked her to devise something that would last about an hour, and teamed it with "Knots", based on R.D. Laing's psychological conundrums. And because "Knots" puts the same actors in normal dress in unremarkable situations that emphasise the foolishness inherent in all of us, the coupling is complementary.

Shortage of time was difficult for Cheryl. "I've done this sort of thing before in America but never in the space of five weeks. We (there are eight actors in the cast) spent the first few days just doing classes and building a rapport, and we went very slowly because we had to break through the barriers of everyone's terror of the unknown, including my own.

"But Edward has an amazing instinct for choosing people.and everyone has worked tremendously hard so I'm excited about what has evolved."

Cheryl, whose colouring and build reminded me of Jane Asher, looks on the clown as an extension of the actor's self. In "Bumps" she has tried to extend her actors still further by involving them in all the performing arts. They all have to play musical instruments (several of them had had no previous musical ex-perience), as well as speak, mime, sing, dance, and paint.

She herself is pretty versatile, too. Her style of teaching stems from a period of study in Paris with the mime Jacques Lecoq, and in London her role has also called on her talents as writer, director and visual initiator. When she's not busy on any of these, she acts. She just finished a film, "The Outdoorsters" She doesn't care for the superficial, but she does care about being involved in theatre that illuminates and that provokes a gut reaction in its audience. With "Bumps", I think she has succeeded

[rickybaby]

visacashapprb: team fist bumps 👊

[contemplatingoutlander]

Most Republicans aren’t aware of Trump’s various legal issues

"For example, the [YouGov] poll found that most Americans think a conviction would be a fair outcome from Trump’s criminal trials. Among Republicans and those who say they voted for Trump in 2020, though, most would view such a result as unfair. Makes sense, given that most Republicans say they haven’t even heard of the criminal trials." [color emphasis added]

---Philip Bump, columnist for The Washington Post

Well, this is frightening.

Philip Bump once again does an excellent job of analyzing the data to show us the degree to which many Republicans live in an alternate reality. This is a gift🎁link for those who don't subscribe to The Washington Post and want to read he whole article. Below are some excerpts.

There is an assumption, probably particularly among those who cover the news and those who read it, that Donald Trump’s legal travails are common knowledge. [...] But this is a sort of vanity: Just because it is interesting to us certainly doesn’t mean it is interesting to others. Polling released by CNN on Thursday shows that only a quarter of voters seek out news about the campaign; a third pay little to no attention at all. [...] YouGov presented American adults with eight legal scenarios to judge the extent of the public’s awareness. Two were invented: that Trump faces charges related to emoluments or related to drug trafficking. Happily, less than a quarter of respondents said those legal threats actually existed.* The other six were real. The one that was familiar to the most people was the federal classified-documents case that is moving forward in Florida; 6 in 10 Americans said they were aware of that case. The one that had the least awareness was the civil suit in New York in which a judge determined that he’d fraudulently inflated the value of his assets. Just under 50 percent of Americans knew about that. But the pattern among Republicans is clear. At most, 45 percent of Republicans said they knew about legal issues: specifically, the documents case and his being found liable for assaulting the writer E. Jean Carroll. Only a quarter knew about the value-inflation suit, and only 4 in 10 knew about the criminal charges in Manhattan related to the hush money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.** [color/emphasis added]

[...] It seems very safe to assume this lack of familiarity derives from disinterest in hearing negative information about Trump — and, probably more importantly, the disinterest of conservative and right-wing media outlets to report on them. In May, The Washington Post looked at the extent to which Fox News covered the documents and Daniels cases relative to other cable-news channels. It did so much less frequently. [emphasis added] [...] For example, the poll found that most Americans think a conviction would be a fair outcome from Trump’s criminal trials. Among Republicans and those who say they voted for Trump in 2020, though, most would view such a result as unfair. Makes sense, given that most Republicans say they haven’t even heard of the criminal trials. [color/emphasis added]

Those results look very much like the results YouGov got when it asked Americans which they viewed as a more important issue for presidential fitness: Trump’s indictments or President Biden’s age. About 4 in 10 respondents chose each option. [emphasis added]

It’s important to point out that the responses from independents mostly matched the overall numbers, which is often the case. That means only about half of independents are aware of Trump’s legal issues — potentially meaning there is a large group of Americans who might suddenly learn the details of what’s been alleged if Trump is convicted of a crime. [color/emphasis added] That is the sort of thing that might have a measurable political effect.

_________________________ *Unfortunately 43% of Democrats and 40% of Biden voters thought that the emoluments charges existed. They certainly should exist, but they don't.]

**More troubling to me is that only 42% of Republicans knew about the charges of conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, and only 36% of Republicans knew about the charges of attempted obstruction of the 2020 election certification.

[writersmorgue]

shhhhhhhhhhut

thank you anon this is lovely 🦤

[celoewe]

yvonnestrahovski: Well here we go. Baby bump #3 🙈✨💥 Pizza really wanted to be in the photo. So did Mr tiny feet hiding behind me.

[thresholdbb]

My P+ subscription just renewed, which means I have been on this Star Trek high for exactly a year now

[alynnl]

Guys, don't use Tumblr when you're sleep deprived and you're trying to get ready to run errands. There's a reason why Waiting Mode is a thing. You have shorter free time than you think

[rose-grimm-spirit-does-dumb-shit]

What's up gang

My braincells are so fuckin' tired, so I took my most recent interest {Psychonauts}, and my most latest to-be Hyperfixation {Bluey}

And now you have this.

I'm not sorry

[tennis-kittens]

Friendly reminder that this is Rafa's TikTok profile and I love everything about it.

[frauleinfunf]

Gus: You want him, Graye? You can go ahead and take him. You just gotta go through me.

Adrian: What?

Gus: You heard me! You wanna take Hunter back to the castle against his will? You gotta come through me.

Willow: And me!

Adrian: Is this a joke? I'm not gonna be threatened by two little kids!

Willow: You don't wanna mess with us.

Gus: She's a hair-puller.

Bump: And you're not just dealing with two little kids.

Amity: You're dealing with all of us.

Boscha; Except me.

Amity: Except Boscha.

Boscha: I don't care what happens.

[i-hear-a-sound]

I should’ve never slept on greylock bro..

[amethystina]

I just watched episode 1 of Devil Judge and I am not dissapointed! 😊

The whole world and setting are very fascinating. That trial did look like a real TV show (something that doesn't seem so far fetched to be in our world, a bit like people online are already condemming other people really)

Oh man, that end scene with Kang Yo Hang yawning and THEN letting that one tear fall down his cheek..... 😮😮😮Yeah, he's not a good person at all......

Kim Ga On looks like a sweet little puppy at this point. A bit naive even? But he's also strong enough to ask questions and raise his concerns to Kang, I find that fascinating!

(Also, the moment where Kang pushes Kim against the bookcase and then takes a bit too long to remove his hand as he talks about Kim being single and mentioning his shirt..... That was INTENSE)

Glad to have you on board ;)

And yeah, I very much like the world they've set up. It feels quite like our own, but still different enough that you can accept if some things are a bit weird — like the Live Court Show. Because while I agree that, in many ways, it just feels like an extension of all the condemning we already do as a society, it IS still pretty farfetched. But, man, does it make for a fun plot!

Trying to figure out the puzzle that is Kang Yo Han was literally one of the most entertaining parts of the drama for me. Like, is he a villain? An anti-hero? Both? Neither? They keep you guessing, that's for sure and it was one hell of a ride, at least for me.

And, in a similar fashion, Ga On isn't quite as simple as he seems, either. While he's very kind-hearted and perhaps a little bit naïve at first, he is also very clever and strong-willed. And very determined to figure out what the heck Yo Han is up to. And I truly adore that about Ga On. It would have been so easy to make him into a soft, gentle, and ultimately rather weak character, but no. While he might cook you a five-course dinner one evening, he's still going to punch you in the face the following one, should you piss him off too much. I like that about him.

Aaaaaand yeah. The bookshelf.

Fun fact: when I started watching this drama, I knew absolutely nothing about it aside from having seen the poster. As in this one:

And, not going to lie, it gave me pause because, uh, guys. That's kinda gay.

But then I saw it was a Korean drama and went: "Oh, well, not gay then. But someone at the marketing department DEFINITELY had a fun day at work."

Point being, anyway, that I decided to watch The Devil Judge because I was looking for something that WASN'T gay. I'd been bingeing a lot of those shows and just wanted a bit of a reset. So I went: "Oh, hey, this Korean show about corruption in a dystopian society definitely won't be gay. Let's give that a try!"

The Devil Judge: "... so about that..."

And, like, I could explain away Yo Han's lack of respect for personal space during their first meeting as an intimidation thing, and all of their verbal arguments made sense due to their differences in morals etc. But then the bookshelf scene happened and I just sat there going:

"... hang on a fucking second. Am I watching a gay show?"

Spoiler alert: I was.

I mean, sure, it's not officially gay. But it definitely is gay all the same. The subtext is about as subtle as the sub himself — i.e. will punch you square in the face more than once, with little to no warning.

BUT YEAH. Enjoy the ride? But also — and I will not stop repeating this — you give me way, way too much power over your media intake, darling x'D And, as I've stated to my followers before:

With great power comes great responsibility and, when it comes to The Devil Judge, I’m about as responsible as Kang Yo Han. That’s to say, you’re all fucked.

But thank you for joining me in this pit of sin also known as The Devil Judge fandom. Where the sugar babies are cheeky and the sugar daddies are, occasionally, manipulative mass murderers.

Whoops?

[petitommo]

.

[mysticdragon3md3]

[oluonline]

new post!

[hella1975]

the downside of being in a small town is 'ugh everyone knows everyone and i can't get away with anything' but the plus side is 'omg everyone knows everyone and no one else can get away with anything' like small town gossip solos any city shit you could try and match me with