witterings about Sayers

[bronze_ribbons]

(Because I'm far too fried to work on anything of substance...)


Ubi sunt gaudia

[Set a season or so before Suite.]

Ubi sunt gaudia
if that they be not there?

- "In Dulci Jubilo" (14th century carol)

She has a bit of our Miss Greythorne about her, wouldn't you say?

Will Stanton can't believe his ears. And not just because the middle-aged man next to him just spoke silently into his head instead of aloud. Around them, Lucy Parker-Arbuthnot's Christmas party is in full swing - couples and trios under the mistletoe, streaks of cocktail sauce and crumbs of pie on abandoned plates, a group around the piano merrily sightsinging their way through The Oxford Book of Carols. . .

With an effort, Will suppresses his shock. He gulps down the rest of his punch before stating, I thought that everyone had gone aboard the Pridwen save me.

But your lord remained here, the man replies, and so did mine. The man's accent has the faintest hint of the Kent countryside. Will follows his gaze: across the room, Lucy's face is lit with mirth as she looks on a vigorous game of charades being enacted in front of the fire. A length of ivy forgotten from an earlier game trails from her light blonde hair.

Yours? Will murmurs. It is not a question.

His great-niece, Bunter answers. Hers and her heirs' to command.


_ _ _

Ubi sunt gaudia = "Where are those joys. . ."

---

Stayed up late last night watching the Petherbridge-Walter Have His Carcase. Scattered thoughts:

Petherbridge not bad at looking and sounding Wimseyesque, but for the sags under his eyes and a tendency to rush key lines. Walter very pretty and clearly very technically competent, but her voice is too high and she too seems to rush somewhat in the scene where Harriet and Peter have it out. Tempted to fault the direction, actually. Even more tempted to go find the Carmichael radio version, which I remember to be dead on target with the emotional pacing.

Still madly love that scene in the book. The scene as scripted strikes me as admirably well-crafted - i.e. the choices made in condensing and editing Harriet and Peter's exchange so that its intensity plays across properly to a 1980s audience when spoken aloud. As acted/directed, as I said above, the dramatization of the scene seems rushed, but still, there are moments -- for me, particularly the one where Petherbridge silently sits down heavily front and left to Walter, pressing hand against forehead in frustration and misery.

All these years of (re)reading, I've tended to skip straight to favorite scenes, so much so that I don't know if I ever really registered the girl driving the cows and other minor characters. Points to the video for motivating me to go back and pay some attention to them.

The actress portraying Mrs. Weldon -- excellent.

I want a Bunter more than ever. Especially if he looks as nice as Richard Morant. One can well imagine why Hannah was susceptible.

Bunter riding the horse. Utterly non-canonical, but oh be still my galloping heart.

The solution sans acrostic nicely scripted and acted. Harriet and Peter saying the final lines on the beach would have been quite nice had the screenwriter not felt obliged to tack on the nonsense about "Harriet, I'm going to break our agreeement..." and whatever that ghastly bit was about her perhaps sending for him next time. Bah!

And because I'm utterly non-consistent, I then melted into complete goop when Petherbridge kissed the bare part of Walter's wrist (between sleeve and glove).

Comments

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I like this piece the best of the snippets so far.

Please tell me there's Will/Bunter in the future. Because, Will/Bunter!

::friends::

[gramarye1971]

*barely suppresses a squeal at the Will/Bunter interaction*

Gah, lovely! The two of them together...ooh, I love the way it just seems to WORK, effortlessly. *wants more wants more wants more*

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

As for Bunter/Will -- what a terrifying thought. ...and an irresistible one. Give me a mo. . .

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

Hee! Diolch.

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

Just wandering around in your journal, now ;-)

Oh, this is really nice. Bunter!

[cesario.livejournal.com]

dude. Bunter, an Old One. It makes so much sense now! I love this drabble.