Monday 16 February 2015

Heretic, Harlot, or Heroine? Me & Anne Boleyn



Wolf Hall. If you haven't seen it, you will have heard about it. Here at The Vintage Twins HQ, our Wednesday night revolves around BBC2, 9pm, and the National Trust's Wolf Hall Bingo. "Methinks I hear a lute! Bingo!"
(c) The National Trust 2015

  The deliciously rich, historically charged, exhilarating novel series by Hilary Mantel- Wolf Hall, Bring Up The Bodies and the third installment due out this year- revolve around the life of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister from 1532 until his untimely execution in 1540. I could write at least ten more posts on how exquisitely Mantel captures the wiley, ambitious, intelligent Cromwell in such a realistic and potent manner, but I don't want to talk about Cromwell. Right now, with the BBC airing their equally brilliant adaptation of Wolf Hall (hats of to you, Mark Rylance), everybody is talking about Thomas Cromwell. 
  
  I want to talk about the woman who started it all, and my long, turbulent relationship with her.

My relationship with Anne Boleyn started at, I would imagine, the age of seven. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded survived; we all learnt it, we all heard it, we were all gleefully presented with a gruesome idea that a big fat king had his wife's head chopped clean off. Then there was the constant re-reading of Terry Deary's Cruel Kings and Mean Queens, lingering over the stories of her vomiting behind a sheet at a banquet due to her pregnancy, and laughing at the literal 'Greensleeves' joke that followed.

   As a child, the Tudor world was a rich story that I obsessed over learning more about. By the age of ten, we both devoured every book we could get our hands on about the flame-haired royals, getting lost in a world of stays and damask dresses. The books and the stories that I read about or saw in museums were not much better at shining some light on Anne Boleyn. She was a witch. She had six fingers, swarthy skin, and an ugly face. She killed a bishop. She might have killed her former Queen.

To me, she wasn't real; she was the villain in a story that had resulted in her death, a death that, I was sure, she deserved. I hated Anne Boleyn. I hated the thought that Catherine of Aragon had died because of her. I hated her because she made Princess Mary work as a servant. In these many, many books I read about the Tudor dynasty, Anne was spiteful, ambitious, and terrifying. She was the enemy to the good, shining light of the Tudors. 
   I hate to say it, but Jane Seymour, dull as she was, was more of a hero in my eyes. Jane Seymour.

A few years later, when I was about ten or eleven and hopelessly obsessed with anything remotely historical, I read the below book. It is now completely battered, with the pages curled, possibly from being thrown in bags or carted around on every half-term venture and summer holiday that we went on. Both me and Catherine were obsessed with this book, and I'm pretty sure that we nicked it from our older sister in the first place.







 Margaret Simpson, I owe you one. Because my discovery of Elizabeth I, and my subsequent adoration of her, led me to a change of heart about her mother, Anne Boleyn. If Anne Boleyn had lost early on to Catherine, the good Catholic girl you'd take home to your parents, then Elizabeth would never have happened. England's history would have been entirely different, and my all time heroine would not have been the great, glorious woman that she was.

Elizabeth famously never spoke about Anne, but in her possessions kept the famous 'B' necklace that Anne wears in the portrait of her that hangs in Hever Castle. Elizabeth was Tudor, yes, but she was also Boleyn- and the legacy of her mother was something that I think shaped Elizabeth to be the Queen she was.
  Anne Boleyn was no witch. She was an intelligent, witty, ambitious woman who changed the game for women at a time when they were to be meek and submissive. The villain of the piece is the tyrant who saw wives and women as disposable. Anne wasn't held back by her gender in her quest to secure power and authority. She was not the 'goggled-eyed whore', the evil, dark woman who wickedly led a golden prince astray. Right up until the end, she maintained her innocence, she fought for her life, and she remained courageous in the face of her orchestrated downfall.
 Wolf Hall is the first piece of historical fiction that portrays Anne not as a saint, not as a sorceress, but as an immensely brave and clever woman.
Anne Boleyn was a woman who all women should stop and think twice about.
As you can see below,
I certainly have.
 Bow down to the Queen B.


Please see Hilary Mantel's great article about Anne from the Guardian here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/11/hilary-mantel-on-anne-boleyn


Saturday 7 February 2015

Shakespeare & Charlecote: A Match Made in Heaven

"There was a star danced, and under that was I born." - Love's Labours Won


This post is about four months late. I’ve been meaning to write it day after day, week after week, sorting through the photos, thinking of what I could write. Then I completely forgot, and put it on to-do list that only ever seems to lengthen. That was until I saw on my calendar, under 11th February, ‘LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST CINEMA’, scrawled in black marker pen, and I thought to myself, today’s the day I write about Charlecote Park, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and my love of Shakespeare.
Images copyright of the RSC
Images Copyright of the RSC

You know all about The Vintage Twins’ love for the National Trust, and when I found out last year they had teamed up with the Royal Shakespeare Company for me it was a match made in heaven.  My love affair with Shakespeare started years ago, when I was presented with Charles and Mary Lamb’s ‘Tales From Shakespeare’. I was hooked. One English Literature degree, a dissertation on Shakespeare's history plays, and an RSC Key Card later, I'm here to tell you about two wonderful plays.


Back in October (where did those four months go?) I went down to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see Love’s Labour’s Lost and Love’s Labour’s Won (Much Ado About Nothing). Director Christopher Luscombe is nothing short of a genius, setting these two romantic comedies either side of the First World War.

And the RSC is now bringing these wonderful plays to you, or at least, to a cinema near you on the 11th February and 4th March!

But here’s the twist, local National Trust house Charlecote Park makes a wonderful cameo.  The inspired set replicates rooms from the house. Tiny details, such as the carved fireplace, are noted, making the audience feel as though they have been transported to 1914. The WWI connotations are so important and significant, from the solemn ending of Love’s Labour’s Lost, a scene which made me cry. The celebratory, carefree mood of Love’s Labour’s Won is also scattered with hints to the horrors of the war.



The two, quite frankly, hilarious plays are absolutely wonderful. From the incredible sets, to the sumptuous costumes, the music, and most importantly the talented cast, it’s a gorgeous experience. Check out the amazing leads Michelle Terry and Edward Bennett, who are so very likeable and funny.




Obviously a trip to Charlecote Park was sandwiched between the two plays. There are links to Shakespeare’s own past, rumour has it the playwright was caught poaching there. With deer roaming round the magnificent park, you can well believe it. Not to mention the Folio which you can see in the library. The house still feels alive, with cooking demonstrations in the kitchen, a tour round the stables and a working farm (check out the adorable pigs!). The house is one of my favourite National Trust properties, with it's friendly staff, beautiful grounds, and rich tapestry of history threaded throughout the interior. It is well worth a visit! 



So for an evening filled with wit, humour, love, loss, and a beautiful stately home, go and see Love’s Labour’s Lost and Love’s Labour’s Won. You won’t regret it.