Felicity vs. The Woman in Black (review)

Last Monday, I watched Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation of The Woman in Black at the Liverpool Playhouse. I've got to say, it was a pleasant surprise.

Keckwick and Kipps travel to Mrs Drablow's house (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

I sat down into the small theatre seat and chatted away with my friend until the announcements began and the lights dimmed. I didn't have any expectations for this - my friend really wanted to go, so I just booked the tickets and forgot about it for the most part - but I was pretty excited to see how they would turn this period horror into a chilling theatre experience.

Having seen the film adaptation of Susan Hill's novella featuring Daniel Radcliffe as sparky junior solicitor Arthur Kipps in 2012, I knew the overall plot line and was intrigued enough to want to see it performed live without the dramatic camera angles and special effects. Bare in mind that I haven't yet read the book, but I've done my research and plan to snag a copy at my local bookstore; I didn't realise just how the vastly the film version deviates from the original story.

Felicity vs. Lin-Manuel Miranda

Grab yourself a warm beverage, we might be here for a while.

Lin-Manuel Miranda
Photograph: John D. & Catherine T. (MacArthur Foundation)

My introduction to Lin-Manuel Miranda and his works began with one of my friends casually mentioning that I should listen to the latest soundtrack that had been plaguing her for months - Hamilton. That then escalated into her forcefully sitting me down to listen to the opening number (Alexander Hamilton) and You'll Be Back. To cut a long story short, she had me humming along to the Beatles-inspired chorus of da da's for the next week... and then to the entire album the week after that.

Felicity vs. The Vampire Diaries

First things first, I did not plan to fall in love with this series.

It was suggested to me by my older brother and a couple of my friends, but I didn't find it all too appealing at first. The Vampire Diaries? It sounded like another teen drama show filled with a poorly developed plot, bland characters and corny love triangles that made no sense whatsoever. At this point, a lot of people - including me - were getting a little tired of the whole vampire-werewolf thing since the Twilight saga; the novelty was exhausted.

However, this particular supernatural tv series caught me by surprise. Yes, the vampire thing did seem a little cliché in the beginning, but it was easy to warm up to the idea after a couple of episodes, and I've been hooked ever since. Like, watch-seven-episodes-in-one-night kind of hooked.

Felicity vs. An Introduction

October 19th, 1pm, Greenwich Meantime. From here on in, I write without a script. See if anything comes of it.[1]

Who am I?[2] If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is[3] that I am Felicity. You prob'ly never heard my name (reports of my fame aren't greatly exaggerated),[4] but I am proud to say that I am perfectly normal, thank you very much.[5] The idea of not being normal makes me sick, and that's all there is to read about in the papers.[6] I think you would understand that, dear friend, because I think that you are alive and appreciate what that means.[7]

So anyway, on the bus today, I started thinking about what my life would be if I became one of them. A blogger, you know?[8] After all, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single writer in possession of good syntax, must be in want of a blog.[9]