Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Review: PYGMALION at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre

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Pygmalion at QPAC

After a delayed season due to the Brisbane floods, The Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) proudly opened its doors to showcase ‘Pygmalion’ – the play that inspired the iconic musical film “My Fair Lady”. Audience members were taken on a journey to the home of ‘foul-mouthed guttersnipe’ Eliza Dolittle, set in the backstreets of London in the early 1900s.

Each scene in the play was introduced by a roving spotlight travelling along a map portraying the streets of London, and articulate actors who easily transported the audience from scene to scene.

The actress who assumed the character of Eliza Dolittle (Melanie Zanetti) had the audience in stitches with her overly expressive tantrums and neck-straining, perfectly executed “London back alley guttersnipe” accent – the early 1900s English counterpart of today’s “Bogan” accent.

As the show progressed, the audience was captivated and thoroughly entertained by her transformation into an English rose, flaunting her beauty in English couture. Who could forget that red satin gown, the perfectly coiffed hair and white satin gloves in her ‘Duchess’ debut? Eliza’s transformation was a treat for all female members of the audience as it humorously depicted female empowerment, purpose and identity flourishing in the throes of a patriarchal society.

Equally engaging were the actors who portrayed Professor Higgins (Robert Colby) and Colonel Pickering (Bryan Probets). The camaraderie shared between these two unlikely friends was reflective of light and shade, day and night – the “Odd Couple” of London’s High Society. The development of co-dependent and dysfunctional relationships between these three characters was nothing short of delightful and entertaining.

Overall the play was pleasing to the theatre-palate – charming, witty, colourful, enthralling and a total delight. We highly recommend seeing Pygmalion – after all, it was the play that inspired the making of “My Fair Lady”, and who didn’t enjoy that wonderful film?

WHAT?

Pygmalion

WHERE?

QPAC, Southbank, Brisbane

WHEN?

NOW, until 27th Nov 2011.

HOW MUCH?

$30-$75 from QPAC website

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Learning about Finland for Kids

Finland is a country in Northern Europe bordered by Sweden, Norway and Russia, as well as the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Let’s learn more about this Nordic country. 

Finland Basics

Finland is 130,678 square miles, or 338,455 square kilometers, and is home to about 5.7 million people. 

Its capital and largest city is Helsinki. The official languages are Finnish and Swedish.

The area now known as Finland was first settled around 9000 BC, and it was part of Sweden from the late 13th century until 1809, when it became an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire. It declared independence in 1917 and it officially became a republic in 1919. It lost some territory to Russia after World War II but retained its independence.

It was the first country in Europe to grant its citizens universal suffrage, and the first in the world to allow all adult citizens to run for office. It is a Nordic style welfare state with an advanced economy and is often ranked as one of the countries with the happiest people in the world. 

It has a unitary parliamentary government, with a president and prime minister.

The name in Finnish is Suomi, and it’s not clear where the name came from but it seems to have a common original with the Sámi, indigenous people from the Nordic region and Russia. 

Finland National Symbols

The flag of Finland has a white background with a blue Nordic cross (which looks like a Christian cross on its side) in the center. It is said that the blue represents the nation’s thousands of lakes (there are more than 180,000 recorded lakes in the country) as well as the sky.

The national anthem, “Maamme” in Finnish or “Our Land” in English, was originally written for the 500th anniversary of the town of Porvoo and was first performed in 1848. The song is not officially the national anthem but has been commonly used as the anthem since the nation’s independence. Estonia‘s national anthem uses the same tune. 

Finland’s coat of arms is a crowned heraldic lion on a red field, with the right front leg replaced by a human arm holding a sword. He’s also standing on a sabre and surrounded by nine roses. 

The Eurasian brown bear is the national animal, and the Finnhorse is the national horse. Finland’s national insect is the seven-spot ladybird and the national fish is the European perch. 

Lily of the valley is a floral emblem of Finland, and their national dog is the Finnish Spitz. In addition, granite, the silver birch, the Whooper swan and the holly blue butterfly are all considered national symbols. (You can read about several of these here.)

Finland Learning Activities for Kids 

Grab resources for teaching about Finland from Teachers Pay Teachers. Artsy Craftsy Mom also has a printable fact book you can purchase.

Make a tape resist Finnish flag with this idea from taidekoti. Or use watercolors to make the Northern Lights, which can be seen in Finland, with this project from The Pinterested Parent. And learn more about the Aurora Borealis in this video from Little School.

Learn more about the boreal forest/taiga biome, which covers the majority of Finland, with this resource from Let’s Talk Science. Talk about the differences between brown bears and grizzly bears, and pull out horse crafts and learning activities. 

Take a listen to some music performed on the kantele, the national instrument of Finland. 

Check out the Moomins, described as “with and roundish trolls with large snouts,” developed by Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson.

The national food of Finland is rye bread, so give it a try with this recipe from Zingerman’s. (It will still be good even if you don’t have freshly milled rye.)