The extended Gloomsbury Bloomsbury Set included Lady Utterline Immoral Lady Ottoline Morrell who snapped this image of
Nota bene: Since publishing this post I've been honored that Sue Limb, the author of Gloomsbury, has been in touch to say that "You and your acolytes might be pleased to know we are recording a fourth series at the end of September". Naturally, I'm plump with pride to be able to report this world exclusive here on Chronica Domus.
What do Vera Sackcloth-Vest, Ginny Fox, Lady Utterline Immoral, Lytton Scratchy, and Venus Traduces all have in common? Well, you might be interested to learn that they are all characters belonging to that (extended) coterie of writers, artists, and philosophers known as The Bloomsbury Set... I mean, The Gloomsbury Set.
I am currently listening to the re-airing of BBC Radio 4's amusing literary comedy Gloomsbury, which I became aware of a few years ago when it was first broadcast across the airwaves. I would gently encourage you to listen to it too. Sparklingly written by British comedy writer Sue Limb, Gloomsbury comes to life through the marvelous voices of the talented Miriam Margolyes, John Sessions, and Alison Steadman. For those of my readers who are located outside of earshot of the Beeb's radio broadcasts, fear not. You will have an opportunity over the next three weeks to tune in via The Internet. Series 1 is currently streaming to the world so do get thee to the following web site, pronto:
The sitcom is serialized over three six-part installments, each part being thirty minutes long, and parodies the eccentric and oftentimes saucy bohemian goings on of the early twentieth century clique headed by Virginia Woolf, or Ginny Fox as she's known here. Don't you just adore Miss Limb's punny humor in the renaming of her Gloomsbury Set?
Gloomsbury is littered with smart little quips that make reference to the real-life characters of the Bloomsbury Set. Take for example Vera Sackcloth-Vest's instructions to her gardener in the planting of the north border at Sizzlinghurst. As she rattles off a list of nonsensical Italian-sounding plant names (formaggio mezzaluna anyone?), the dear fellow is prompted to ask "will that be pink or cream". "Cream of course, man!" comes the snippy response, "I won't have pink anywhere near Sizzlinghurst".
The famous white garden at Sissinghurst Castle, created by Ms. Sackville-West, is one of England's most visited gardens
Oh, and the production team could not have selected a more fitting piece of music for the theme song. Won't you take a listen for yourself?
I think Dorothy Parker described The Bloomsbury Set perfectly with her bon mot "they lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles". If all this talk of squares and circles has piqued your interest, do please tune in for some radio high-jinks. I'm sure you too will soon be delightfully amused, if not downright confused, by all the triangles.
Hello CD, After your post whetted my appetite for this parody, I am destined to be disappointed. The BBC site will not play on my computer, and I also am unable to download the broadcast (to a file). Funny as Ms. Limb's travesty appears to be, it can't be any zanier than the original material she had to work with!
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello Jim,
DeleteI'm disappointed, and surprised, you've been unable to listen this this wonderful series. Is it because of listening laws in Taiwan which preclude you from streaming the BBC radio stations? Perhaps it is something as simple as downloading a particular player. I hope you can fiddle about with things on your computer to make it all work. Do please let me know if you are indeed successful. If not, at least listen to the theme music which is itself a delight.
I will have a listen!! Did you see the square on the BBC earlier this year? It wasn't as good as we all expected and seemed radio yet demanded TV attention so this radio 4 might be a perfect fit.
ReplyDeleteHello Naomi,
DeleteDo let me know if you enjoy it. It it very funny so how could you not!
Alas, I really do miss Aunty Beeb and have not seen Life In Squares as it has yet to be shown here.
Amusingly, I did read somewhere that it was described as a "bonkfest" which certainly raises one's eyebrows.
...raised this eyebrow.
DeleteI doubt Life In Squares will make it to PBS so I'll just have to catch it the next time I'm over in the UK.
DeleteOh I am very aware of those triangles but did not know about the series. Thanks CD...you are such a great source of information!
ReplyDeleteDearest Lindaraxa,
DeleteDo take a listen to this show as I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
I hope your summer is going swimmingly. I was only just thinking of you this morning and wondering when you'll be posting again.
Lovely to hear from you.
CD
Thanks for this, CD. I always learn of something new and interesting from your posts. I know I'll enjoy listening to this show...all things British hold great appeal to me and the mister.
ReplyDeletexo,
Karen
Hello Karen,
DeleteOh, I do hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did the first time I listened to it. I tuned in yesterday for Part II of Series I and chuckled all the way through the witty puns and odd-ball antics of this curious set of individuals.
Happy listening to you!
ReplyDeleteCan't thank you enough for drawing my attention to this series on Radio 4--I will tune in this evening, assuming it is still available . In fact I don't know where I would be without the means to access BBCRadio4 via the computer and a hook up to the little Bose unit in my kitchen. It has changed my domestic life for the better. Bookclub, Open Book, Saturday Review, Desert Island Discs, Just a Minute, Front Row---are my go-to programmes. (I've yet to cave in to The Archers but suspect that too will happen one day...)
My Dear Toby,
DeleteYou enjoy Radio 4 in much the same way as I do, via a computer and speakers. I'm utterly hooked and I've been listening to little else since discovering a couple of years ago that this excellent British institution (a national treasure surely) is streaming worldwide.
Now, do please tell me you have also discovered 'Radio 4 Extra' because that is where the real gems reside. I've just started listening to 'The Lives and Work of Somerset Maugham', which will take three hours to complete.
Now, as for The Archers, good luck with that one. I've tried but it is too much of a soap opera for me to fully appreciate (against my best intentions).
After listening in to the first two episodes of Gloomsbury I eagerly await the rest of it. An hilarious send-up, long overdue (though I recall a skit in Alan Bennett's play Forty Years On satirising the Bloomsbury set with subtle savagery.)
DeleteMiriam Margoles as Vera aka Vita is wonderful though I wish she'd employed more of the actual Vita's speaking voice which was wonderfully rich, deep, and, as James Lee's Milne once wrote, distinctly Edwardian in its accents. Still--who couldn't laugh aloud as I did from the very start, when the head gardener refers to her as "Madam" and she corrects him. Vera: "I've told you not to call me 'Madam'"..
Gardener: "Oh, sorry, Sir". Or the bit when one of Vera's girlfriends casually refers to a tree under which they are sitting, only to have Vera contradict her with the proper horticultural name in Latin. Pricelessly funny.
Thank you, dear Toby, for your follow-up comment and your glowing endorsement of this fine piece of radio listening. Things get funnier (punnier?) as the series progresses with some real corkers to get Sue Limb's lucky listeners laughing.
DeleteOh, and I too chuckled at the witty horticultural name-shaming and Sir/Madam mix-ups. What a hoot!
I will seek this out CD and thank you for the tip. I saw 'Carrington' not so long ago with the always interesting Emma Thompson and superb Jonathon Pryce which was quite good. Oddly enough was listening only last night to audiobook of 'Cousin Rosamund' by Rebecca West that is at least partially set in that milieu. I liked hearing her characters describing those Bloomsbury male bi/homosexual characters as "silly" on account of their behavior driven by the catastrophic war just endured and the next one they assumed was about to begin as perceived by privileged and precocious young women of that time.
ReplyDeleteOh, I've not seen 'Carrington' so will seek it out for future viewing (just took a peek at the trailer and it looked most intriguing, thank you).
Delete