In last week’s round-up, I had listed a tumblr post that compiled the detail shots by Mike Lees of the intricately detailed Uncle Vanya set. Beauty aside, it is just astounding with how much care and precision the set was designed. In the comments, Besotted and I were musing about the point and reason of such detail – that is invisible for the audience. Keen on getting an answer from the source, I took to Instagram and actually asked the set designer, Rae Smith, “all that detail that would not have been noticeable by the theatregoers (e.g. documents in Russian, Cyrillic typewriter) is that all due to your own perfectionism/style or is that done solely to benefit the actors so they can “be” the character and feel completely immersed?” She kindly came back with an answer. (If below embedded IG post doesn’t show on your screen, I have included a screenshot of her answer below left.)
Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an
Interesting to know, right, that the set itself here serves not only the entertainment of the audience, but even more so the imagination of the actors. That is a lot of prep and props just for the benefit of helping actors do their job. That sounds as if I disapprove – I do not!
Rae Smith actually had tagged the wrong stage manager into her reply and corrected her mistake in a second reply. Which brought Graham Michael, stage manager for UV, into the thread. You can read the conversation in the embedded IG post above, but just to say he chimed in on the Cyrillic typewriter. And interestingly – that typewriter apparently is currently up for auction on eBay! Graham posted the link for me, and I checked it out – Yours for £40 – if you act fast. Only 5 hours to go… (click picture to go to listing).
Graham also let it slip to me that he still has plenty of photos from UV. I have encouraged him to share them 😁
Ok, but now for this week’s…
- That’s how I like to start a round-up – with some gorgeous Guy with nice edits. Posted by zuzcreation
- Riepu10 continues to delight us with her Astrov gifs, here with added hand porn
let’s continue to keep the veil of silence over that anachronistic plastic biro… - Riepu10 again. With this series of masterpiece gifs. Required watching. Possibly not in presence of significant other. Enjoy
- Staying with Riepu10 – this is an old edit of hers from a while back. Hm, I am wondering whether we should create a Porter meme *coughs*… This could be an interesting source image
- Jeepers, that’s some strong hairporn here in this gif set by richiecrispie. Astrov with his #romanticherohair
- An old one by thelurkingdead, spotted on mezzmerizedbyrichard’s TL – Richard through car windows…
- Nfcomics has completely nailed it. *coughs*. What a Guy Wants
- In the current climate, I really enjoyed this piece of fan fiction by thewarriorandtheking. Fluff! Of the best kind
- The Hobbit characters as birds by elvish-sky. Yeah, not surprised about Thorin
Sorry, looks like a slow week… But if you need to fill time, I can back Richard’s recommendation of the new Nicola Shindler-produced Channel 4 drama It’s a Sin. Mr Guylty and I tuned in last night and went on what is basically a binge for our standards: three out of five episodes watched in one evening. The show follows a group of young gay men (and one token female, straight friend 😜) through the 1980s. Each episode takes place in a different year, starting in 1981 and ending in 1991. For someone who has lived through the eighties, I did have memories of this new lethal illness that caused the campaigns for safe sex in the mid-eighties. But since the friend group in the film is roughly ten years older than me, the earlier episodes were just that bit too far removed from my own memories and experiences. Having said all that, the show walks the perfect balance between laughter and sadness. Watching some of the action is just astounding – the bias and bigotry and discrimination is hard to stomach. And especially so when you realise it’s only 40 years ago. The show certainly gets the general atmosphere very well across, not least thanks to the fabulous 80s soundtrack. Definitely a great show to watch – not just for members of the LGBTQ+ communities!
Happy Saturday,
Sonja ❤️
Guylty Pleasure 
Wonder which fan has bought the typewriter!
Great investigative work on the props and it makes complete sense that the set helps the actors with their acting and being in the zone.
Watcehd the first episode of Its a Sin and it was very good. I was only a little kid in the 80s but I remember alot of the TV ads.
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Oh cool, so the type writer has sold.
Those safe sex ads were actually quite fun. There was a whole series of them. This one here is the best – I still have to laugh when I see it. (Um, German humour???) Have a look; it comes with subtitles but is pretty self-explanatory.
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Ah the UK ads were pretty scary https://youtu.be/yVggWZuFApI
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Arrrgh, that *is* scary. Just imagine they’d use that method for messaging about Covid 😱. I mean, it’s bad enough as it is, but emphasising the element of fear would really create mass panic. Glad we have moved on from such methods.
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Thats some of the problem , it scared people and made people suspicious and fueled more homophobia. I remember my Mum telling me to hover in public loos just in case.
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Yep, that messaging may not have helped.
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Whoa, what a different delivery of the message, eh? Cultural differences much?
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A classic!!
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Tiiiina!!!!!
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It was really fantastic! And interesting to note, I think, that all the actors were fairly well known in Germany. That made a difference. Everyone knew Hella von Sinnen and Ingolf Lück at the time.
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Absolutely. That was exactly the point, I guess. They were well-known and hence had a huge reach. Also, messaging with humour really was a great strategy. And also took the shame/taboo away.
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Oh, there was a remake.
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Remake?
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I was confused. I assumed the guy was gay. Then, when he made eyes at the woman, thought, “Maybe bi…?” So the ads were to teach heterosexuals that they, too, needed condoms now in the age of AIDS?
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Nope, not gay or bi. That was just the height of fashion back then. 😉
It was a campaign aimed at the general public. It’s been part of the Ministry of Health campaigns ever since. There’s still posters in public spaces. There are different versions aimed at anyone who has sex.
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To the best of my recollection, the campaign was always broadly aimed at everyone (keeping in mind that in the early 80s, sex wasn‘t something I was old enough to worry about). I found this interesting English-language info about the campaign in Germany. “In November [1985], the BZgA [Federal Centre for Health Education] sends the Federal Government’s first information brochure to all 27 million households by post.”
From: https://www.liebesleben.de/media/englische-inhalte/Doku_GAKC_2013_Englisch.pdf
The posters, slogan and logo of the campaign are among the most recognizable in Germany.
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It was definitely also present in schools.
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LOL – that’s the 80s for you. Nope, he was meant to be all straight… Funnily enough, I don’t remember the safe sex campaigns ever aimed only at gays. I think they were always aimed at both genders, no matter what orientation.
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😂🤣 😂🤣
I was still too small at that time to remember these kind of ads, but it’s hilarious
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They are indeed 🙂
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Haven’t had a chance to do much tv other than date time with hubs. We’ve been trying to watch The Stand, but haven’t caught up and my hubs keeps making jokes taking me out of the story. Oh well, at least we’ve read the book already.
❄️
We got snow to deal with today so won’t be up for tv tonight. I’ll probs be begging for some hot coffee ☕️and demanding he let me put my cold feet 🦶🏼on his hot legs to warm myself up by the time we’re done digging ourselves through the snow today. ❄️☃️❄️ Thank you for including WAGW in this weeks line up. 😊
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Oh, I bet you are snowed under right now, literally. We had some really thick snow flakes this morning, but they didn’t settle, unfortunately.
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The snow is building. ❄️ Got people to meet at Starbucks tonight as well as get to Costco for food this afternoon. We’re out of cereal, bread and milk. Poor hubs needs something to eat. ❄️
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You better get some provisions in then 😉 – for hubs and in case you really get snowed in…
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And because you wouldn’t want his legs to become any less warm. 😉
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Just got home, unloaded provisions and put them away. At least now, Hubs won’t starve while I’m not paying attention. Haha😅 He says he’s already starved for attention, but I’ve got people I still have to text back to about their books tonight.
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Hope you got it all done – and fed hubs 😉
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Hahaha, he fed me. 🍲 Just soup and sandwich but perfect when cold and hungry. 🤔 Think I’ll keep him. 😄
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Mmm, #6 is yummy… so free of shrubbery and a particularly lovely shot of Lucas!
Thanks for the insight on the set. Amazing. And have I been totally blind not to notice the Astrovian background with the green typewriter? 😃
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Hehe, yes, I change backgrounds every once in a while. Although this one has been going for a few months at this stage.
Those no-shrubs pics are really such a gorgeous sight!
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Oh my gosh, G, all that research on the props — thank you!!!
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Well, it was your question – which I shared. It was something I was really curious about.
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#4. Porter meme is ok with me, just keep Bernie Sanders out of it, yes?
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LOL, fair enough!
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Thank you for getting the answer to the stage design question! I’m glad we were given the opportunity to see the finer details of the set, especially since I only have eyes for Astrov when I’ve watched the play. 😉
Re AIDS campaign from the 80’s, this was Australia’s. Horrible! I still don’t know if was considered a “success” or not.
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Those detail shots were so beautiful and fascinating. I mean, I loved that set from the moment I set eyes on it, and I would love to know about how the design was developed.
On the iPad at the moment, so I can’t see the video – will check on computer later.
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yikes!
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Thanks for the round-up Guylty, some delights here. Riepu10 rules!
4) I love the idea of a Porter meme! He is no match for those woolly mittens though
6) Thud! RA suits a car so so much. I thought for some reason that the first images were all of Lucas, and I was going to write that he had a touch of the Dolarhydes, then I realised that the first two were Francis. it is fascinating how RA manages to convey the different aspects of his characters in his eyes or set of his face.
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Actually ogling, I mean, looking at 6) again, I think it it Lucas! Longer hair and no hare-lip. I take it all back!
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Oh, I have to check that out once I am back at my computer again…
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Always a pleasure 😉.
Ok, that Porter meme is on my list.
RA in a car – well, there is another meme in the making.
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I meant to say well done for contacting the UV set designer and getting their interesting replies. I hope the photos are forthcoming!
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He has liked my request – but not posted anything yet, I think…
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