#Lily Absinthe West

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Atelier - From Concept to Execution: A Movie Dress

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in constructing a dress that we fail to see how the final product will look on a live person. Early in 2024, I began construction of a simple 1880s day dress that I created to be used as part of our film wardrobe and finally, it was used in a production of the short film, “The Seamstress” which should be released sometime in 2025. Below are some views of the final…

[celestialily]

What do all your TGS ships say about you?

Henry/Robert: Has reread Bleeding Heart multiple times. You’re an absolute sucker for the “tragic college romance” trope. Becomes a snarky love/hate OT3 with the inclusion of Edward and his hilariously in-denial insults. Uses “Hastie” as a cute nickname. Day drinking with expensive red wine is a quality aesthetic. Big fan of dramatic theatre bisexuals. You’re always down to brutally criticize oppressive Victorian heteronormativity. Still worried about Robert’s wife and Henry’s inevitable reveal. Prepare for suffering.

Henry/Edward: Takes the meaning of self-depreciation to a whole new level. Utilizes audio/visual hallucinations in really bizarre ways. Gets a kick out of the Lodgers being perpetually confused by the situation. Doesn’t know a damn thing about chemistry but tries to make sense of it anyway. Lives for the pettiness, drama, and self-sabotage thrown back and forth between them. You try to sing both parts of “Confrontation” every time. Usually has an OT3 if anybody else is involved.

Henry/Jasper: An early shipper who loves scientific technobabble and freaking out over cute dogs/cryptids/anything. Covering Henry in sparkles is a time-honoured tradition. “Seduce me with rogue science~” is a constant mood. Perpetually on the hunt for Mothman’s ass. Wants more Zozi dammit.

Henry/Morcant: A classic. Earliest proponent of Jekyll being a furry. Fond of terrifying fairy tales and embracing one’s beastly side. Also on the hunt for Mothman’s ass. Loves the intense noir look of Bleeding Heart. Dying to see Morcant rip someone to shreds in full comic colour glory. Jasper’s gained a cool new wolf aunt to show him the ropes. Personally, you want to abandon all society and roam the forest as a bog witch, but here you are instead. I’m not judging.

Edward/Rachel: You love the take-no-shit snarky bi solidarity. Big fan of the “how do I tell my boss I’m in love with his outlaw assistant when they both keep disappearing on me” plot. They’re voted “Most likely couple to end up covered head to toe in blood and just laugh it off”. You endlessly pour over old concept art on Deviantart for more cute and hilarious moments between them.

Henry/Rachel: You’re either an Edward/Rachel/Henry OT3 shipper, or a hardcore Paraphernalia fan who decided to stay despite the drastic shift in plot, tone, and Rachel’s reworked backstory. Still thinks the aviator goggles are a good look for Henry. Looooves Ghibli flight sequences more than life itself. Really into clockpunk and music boxes.

Rachel/Jasper: Every awkward interaction is a BIG MOOD for you. Adores the country mouse/city mouse dichotomy. Everyone in the comic is a terrible wingman but it still works. Probably falling down a Wiki rabbit hole researching old Victorian food recipes, West Country accents, and Rromani settlements in East London. Human embodiment of the classic ✿＼(｡-_-｡) “Kick his ass, baby. I got yo flower.” meme

Edward/Lucy: Either has no idea what the 90’s musical is and is thrilled with Hyde’s cute hero-worship of a badass criminal leader, or is absolutely starving for a version of the musical that treats her better than she got. You can’t wait for Edward to actually meet her in canon and make a complete fool of himself. She could kick you in the face and you’d probably thank her. Lives and breathes for the flair and unnecessary parkour of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Busy researching weird and complicated schemes the real Forty Elephants actually pulled off.

Henry/Frankenstein: … you might have wandered in from the Penny Dreadful fandom expecting something different (oops). Either that or you’ve been on board since 2010 and the unexpected gender switch was a really weird curveball. Still wondering what happened to Walton in all this mess.

Henry/Utterson: You’re still salty Gabriel’s not included and have made a whole backstory dedicated specifically to getting him into the plot. Expect hilarious legal shenanigans, terrible hide-and-seek skills, more Lanyon drama, and a drastic increase in bad puns. Likely has spent the most hours rereading the novella out of anyone. How do you write a gaslamp crime thriller with no murder yet? You find a way.

Edward/That Couple: Who are they? What are their stories? What kind of rowdy bar fights and crazy threesomes do they get up to? Who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Make your own conclusions. Everybody’s bi and probably gonna die early from some disease anyway. Drink absinthe. Fuck the peelers. Party like it’s Soho in 1885.

Edward/Creature: You’ve got a big green monster and a little green monster, what more could you ask for? Old Universal monster movies are your jam. Probably fed up with humanity in general, but what’s new? Creature’s #done face gives you life.

Archer/Griffin: You love the fantastic potential of the Lodgers’ inventions and finding new hilarious ways for them to backfire. Has likely read “The Invisible Man”, but disregards it entirely except for the swearing. Probably prefers the LXG movie over the comic book. Fond of belligerent sexual tension, getting into ridiculous arguments, and dramatic drunken confessions. Archer is a disaster and everybody in the Society knows it.

Lavender/Flowers: Ahhhh, you love the smell of hopeless Victorian lesbians in the morning. Smells like bouquets of violets, lilies, and lavender, and also slightly smoking malfunctioning insects. You live and breathe for campy steampunk. The Lodgers are an infinite source of drama for this pairing, but also filled with ride-or-die geniuses willing to lend a hand in the case of pining lovesick idiots like them.

Frankenstein/Elizabeth: Immensely surprised by canon science wives but definitely pleased. Secretly wishes Elizabeth was still alive against all odds. Probably has read Carmilla or other gothic lesbian tragedies.

[drinkthehalo]

Shanghai. Again.

So I went to Shanghai again last week.

(I know. Ridiculous.)

A few thoughts... Consider this a sequel to last year's concluding thoughts and guide.

The Show

Some cuts that made me sad; some improvements that made me very happy. I'll do my best not to spoil.

The Porter/Boy Witch story has improved, because they have incorporated moments to replace some of the ones that are missing due to the changed lobby space.

I love one moment where Boy Witch looks at himself in a half-shrouded mirror. If you stand behind him, you see his reflection looking back at him in the mirror, and the Porter, like another reflection, peering at him from behind the curtain to the lobby desk.

And while I still miss the Porter's mirror in "Moonlight Becomes You," I love that if you stand in the right spot, you can watch both him and Lady Macduff, their movements mirroring each other.

Boy Witch has a great moment, coming up from the ballroom dance and after teasing the audience at the lost & found, where he walks through a long dark corridor into the lobby. Following behind him, you walk into the darkness, his shadowed outline slowly becoming apparent as you approach the light of the lobby. It's a powerful moment; Boy Witch in general feels more ominous in Shanghai.

"Witches 1" looks so beautiful. I've never found a reliable place to watch the New York version - some angles are always difficult to see. But in Shanghai, the lobby desk functions like a proscenium stage, and if you stand in the center you can see the whole thing clearly. They use the space so well, the witches spending more time behind and atop the counter, and the symmetry of the spacing and the movements is gorgeous to watch.

The lack of "Is That All There Is?" is still a huge loss. :(

I also adore the moment of the Bride dancing in the trees - not only is it beautiful, but it feels achingly like Wendy in Drowned Man.

I'm sad that they cut the hide and seek between Sexy Witch and the Bride on High Street. It was so much fun, although I'd guess that the logistics were too difficult.

I do love the new scene those two have together, but in general I don't feel like the Bride's story has as compelling of a narrative arc now as it had in December. Her relationship with Sexy Witch also isn't as clear to me now.

I really miss Hecate's fifth floor scene with the Bride, also cut. :( I felt that it incorporated the Bride more clearly into the existing narrative, better clarified her relationship with Hecate, and added emotional resonance to her story.

The Husband has a more developed story now, and I loved the emotional arc of his loop.

Duncan does something totally unexpected and brilliant. Which again, I won't spoil. But I loved it.

I greatly appreciate how much more dynamic and interesting the loops of Duncan, Cunning Man, and Speakeasy Barman have become. I know there are fans who enjoy watching a character sleep, or sew, or scrub cardboard, but to me these just seem like side effects of poorly defined character loops, and I don't mourn the loss. I think it's great that these characters have more to do.

There are new 1:1s. I had some but not others. All of the ones I had impressed me very much. I won't say anything else since it's spoilery, but kudos to Punchdrunk for doing a great job developing these. 

The commercialism of the product tie-ins is a little bit distracting. But I don't think that the integrity of the show itself is compromised. The show is a work of art; I'd rather Budweiser and Kans spend their money on it than on another stupid TV commercial. I think people who criticize forget that art throughout history has been sponsored by those with money.

For the most part, the audience has gotten better since December. The stewarding is great, and one of the Woman in Bar characters actually demonstrates in her lift speech how to give performers space. It helps.

But I did make the mistake of going to the 100th show party, which was by far the worst audience experience I've ever had at a Punchdrunk show. I've honestly never experienced anything like it. People shoving ahead and pushing you behind them like a wild mob. There was no way to win - either you fall behind and can barely see, or you push ahead too, and either way you feel awful. I can't imagine how stressful this must have been for the performers as well. :(

On the plus side, 100th show Follies was delightful. (Only it's not called Follies there, I forget the actual name.) Fun to see such an interesting combination of people on stage - Lily and Sam, Conor and Garth, and several of the local cast.

The Performers

I don't even know where to begin. There are so many brilliant performers doing exceptional work; even in eight shows I didn't have time to follow everyone I wanted to see. A few specific thoughts:

Andrea Carrucciu

Andrea is brilliant. I can't complement his performances enough. He's exceptionally expressive with both his body and his eyes. From Porter to Macbeth he absolutely transforms, from sweet and awkward to intense and terrifying.  His "Moonlight Becomes You" is beautiful, and his Macbeth is convincing both in his monstrousness as a killer and the aching vulnerability of Macbeth as a man who is in way over his head.

Fania Grigoriou

Fania is delightful to follow and brilliant at engaging the audience. She fully embodies her characters in every way. The contemptuous blasphemy of her Bald Witch must be seen to be believed.

The witch combination of Fania, Miranda, and Olly is the best I've ever seen, which is saying a LOT. They have the most amazing energy, pushing each other to the next level, shrieking and cackling and smacking each other, so absolutely delightful and wicked and thrilling. I'm in awe.

Lee Wen Hsin (Debby)

I somehow ended up watching her Dragon Boat scene like five times, and was consistently awed at her performance every time.

Lily Ockwell

In some ways Lily was the star during this visit. Every show she popped up in a surprising role - Lady Macbeth, Bride, Sexy Witch, Lady Macduff, and Nurse.

I never would have expected to see her as Lady Macbeth, but she totally killed it. Lily exudes sympathetic humanity, which made the cruelty of her actions toward Duncan even more painful to watch, and her remorse completely convincing. Her final bathtub scene was heartbreaking.

Also, her Sexy Witch scream in the rave deserves its own credit in the program. I knew it was coming and I still jumped out of my skin.

Liu Yu

His Calloway is charming, handsome, and by the end he remembered the names of everyone in my group. Seems like the entire show might stop running if he ever takes a sick day.

Miranda Mac Letten

Miranda's Sexy Witch is a work of art. Dark and haunting, more layered and mysterious and compelling than I ever thought Sexy Witch could be. Her bar solo seems to defy gravity and move at light speed; it's a stunning accomplishment.

Olly Hornsby-Sayer

Olly has totally come into his own as a performer - he’s very confident and comfortable with the audience, and seems like he enjoys his roles. I had a great time following him. At one point as Boy Witch, he startled me and other audience members so much that we screamed out loud. He's gotten so great at the Boy Witch eye contact and audience interaction. As Speakeasy he was an absolute delight - I found myself laughing multiple times throughout his loop.

Omar Gordon

Some of his dialog as Cunning Man cracked me the fuck up, which I will not quote here because it's spoilery, but omg. Brilliant.

Omar's Banquo is also fabulous, never more so than in the ballroom dance, where his chemistry with Fania's Bald Witch lights up the room.

Sam Booth

Sam is a genius, let's be honest. He took a character that spends half his NY loop sleeping, and made it into one of the most interesting performances in the show. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say this Duncan feels deeply and uniquely human, and his story is absolutely haunting.

Shen Ni

Her Hecate is riveting and terrifying.

Tang Tingting

In both her roles, she is one of the most impressive Punchdrunk performers I've ever seen. She has such presence, and can go from otherworldly and intimidating to profoundly human and sympathetic.

Tim Bartlett

I was very impressed with what I saw of his Taxidermist - didn't get any 1:1s, but even just watching his loop, I loved the intensity of his nervous energy, and the humor in his friendship with Speakeasy.

The Spaces

The Drama Hotel is open - it's Shakespeare-themed, expensive, and not designed by Punchdrunk.  It has an outdoor bar on the ground level, which is more lively than the Manderley after the show.

The eighth floor rooftop has the Cosmos Cafe, which looks like a bland version of Gallow Green, also isn't designed by Punchdrunk, and doesn't serve alcohol. The views are gorgeous.

The seventh floor has both a speakeasy and a restaurant, also not designed by Punchdrunk. I didn't go into the restaurant (it doesn't have vegan options) but I loved the speakeasy. We met a fabulous bartender there named Eddie, who'd traveled the world - his cocktails and conversation rivaled the best bartenders I've met anywhere.

The different bars feature two different cocktails named "Sleep No More" - one absinthe-based and one espresso-based. The espresso one was particularly fabulous (and appropriately named!).

Shanghai

A few updates to the recommendations I shared last time:

* James Turrell "Immersive Light" exhibition at the Long Museum. Fascinating series of artworks created with light; worth spending half a day to take it in.

* M50 Arts District, especially the Island6 gallery and its amazing artworks incorporating video, light, sound, and interactivity.

* Propaganda Poster Museum - incredibly interesting, and sheds so much light on China's historical perspective on the West.

* Huangpu River Cruise at dusk - amazing to watch the futuristic cityscape light up around you as the sun sets.

* Mount Sanqingshan - we took a two-night trip here via high speed train and climbed a beautiful mountain. Thank you @whenwillweawake​ for planning it!

The Drowned Man

I was traveling with a group who were mostly Drowned Man fans, and talking mostly to cast members who'd been in Drowned Man. Everything seemed to bring up memories of it, and we talked about it for hours. It continues to awe me how deeply that show left its impression on our souls.

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Film Set - Billy the Kid (In Production)

We’ve been a bit out of touch lately with all the work on the film Billy the Kid by Michael Feifer– remote locations, no WiFi, 12-hour plus days, etc. have really been a major strain but we’ve finally been able to sort out some pictures and video from the production. To start things out, here’s a few views of our lead actress, Brianna Young:

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Film Set - Billy the Kid (In Production)

We’ve been a bit out of touch lately with all the work on the film Billy the Kid by Michael Feifer– remote locations, no WiFi, 12-hour plus days, etc. have really been a major strain but we’ve finally been able to sort out some pictures and video from the production. To start things out, here’s a few views of our lead actress, Brianna Young:

[lilyabsinthe]

At No. 11 - Off to Town! (Part Deux)

Off to town sans gloves. Scandalous!

[lilyabsinthe]

At No. 11 - Off to Town!

No front porch pictures because Adam gets here Tuesday, so a selfie it is:

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Atelier - A Paisley Tea Gown

In a previous post, we looked at a paisley house dress/tea gown from the mid-1890s and noted that the paisley shawls that were a staple of 1850s-60s fashion would up being re-purposed into dresses during the 1870s, 80s, and even 90s. Here’s one such example with this c. 1885-89 tea gown. Tea Gown, c. 1885-1889; Kent State University Museum; 1995.017.0016 Although the design makes it look like…

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Atelier - What's On...

Fall is definitely here, even in Southern California and that means the heat has backed off, the days are growing shorter, and the light is definitely different. It also means that we’re working on more projects (no swimming pool to distract us). For me, I’ve been going back and forth between a Mid-1880s dress and a men’s suit. I’ve been pretty bad with the progress pictures but here’s a couple…

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Atelier - Fall is Here...

Happy First Day of Autumn! To celebrate this spooky pumpkin season, I thought I’d share one of the first ladies that started our collection in bright copper pumpkin silk faille. She’s all original, no shattering, and is fetchingly balanced on one of our own bustles. She’s homemade or Dressmaker made, completely hand finished and little to no signs of wear. Was she a wedding or special occasion…

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Atelier - Fall is Here...

Happy First Day of Autumn! To celebrate this spooky pumpkin season, I thought I’d share one of the first ladies that started our collection in bright copper pumpkin silk faille. She’s all original, no shattering, and is fetchingly balanced on one of our own bustles. She’s homemade or Dressmaker made, completely hand finished and little to no signs of wear. Was she a wedding or special occasion…

[lilyabsinthe]

Back in LA...

Back in LA...

After a long, but uneventful, drive home, we’re back in LA and it’s time to buckle down- there’s a lot of projects that await us. Judging the costume contest in Tombstone was pretty fun and we got to catch up with some old friends. We’ll be back in a month-ish with work, more work, and a bit of Helldorado-ing. Not necessarily in that order.

[lilyabsinthe]

In Tombstone, Part Deux

Well, we spent a good day in Tombstone- I was very busy as one of three judges for the costume contest which was sponsored by the Tombstone Vigilantes. We had a good time judging the contest, there were many excellent entries and two hours later, we had out decisions. Yes, it was definitely blue dress today! Here’s some more pictures… We’ll have more soon!

[lilyabsinthe]

In Tombstone, Part Deux

Well, we spent a good day in Tombstone- I was very busy as one of three judges for the costume contest which was sponsored by the Tombstone Vigilantes. We had a good time judging the contest, there were many excellent entries and two hours later, we had out decisions. Yes, it was definitely blue dress today! Here’s some more pictures… We’ll have more soon!

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Atelier - Our Design Philosophy

Our passion to help set the standard for reproducing late 19th Century garments begins with an understanding of all the details found in original/extant garments. Often, when we look at reproduction garments (film, reenactment, old time dress-up), we notice that they often repeat the mistakes found in tired, mass-produced reproduction patterns. To us, the only true way of recreating late 19th…

[lilyabsinthe]

From the Atelier - Our Design Philosophy

Our passion to help set the standard for reproducing late 19th Century garments begins with an understanding of all the details found in original/extant garments. Often, when we look at reproduction garments (film, reenactment, old time dress-up), we notice that they often repeat the mistakes found in tired, mass-produced reproduction patterns. To us, the only true way of recreating late 19th…