The Victoria and Albert Museum knew that our insane group of theatre kids (and Shawn, Courtneay, Susan, Tim and Jason) were coming, so they decided to go ahead and close down their theatre exhibit. This wasn’t the end of the world, however, because this museum has a substantial amount of art and history to pick apart. Luckily, we still got to see (most) of the fashion exhibit, and some other cool things.
On my trek to the toilet, after examining all of the iconic fashion pieces, a specific sculpture caught my eye. It was a woman, sculpted in white marble, lying on a chaise lounge and looking down at a piece of paper.
She is endowed in a robe, vividly spilling over the front of the sofa, with wrinkles that look almost tangible.
Lawrence Macdonald created this piece in monument to Emily Georgiana, Countess of Winchilsea. In a neo-classical style, this sculpture shows the Countess draped across the bed, similar to Canova’s portrait of Pauline Bonaparte.
What initially drew my attention was the poetry engraved on the sides of the sculpture.
On stanza’s three and four, it reads:
“All my life coldly and sadly
the days have gone by.
I who dreamed wildly and madly
am happy to die.
Long since my heart has been breaking
its pain is past.
A time has been set to its aching
peace comes at last.”
Emily Georgiana died on July 10th, 1848 at the age of 39.
She fell very ill and had no hope for survival. Without the privilege of modern medicine, Emily was forced to come to terms with her inevitable death, which became an escape from the endless suffering she endured.
Some of the shows we have studied have maintained this theme of death as an escape. A resolution. A conclusion to a monotonous chapter of life.
What does it mean to wish for an end? How much pain brings a person to wish for nothing?
This inscription, and the circumstance of the muse for which the sculpture was created, reminded me of Edmund’s character in “Long Day’s Journey into Night.” Plagued with consumption, his body fought and tortured itself day after day. Fighting sickness with no support system, Edmund’s mind fled to poetry and translated his misery into words. One quote that stuck out to me in his soliloquy is:
“I was set free! I dissolved in the sea, became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm…I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of man, to life itself!”
Edmund describes the feeling of becoming something separate to life, dissolving into a place with no timeline, only joy. It seems as though the place Edmund is talking about is death itself, an escape from the pain he feels every day.
When looking at the sculpture of Emily Georgiana, the narrative of her welcoming death reminded me of how it must have felt for Edmund Tyrone to feel hopeless in getting treatment for his illness.
This passage also reminded me of the main character in “Bluets.” The playwright described their overwhelming desire to end the pain they were in– death seemed like the only escape. While grim, I think that this is a compelling and timeless feeling that has been allowed to emerge through art.
On a happier note, after visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum, I visited the Natural History Museum (for free) and was reminded how the absurdity of human evolution. We are so unique, yet unoriginal, as a species.
And our species has evolved to allow us to tell stories in costumes, under lights, and against imaginary settings.
The gift of theatre is so wonderful!
Goodbye, city of London,
xoxo Homo sapien girl
Theatre in London U of A 