They don’t go together do they. When I was twelve and reaching what the Catholics euphemistically (and ironically) call ‘the age of reason’ we had a small black and white Bush TV and Olivier’s Henry 5th was on one side and Barbarella was on the other. They crossed over and I wanted to see this sexy space adventure but mum won and we watched Henry 5th, with me deciding to follow it in the text and call out ‘they cut a bit there’, every so often.
When it finished and we all went to bed I sneaked out and put the TV back on and watched the last half of Barbarella. I never thought Jane Fonda was a beautiful woman but I think I enjoyed it. I did not know for years mum heard me and decided to let me watch it anyway.
Of course when I went to school I had the best of both worlds because I could pretend to be salacious about the film and yet I did not find it so difficult to read the modern text of Shakespeare. Today I wouldn’t even think of watching Barbarella. I have seen Henry 5th in several forms and would be in the play in an instant if someone was putting it on nearby.
I am guessing the unexpected moment when one really chooses one’s path in life probably comes and goes without us noticing that much. I am not sure at all it was my Barbarella moment, but then none of us might be.