A Thank You Note

Thank you, all Dziobak organizers and Anna, Maria, Jeppe, Ole, and all others who made FM4 a magical place to be! Thank you Elina and Anna for the character of Mrs Lillian Knapp! A great thank you to the people playing servants for fetching me all those endless cups of tea, for forgiving me for not remebering to wait for help dealing with my hat and coat and for not kicking me out of your dancing session on the last evening.

I’m especially going to miss being the friend of the lovely and dysfunctional Banker’s family – you know, the Hoare family. What ever will I do without my Agatha? Bantering with Clayton, bickering with old Morty. Clara, I’m not worried about at all – she will be fine, always!

Some of Lillian’s finest moments, then. The brisk morning walks with lady Catherine, crossing over the muddy fields of Fairweather. Drinking tea and watching lady Monique and monsiuer Marcel fencing at the edge of the pond one early, sunny morning. The drawing lesson and the walse lesson. All the interaction with the uncomparable lady Lizy, who happily cried out ”Mrs Lilly!” every single time they met.

Rehearsing the song for the wedding in the ballrooom with the immensely talented pianist, Mr Gregory Fields. Being invited to sing at the wedding. The wine tasting at the hen party. Being handed an anonymous note applauding the fact that I’d killed Pugy-Wugsy. Sitting with such great company at the wedding dinner, bantering and laughing, especially with lady Catherine and Reverand Harvest. Also, wedding cake AND choclate dessert!

Reminiscing about that wild new year’s eve in Vienna at fin de siecle with the other ”oldies but goldies” characters. (Pugsy-Wugsy Goes on a Bender – say no more. ;-)

Stealing a dance with ”the crimson  pirate”. Hanging out with the lovely actresses from the theatre troup and the dancer Claire, and even being whisked downstairs for some folksy dancing. Lillian being recognized for the first and only time as the author of her adult novel Women in Town, and not just ”the Pugsy-Wugsy lady”. Thank you for that, lady Constance! That really made Lillian’s day (and, well, my larp).

The strongest and most painful moments for Lillian actually surrounded the thing that I myself, off-game, had the most fun preparing. The Pugsy-Wugsy stories. Lady Georgina (Elina) completely breaking my heart by bringing her deseaced son Harry’s well-read copies, complete with chocolate stains and children’s drawings made with colored crayons. The reading of the Pugsy-Wugsy Goes to War story, which became quite intense.

Thank you Lord Alakay for givning such powerful sad play, telling Lillian that no one ever told it like it is in the grim trences of the war before. I enjoyed being given the chance to give a man my handkerchief to dry his tears. And the story also ensured that Lillian and the Professor finally became true friends, before he, the great pacifist, cruely was sent out to the war.

If Lillian did exist in reality, she’d be busy writing her non-fiction book about how the war affects all the people – regardless of class, nationality or other factors – and how this madness must stop before a whole generation is lost.

Thank you for bringing the darkness of the war in short glimpses through the brightness of the luxurious Fairweather Manor life. The air raid alarm at dinner, the soldier arriving with the slips during the wedding feast, the fireworks afterwards that really showed the macabre contrast between the show of the fireworks and the sounds of weapons being shot in wartime.

It made me happy and grateful about coming back to the school where I work in real life, and not have to worry about the young boys being sent of to war.

//Fia and Mrs Lillian ”Lilly” Knapp.