(no subject)

[backupmemories]

(also posted on revolution_fr)

As most of you know, I'm doing a reenactment of some scenes from the French Revolution with my friends in a few weeks, and I was wondering - does anyone have an English translation of Camille Desmoulins' Aux Armes speech on July 12? The "jump on a table, pull out a pistol or two, and get everyone to wear green" speech; I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. ^^

Also, I'm looking for Saint-Just's "Report on the Dantonists" (again, in English - alas, I speak no French).

Anything else you can get me in English, I'd be grateful. Preferably by Robespierre, Desmoulins, Danton, Saint-Just, Marat, etc. All is welcome; presume we know nothing. ^_^

We have a pretty willing group, so if there's anything you'd like to see people in costume performing in front of a camera in Central Park or wherever it ends up being...just ask. ^___^

Also, if anyone knows a lot about costumes of specific people and can link me to something that has really good images, that would be very helpful! It's the little details, like "What did stockings look like" and "What type of shoes?" and "What do the sleeves look like again?" that really get you...and if you can answer any of those questions, that helps. ^^

Thanks, everyone!

Comments

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. That makes sense. XD Who's going to be executed?

Well, I'll see what I can do. I've translated the account quoted by Desmoulins (quoting him, strangely enough) in the "Vieux Cordelier" of his harangue of 12 July 1789; that was fairly easy to translate, because it was so short. I *can* translate Saint-Just's report on the Dantonistes, but first I want to know how much of it you would use--it's 16 pages long, you see. >.>

I figured as much, but it *is* rather amusing to be silly in character; I mean, I can be silly as myself all the time, how often do I get to do a crack!portrayal of a Revolutionary? XD

The trouble is, if I want to be able read some kind of authentic text, I can't be Éléonore--the only letter I have signed by her is to free her father and brother after they were arrested relating to Babeuf's Conspiracy of Equals post-Thermidor--and obviously she never gave any speeches.

Le Bas didn't really do much public speaking either; though while I don't know if it would work for characters for to read letters, I do have plenty of those for Le Bas (and Saint-Just--some of them are signed by both of them, from when they were on mission together).

The only speech I can find of Couthon's is on the Law of 22 Prairial, and I'm not exactly sure I want to portray him reading that, as if it were the only thing he did during the Revolution--which wouldn't really serve his image in the eyes of people who don't know anything else about him. -__-;

...I'll figure something out though, I suppose.

Also, I forgot to ask--what exactly is the timeframe on this? Obviously, it starts pretty early, in order to have 12 July 1789 in it, but does it skip to the Convention then, or are there any characters portraying important Constituents (Barnave, Mirabeau, etc.) and do any "scenes" take place under the Legislative Assembly? (The reason I need to know this is in part because it will help me know which of Danton's speeches you want, and also, which character to portray.)

[nirejseki.livejournal.com]

Who's going to be executed?

Who isn't may be a better question. XD

Yes, good point re:length. Really, something similar to what you did with the King's Trial would be ideal - the important points and perhaps the better lines in it. Enough to give the idea without overly burdening the poor person who has to play Saint-Just, nor boring the living daylights out of the people watching.

I agree on playing crack!Revolutionaries. ^^ Just know that you might be cast as multiple roles...and yes, I see the problem with authentic text. You'll have plenty of lines without authentic text, but really, it's much more fun to have something to say...

If you want to be Le Bas or something, you're welcome to read some of the letters he wrote. You may get a comment from the peanut gallery of "Wow, our postal system sucks if you have to read it to us!", but I think that may be closer in spirit to the actual Convention than any more dignified conversation would be...^^

It skips. It really, really skips. Basically, we tried to calculate more on characters than on an actual flowing time frame - we have, at present, Desmoulins, Saint-Just, Robespierre, Danton, Marat, some Gironde (Verginaud, Charlotte), maybe Tallien, and then random people who we're probably going to assign things to as we need them. This basically means that we're going to start it with Camille's speech (because seriously, he does nothing else and the person playing him needs some reason to justify their existence other than "...it would be wrong to not have him?"...) and then...mostly, skip around time-wise, read some speeches if we have them (we need speeches by everyone at this point, sigh, and we don't have them...), then start killing off factions. And before, in between, and after, we have a picnic. Dead people may show up in later time periods to throw popcorn at the living. Stuff like that. XD

"Crack" is not, perhaps, a bad way to view the whole idea...XDDDD

Um, re:translations, as you seem to be the most available/willing of people we know, we have some other stuff we need translated - we have a Verginaud, for example, for the King's Trial, but we also have some speeches (in French) that he says, but being as they are in French and none of us had the wisdom to start learning it early, it's not currently useful. So...if we scanned/sent things, could you help with that, perhaps? Again, we don't need a direct translation half the the time; just the ideas, the notable phrases, and direct enough to give an idea of the person speaking...I know I'm asking for a lot, but we thought we had someone who could translate for us, and they vanished off the face of the earth at the most inconvenient time. -_-;; We don't need that much - some Gironde speeches, some Danton speeches, that's mostly it. As you can see, general disorder and chaos over on this end. ^____^

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Who isn't may be a better question. XD
Hopefully no one who wasn't historically...?

I'll see what I can do about shortening the speech, but it's sometimes difficult to cut a lot, especially in a report of this nature. :/

I'll bring the translation of some of Le Bas's letters with me, in that case. Or I can send them to you beforehand, if you're trying to organize the way this is going to go at all.

So, in other words, for all intents and purposes it's going to be Convention-oriented? (Other than Desmoulins' harangue, that is...) Also, not to sound like a propagandist here, but it might be good if not all the speeches tended toward violent ends--as potentially uninteresting as it might be to listen to a speech on education or subsistence. (I understand that violent speeches have more potential for crack and that that's the main mood here, but all the same.) >___>

I'll see what I can do as far as translations go--feel free to send me anything you have, though I'm sure I have a great deal of it already, if only through royet.org.

Also, you never answered my question about the cockades--have you been able to find any of those?

[nirejseki.livejournal.com]

Hopefully no one who wasn't historically...?
Well, we'll try, but if my friend actually comes through with his promise of a guillotine, chances are everyone and their invisible cousin is going to be guillotined at least once. Unless they're too scared to put their necks under it, of course.

Well, bring some, and do send some ahead of time so I have a general idea of what you're going to say; though feel free to bring things you haven't mentioned.

Yes, mostly Convention-oriented. And I have no problem with non-violent speeches - I was considering having the whole Louvet-Robespierre thing, but that would be long and I have no translation for it, alas. And if you could find/send some translations of anything else, I'd be more than happy to include it. This is originally not supposed to be a reenactment in the strict sense, but rather people standing around reading all sorts of speeches. Alas, we've gotten rather close to the time and we still have very few speeches...! >_< (I've always wanted to find the speech that has Robespierre's "No one likes armed missionaries" line, but I don't know which one that is. Sigh.) So, yes, it's a "anything you can find/send/etc" situation over here right now...

Oh, no, we haven't found any cockades. I just imagined we'd make some if necessary...why? Do you have/know where to find?

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Well, just as long as they're not guillotined while portraying characters who weren't, I suppose it will be all right.

I have three basic types when it comes to Le Bas's letters: letters to his father, letters to his wife, and letters to Robespierre/reports to the CSP. They all have something interesting to say about what's going on where he is at the time, but do you think it would be better to just include the last kind, since the recipients will actually be present...?

(That line is in one of Robespierre's discourses against the war with Austria--the first, I believe, though I wouldn't swear to it--and is sure to be included in any collection of his speeches you can find.) Other than that, I'll see what I can find/translate, speechwise.

I mentioned it earlier; I have some tricolor ribbon and a technique for making them fairly easily, so I could definitely make some.

[nirejseki.livejournal.com]

Well, unless we really go crack on everyone, but yes, generally not. We're not going to guillotine Marat or anything; that would be silly.

Bring what you want to read. I leave it to your discretion what you like. ^^ If people will put up with one of Robespierre's long little things, they'll put up with Le Bas.

Thanks a lot! I'm very much obliged. ^^

Oh! I didn't see that, somehow. Yes, please make some! Make plenty! Thank you very, very much! ^_^

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I mean; that makes sense.

Okay. Besides, I'm sure they won't be able to help liking Le Bas. XD

Sure. ^_^

You're quite welcome!

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Also, I don't know if you still need them, but in the original version of this comment you said you might need some Maxime speeches...? Just so you know, there was a book of them published fairly recently by Slavoj Zizek, and there's also an older collection of them translated by George Rudé.

[nirejseki.livejournal.com]

Yes, I got note of those and intend to hunt them down as soon as possible. ^__^ That's why I changed the comment, actually...