Regency House Party
by Tim Carter
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chris Gorell Barnes, Elizabeth Devonport, Hayley Conick, Lisa Braund, Richard E. GrantDirector: Tim Carter
Brand: PBS
Producer: Caroline Ross-Pirie
Producer: Emma Willis
Producer: Helen Hawken
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Unknown; English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 360 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
Movie Reviews of Regency House Party
Movie Review: Oh to be in England!
Summary: 5 Stars
Can there be any more perfect period in English history? Can there be more comfortable houses and settings? Well yes, I suppose so, but this will do. There's freedom in the air, enquiry, science budding, none of the heavy strictures of the hulking industrial age with its over-dressing and hypocritical protocols. Women's clothing still has its French Revolution freedom - think of it, almost fifty years of the empire style - like jeans for us today, a fashion going on for decades. Brave sallies of wit and battle horsemanship still matter. Poets like Byron, Shelley and Keats have kindled the fires of romance - a seeking out of classical roots, a new Renaissance.
This show captures some of the perennial facts of British life as well - the class structure which is accepted as a given, the ruthless kiss up kick down system of jockeying for a higher place in the hierarchy, the role of money, and the importance of beauty and breeding, as well as the persistent love of games, many instances of that hearty British expression "Well done!' when someone wins at some minor competition (yelled at me when I ran for a bus in London and swung up into it at the moment of departure from the curb).
The countryside portrayed here is sheer heaven.
I had to wonder sometimes at the focus of the series. It isn't Upstairs, Downstairs, because the staff at the house do not come to the fore until a patronizing fair and role reversal of a dinner in which "Ich dien" ("I serve", motto of the Prince of Wales) comes into play when the gentleman treat the servants to a scanty but fine dinner. There is a remark made by the lord of the manor to the effect that he is less interested in courting a suitable lady than in getting it on with a servant girl. But perhaps that was simply being his character. In fact I saw no chemistry between him and any of the intended contenders.
The chaperones really get into their roles - tears and all - and one breaks rank to be more of her 20th century self (she must have retired by the 21st century). It's very hard to tell whether the drama is set up or whether they have begun to believe their roles so completely that they really are at odds and threatening to leave the production, doing the English equivalent of the table flip as performed by a New Jersey housewife. While this might be true in staged wrestling matches as well, it's hard to evaluate the reality of someone saying that they are talking strictly as a non-actor for the moment, and giving you a frank opinion of the other woman.
Oh, and was a chaperone's affair with a younger man real? Did it have to break off so soon? After all, famous liaisons in the Regency period between younger men on -the-make and married women (or widows) often enhanced the careers of the former by bringing wealth to them. One example is the marriage of Benjamin Disraeli to a widow fifteen years his senior, who had so much money to spend for Tory political campaigns that she set him up to be Prime Minister eventually. Was this love and companionship? Certainly. A woman of forty is far from washed up sexually. But I felt the show, while it proposed other controversial facts about the Regency (such as the acceptance of a woman of color who came with wealth from the Caribbean) seemed to hesitate to state how widespread was the importance of older women in men's careers. In some ways, this was even hotter than the more normal courtship with younger women, who were afraid that they might be the one in three to die in childbirth. One young contender, a beautiful lass, decided to tell her chaperone that she would make her way in London as a courtesan, rather than be tied down to brood mare status. Interestingly, the chaperone thinks it a good plan but wonders how to break it to the parents who have consigned their charge to her. She opines that the girl certainly has the looks and wit to carry off some notable affairs in the big wicked city!
I cannot help speculating on other stories to pursue along these lines. The Regency one certainly did not overtax the party goers as much as some of the other time travelers (those in Frontier House actually worked and suffered, risked disaster and lost massive amounts of weight). How far is a reality show willing to go to expose its participants to real life risk?
So here are some thoughts for other series: Shipmates to Australia, Immigrants in the Lower East Side, Monks in Dark Age Ireland. GPS and antibiotics are acceptable, and fist fights will be staged, but otherwise it could be a lot of fun.
Keep brain-storming, and bring them on!
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