SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ACTOR...

You and your friends can recreate scenes from Anne of Green Gables. Adapted from the L.M. Montgomery books by Kevin Sullivan and Joe Wiesenfeld. Compare your home video to the real Anne of Green Gables video. Put yourself to the test!! Do you remember the very first scene in Anne of Green Gables? Anne dreamed of being Lord Tennyson’s "Lady of Shalott". The poem is actually 18 stanzas long but here is the brief excerpt Anne reads in the opening:

Anne carries a large basket of fresh eggs in one arm and a bucket of milk in the other. She pauses on the crest of the hill at the edge of the fir grove, completely absorbed as she reads aloud from a book tucked away in her basket. "There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot." Anne pauses and holds the book to her breast, closing her eyes softly. With the brisk wind blowing colour into her pale cheeks, she imagines herself as Tennyson’s heroine. She puts down her milk bucket and waltzes across the hill with a dramatic stride. "She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott."

How about the scene where Anne is introduced to Marilla’s friend, Rachel Lynde? Anne: "How do you do Miss Lynde?" Rachel: "Well, her looks are certainly nothing to consider. I mean she’s terribly skinny and homely, Marilla. Come over here, child. Lawful heart, her hair is as red as carrots." Anne’s face turns scarlet and her whole frame trembles. Anne: "How dare you say I’m skinny and...and...Carrots! You’re a rude, impolite, unfeeling woman and I hate you!" Marilla: "Anne Shirley!" Anne: "How would you like to have nastly things said about you! How would you like to be told that you’re fat and ugly and you’re a sour old gossip!!" Anne runs out of the kitchen in tears and slams the door.

For the real performers, there’s that hilarious scene when Anne dyes her hair... After arriving home from school, where she was punished for smashing a chalk board over Gilbert’s head (he called her "carrots"). Anne has locked herself in her room... Marilla raps on the door of Anne’s room. There is no response. She tries to open it and shakes the handle. It is locked. Marilla: "Anne Shirley, I’ve heard all about it! Now you open your door at once!" Anne: "Please go away Marilla. I am in the depths of despair." Marilla: "Oh fiddlesticks! Now you open this door at once!" The bolt in the lock slowly slid open. As Marilla opens the door, she catches a glimpse of Anne scuttling back under the covers, so that she is completely hidden from view. Marilla marches over to her bedside. Marilla:"Are you sick?" Anne: "Go away and don’t look at me." Marilla:"Don’t play innocent with me. I’m so ashamed, I don’t know where to begin. What do you mean by breaking your slate over some boy’s head?" Anne: (from under the sheets) "He called me carrots!" Marilla:"I don’t care what he called you. You had no reason to lose your temper." Marilla pulls back the covers and is frozen in shock. Marilla: "Anne Shirley what have you done to your hair?" Anne’s hair is an unearthly colour; a dull, bronzy green with streaks here and there of the original red to heighten the ghastly effect. Anne: "I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair. Green is ten times worse! You little know how utterly wretched I am." Marilla: "I little know how you got into this fix, but I demand that you tell me." Anne: "I dyed it." Marilla: "You dyed it! For mercy’s sake child. Anne: "He positively assured me it would turn my hair a beautiful raven black. Marilla: "Who did? Who are you talking about?" Anne: "The peddler we met on the road today." Anne starts to cry. Marilla:"I absolutley forbid you to.....Oh what’s the use. Well, I hope that this has opened your eyes to see where your vanity has taken you. Anne: (in tears) "Marilla what shall I do? I’ll never be able to live this down. I can’t face him again. That boy had no right to call me carrots!" Marilla: "You really smashed your slate over that boy’s head?" Anne: "Yes." Marilla: "Hard?" Anne: "Very hard, I’m afraid." Marilla: "I know I should be angry. I should be furious. What a way to behave your first day at school. But...if you promise me that nothing of this sort will happen again, I won’t say another word about it. Anne: "You’re not going to send me back?" Marilla: "I’ve come to a decision. The trial is over. You will stay at Green Gables." Anne bolts right up in the bed, her hair forgotten and her tear streaked face lit with a joyous smile. Anne: "Oh Marilla!" Marilla: "I think you may be a kindred spirit after all."