“There’s fennel for you, and columbines; there’s rue for you, and here’s some for me . . .”
Geneviève’s masquerade choice comes to her slightly later than most. After all, what’s the fun in something like this if you don’t try to thin outside the box, a little? Whether her choice still abides by the rules that Viviana has set is entirely up to you – Geneviève is quite happy to give you a little lecture: At the slightest provocation, she’ll say that, since Hamlet set her death in motion with his recklessness, of course Ophelia was murdered!
Regardless, it’s the visual effect that matters here, surely. On that, she delivers. Her Ophelia is delicate, of course, but also unmistakably no longer alive. with twigs tangled into her hair to form a crown and a beautiful dress soaked in tea leaves for the brief time at hand. The overall effect is chilling.
Geneviève walks into the ball looking just as if she has been dragged from a watery grave.
Perhaps Gertrude was sugarcoating things after all.