After finishing out our week of classes, it was on to weekend adventures. Saturday, Teresa, Sarah, and I had a double feature day. (Can I really call it a double feature day? We definitely didn’t get two shows for the price of one…) We had a nice lunch at the crêperie in South Kensington and then headed to The National Theatre for Sam Mendes’ production of King Lear. I think Teresa said it best: “Holy Lear… THAT is how you do Shakespeare.” This production rivals Coriolanus, which I swore was the best piece of live theatre I had ever seen. Lear might just usurp the first place spot. Simon Russell Beale played King Lear brilliantly and the rest of the cast was right there with him. The design was incredible too. I particularly liked how the lighting shifted as Lear’s mind shifted. The scene that particularly stands out is the scene where Gloucester and Lear sit together and simply talk. Both men are not 100% in their right minds but they sit down and have a conversation. It is beautiful and heart breaking. All of the Cordelia and King Lear scenes are also wonderfully written, but I didn’t care for the actress playing Cordelia. Despite not loving that actress, I was wrecked by the end of the play. As Lear cradled the body of his most beloved daughter and wept, I was sitting in the audience sniffling and wiping away tears that continued even after the house lights came up and I was left with an overwhelming desire to call my dad to tell him how much I love him.

Recovering from King Lear, we stopped at Giraffe to grab some dinner before heading to The Old Vic to see Other Desert Cities. Another great play but entirely different from our matinee show. It focuses on a family of four and the crazy aunt. It was a well told story and I really want to read the script. The actors were all talented and everything was so truthful I walked out of the theatre thinking that it must be based on a true story. (I was wrong…) It is interesting to me that this play was chosen to be staged in England. The action takes place almost entirely in Palm Springs, California and there were a couple jokes that left me as the only audience member laughing (including a reference to the terrible traffic on Bob Hope Dr.). Knowing that area so well certainly contributed to my enjoyment of the show but, even without that, it was still a really great piece.

Sunday, I began the day by visiting The Wallace Collection, a former private residence with an unparalleled collection of 18th century French paintings, porcelain, furniture, and Old Masters paintings.

Being the art history nerd that I am, I went on the free guided tour of the space. I’m so glad I did because I learned about the history of the house and how the collection was started. Essentially, it all comes down to some really rich dudes with an appreciation for art but mostly with an appreciation for showing off their wealth. The first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace are responsible for assembling the collection and Lady Wallace is responsible for leaving the house and its contents to England in 1897. Thanks to the stipulations in her will, nothing is to be added or removed from the collection. That means that visiting The Wallace Collection is the only way to see these pieces and the collection remains constant. Rather than viewing everything from behind velvet ropes in a meticulously laid out exhibition space, you are free to wander throughout the house, as if you were a guest invited for a dinner party or reception. Obviously there are safety precautions in place (you can’t sit on most of the original furniture, for example) but it still feels more intimate than a regular museum setting. I was in heaven. 18th century French paintings are my absolute favorite and most of my favorite painters come from that period, too. I got to see Fragonards, Bouchers, Lancrets, and Watteaus up close and personal. My favorite painting, The Swing, was suddenly hanging on a library wall right in front of me. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun and am so happy I visited.

Following the museum, I went to visit Amy at her flat where we had tea and hot cross buns. John was shocked that I had never had them before but, being Jewish and American, I simply have never come across them until now (unless you count the nursery rhyme.) Finally, I returned home to make dinner and get everything in order for another week of school.

We had a week of a fairly standard schedule of classes, and the highlight from this past week is definitely RP Night. RP Night has been on our schedule since day one and really gave a purpose to our RP classes. We were working toward an end goal. Rather than just teaching us the standard British dialect and calling it a day, we got to apply what we were learning to a duologue. Félicie and I chose a scene from Alan Ayckbourn’s Life and Beth, a play about a woman whose husband has recently passed away. Monday evening we had our dress rehearsal and Tuesday evening, our whole group of S’s settled in to watch each other perform in these self-directed scenes. Everyone had clearly worked hard on perfecting the dialect and it was fun to watch everyone perform in contemporary scenes. It was a nice, low-key evening that gave everyone a chance to shine.

Last night, Lindsay and I saw From Here to Eternity, a musical that takes place in Pearl Harbor, 1941, with lyrics by Tim Rice. We had very high hopes. The music did not disappoint. The show as a whole, however, was a bit of a let down. Despite being informed upon arrival that our back row, top balcony seats had been upgraded to third row center, I was left wanting more from the performance. The book was poorly written, leaving many of the scenes feeling empty or melodramatic (sometimes both…). It was as if they focused way too much energy on unimportant details while ignoring and not properly telling the truly important aspects of the story. There were things that I saw glimmers of that I wanted to see more fully fleshed out. I think if they briefly take it back to the drawing board and figure out what story they really want to tell, it could be an incredible show. Some of the songs were quite brilliant, though, and I hope they release a soundtrack soon!

In addition to our normal schedule of classes, we have continued rehearsing Hamlet each afternoon. James has decided to split the casting into 4 Hamlets, 2 Gertrudes, 2 Claudiuses, 2 Ophelias, 1 Horatio, 1 Polonius, and 1 person playing Laertes and the Ghost. I was cast as Hamlet for act 1. Having the opportunity to tackle that character as my last project here at LAMDA feels kind of surreal. I’m having so much fun working on it so far and it’s proving a welcome challenge. A challenge like this is great because it’s sort of forcing me to distill everything I’ve been learning and apply it all to assist me in tackling it. George is our voice coach for the project, again, (Yay!! I love, love, love George) and we worked on one of my speeches yesterday. He’s given me a lot of helpful things to think about.

One more day of classes to finish out the week and then on to the weekend! I’ve already got plans to have dinner with Lisa on Saturday and I think I’ll try and see a show or two as well. Other than that, I’m just trying to squeeze in as much sight seeing as I can, see everything that is left to see! Time dwindles conspicuously; I had to register for my fall semester at GW a couple days ago and a month from today I will be on a plane back home.

There is plenty to do in the remaining month, though. And there is so much to look forward to: last week of classes, continuing our work on Hamlet, my birthday (!!), lots of traveling, and (of course) plenty of adventures in London itself.

Until next time!

Cheers : )

“Oh sister, sister. If ever you marry beware of a sullen, silent, sot. One who’s always musing but never thinks!”

Thus began one of my monologues in our Restoration project. I spent every day of last week wearing a corset tied tightly around my torso, character shoes that are at least 6 years old, and a rehearsal skirt that spins when I twirl. We rehearsed with Tina and George (our voice coach for our project) all day, making sure we had a really great show to perform come Thursday. Our hard work paid off and we put on what I think was an impressive display of various Restoration scenes, a Restoration song, and a Restoration dance (courtesy of Diana, in which I played a drunken man named Sir Harry, one of my finer roles if I do say so myself).

Our group performed first on Thursday morning and we got to watch the two other groups perform after we were finished. I was pleasantly surprised by everyone. It was clear each of us put in a lot of work and have been benefitting from the training we are receiving. It was great fun to finally see what we’ve all been working on for the past few weeks. Here is a (slightly out of focus) picture of my whole cast with Tina and George in the center.

Friday morning, we came to LAMDA for tutorials. Tutorials are essentially one on one conversations with tutors or directors in which they give feedback and critiques. I met with Tina for about 15 minutes and she gave me a lot of interesting things to think about as I continue but she was also quite complimentary, which was kind and very nice to hear.

I’ve forgotten to mention that Caitlin was in town this week! Yay GW spring break! I met up with Caitlin to grab some coffee early in the week, saw her and Amy after rehearsals one day, and also saw her on Friday. It’s always so funny to see someone you’re very used to seeing in one context, one city in a totally different city and context. It was wonderful to see Caitlin and catch up! I got to hear all about her life and the GW gossip and tell her all about LAMDA and my adventures. I can’t think of a better way to break up a long week of rehearsals.

Friday evening, I headed to Victoria Coach Station. Why, you ask? Well… a group of us were traveling to Scotland. At approximately 10:30pm, Michael, Sarah, Teresa, Christian, Caleb, Jae, Hannah, Lindsay, and I boarded a bus bound for Edinburgh. After a hellish 8 and a half hours on the bus, we arrived in Edinburgh around 6:45am. We took the Night Bus, one might say! Our Pollyanna-style optimism led us to believe we were going to get a good night’s sleep on the bus and be refreshed, ready-to-go when we arrived. Umm… not quite. Between the man in front of me deciding he needed to recline his seat ALL THE WAY BACK (I have never wanted to physically harm a human being more than when he kept slamming his chair into my knees…) and the general discomfort of sitting on a bus for 8 hours, we did not arrive quite as bright eyed and bushy tailed as we had hoped.

Thankfully, the hostel allowed us to check in and take a nap in one of their many lounges. The hostel… Castle Rock Hostel. I highly recommend this place to anyone and everyone. Across the street from Edinburgh Castle (no, I’m not exaggerating), it is clean, massive, and has some of the friendliest staff I’ve ever come across. We happily accepted their offer of nap taking and Teresa and I settled into a couch in the Posh Lounge. After sleeping for a bit (and honestly doing some semi-supine in an attempt to realign my spine), we woke up with ravenous appetites for food and exploration. Food we satisfied by going to an amazing place around the corner called Hula. The waitress was around our age and extremely nice. I had a hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows (YUM) and a bagel sandwich which had brie, cranberry sauce, tomatoes, and bacon (YUMMMM). Everyone enjoyed their meals thoroughly and then we set off to go on the free Edinburgh walking tour. Free? Did you read that right? Yes you did! But the 11am tour was full so pause on that for a moment…

Since the 11 o’clock tour was full, we decided to wander down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Armed with our free audio tours and maps of the palace, we began to explore. What a remarkable place… It is still a functioning palace: the Queen’s official residence when she is in Scotland. But it also has a storied past as it was the home to Mary Queen of Scots and various other Scottish monarchs. We explored for a while and then emerged into the ruins of the old abbey.

Exploring the ruins alone was worth the price of admission. Well, really the whole experience was absolutely worth it. I was largely unaware of the dramatic period of history that took place within the walls of this old palace. It was also interesting to see rooms where the carpets were simply rolled up to the line of the velvet ropes, clearly ready to be unrolled whenever the palace functioned as a home and a place for state functions to occur. Dad said this was a sight not to be missed and he was certainly right. Here is our whole group outside the palace.

From the palace, we headed back up the Royal Mile to go on the 2 o’clock tour. Sitting in Starbucks for a brief moment to rest our feet and caffeinate ourselves, we soon headed outside into the brisk and chilling wind. Ben was our friendly tour guide and we soon set off on our tour. In our 2 1/2 hours, we walked to the City Chambers. We stopped at the Mercat Cross (where the town crier would deliver news and where thieves would be nailed to the door by their ear for a period of 24 hours). Next we stood outside St. Giles’ Cathedral, hearing about Scotland’s religious history which is a little muddy due to England’s bipolar relationship with religion and Scotland and England’s bipolar relationship. We wandered by the Writers’ Museum and discussed the fact that Edinburgh has been, and still is, a major hub for important writers through the ages. Something about the town truly inspires literary genius. Ben pointed out the “original Hogwarts,” an old school building that still functions today. From The Elephant Bar, JK Rowling would have been able to see this school and Edinburgh Castle. It’s not hard to imagine her combining the two to create the magical world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You can see the old school building in the background of this picture.

In the foreground is part of Grassmarket. Today, the area is filled with pubs and shops but throughout history it was the site of witch burnings. We walked by the oldest building in Edinburgh, dating back to medieval times. It is closed in the winter because there is no heating but the outside alone was quite picturesque. Continuing our wander through the city, we soon came to Greyfriars Cemetery. Most famous for the story of Greyfriars Bobby (a dog that slept on his deceased master’s grave for 14 years), this cemetery is also famous for a couple other reasons. For one, JK Rowling took some of her character names from headstones in the graveyard. You can go there and see Tom Riddle’s grave, McGonagall’s grave, and a few others. Also here is the Covenanters’ Prison. The covenanters were members of the Scottish Presbyterian movement when England tried to convert the whole country to Catholicism. The outspoken Presbyterian supporters were imprisoned here, in the open air, with hardly any food, and were tortured. Now, this area is gated and only opened at night as part of a ghost tour. Even being there in the day was eery… I cannot imagine walking through there at night.

On a lighter note, we finished the tour by rubbing the nose of the statue of Greyfriars Bobby for luck and passing by The Elephant House, where JK Rowling wrote books one and two of Harry Potter. After our tour, we were quite tired and cold so we returned to our hostel to get settled in our rooms. We showered and got ready to go out on the town for dinner, where we all tried at least one bite of haggis (not nearly as bad as I expected). It was Lindsay’s birthday so ate, danced, and were merry.

The next morning, my alarm went off at 4am. We had decided to do a sunrise hike up Arthur’s Seat. Groggily, we got dressed as warmly as we could and set off. The hike took us up what we began to affectionately call The Demon Stairs, as well as just some generally steep terrain. Eventually, we made it to the top and sat down to wait for the sun to appear. It was absolutely frigid and the wind was blowing nearly hard enough to literally blow you over. It was beautiful, though. The lights of the city, the sea in the distance, and (soon enough) the sky began to glow.

Finally, the sun was mostly up. Its rays did not provide much warmth, though, and we were chilled to the bone. We decided to head back down. Walking back down, we marveled at how we possibly did the hike in the dark. Impressed, but cold, we returned to the hostel to get warm and sleep until the rest of the world had woken up. After sleeping until a more appropriate hour to begin the day, we set out for breakfast at our trusty Hula. Then, we went to Edinburgh Castle which we explored thoroughly. It was picturesque but I think I’m a little castled-out. I was much more impressed with Holyroodhouse. Don’t get me wrong, it was lovely and I’m very glad we saw it. But it was just a typical castle and has been turned into too much of a tourist attraction for my taste.

Once we had finished at the castle, we splintered off into smaller groups to do our own thing before we had to head to the airport. Sarah, Christian, Lindsay, and I decided to go check out the quaint shops on Grassmarket and along the Royal Mile. There were lots of cute knick-knacks but I refrained from buying too many things. I did find a beautiful dress in one of the shops and I think I shall wear it to Emily’s graduation. (Emily’s graduating… I feel like an old lady…) Sarah bought an adorable sweater with a mallard on it.

We all met back up around 4:30pm for a late lunch/early dinner of fish and chips and Scottish beer. We then collected our things from the hostel and boarded the bus to take us to the airport. Then we boarded our flight which passed without incident until I got yelled at by an old, crazy woman because I turned my phone on when we landed. Apparently in the UK it is still against the rules to use your phone until you get to the gate and are parked and disembarking. Being a stupid American, I assumed the rules in the US are the rules everywhere and turned on my phone. This woman was genuinely afraid for her life and kept yelling at me to turn my phone off. At the time I was really upset by this but now I think it’s kind of funny. She legitimately thought I had a death wish and planned to carry it out by turning on my phone too soon. Ah… ignorant people…

The weekend passed in the blink of an eye. I’m so glad I got the chance to go back to Edinburgh, and with such a fantastic group of people. It was a weekend of exploring, adventures, and laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face. Thank god for new friends and fun adventures.

(photo credit to the lovely Sarah Muirhead)

This week of school has been pretty standard, as we returned to a more or less normal class schedule. We have started work on our next project and my group will be working on Hamlet. I’m extremely excited because for all the times I’ve read Hamlet and studied it in classes, I’ve never had the opportunity to explore it solely as an actor. It should be a fun, interesting, enlightening experience, particularly because our director is James. We’ve already had some unique and fascinating conversations. Tomorrow we are going to the Portrait Gallery to explore and be inspired by creepy portraits of British monarchs.

Monday night, we had a master class with the director of singing, Rob Archibald. It was a fun class in which we worked through the best ways to approach songs. He is a big believer in approaching a song first as you would approach a monologue. The melody and notes come later but more important is figuring out the message and meaning. This was a very helpful message to receive as someone who is most definitely an actor first and singer last. I wish we had him more than just this one time. He is a brilliant teacher and, even in one class, I learned a lot from him.

Last night, I went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with some friends from LAMDA. It is a musical based on the 1988 film with Michael Caine and Steve Martin. The show was very funny and I loved the choreography and the music. The cast worked well together and were quite talented, though their strength was acting more than singing. The singing wasn’t bad, their acting was simply better. Seeing such a fun, light-hearted show was a nice break from some of the more artistic things I’m doing and seeing while here.

We really only have two more week of truly normal classes. Then we move into all day, every day rehearsals again. And then, all too soon, we perform our tragedies projects and are awarded our diplomas from LAMDA. We have less than a month left at LAMDA and I fly back home in just over a month. It’s crazy how fast time is flying… Although I feel like I have expressed a similar sentiment in every post. I suppose I’ll have to just accept it at some point…. Like on the plane out of Heathrow…

Until next time : )

Cheers.

Last week was quite a whirlwind… This was mainly due to the fact that the schedule was completely different from the pretty standardized schedule we had gotten used to in the previous half of the term.

Monday was filled with Dance Night rehearsals. For our group, that meant meeting with Diana for two 1 1/2 long sessions of going over the linear carole. The linear carole is a dance dating back to the medieval period where the group holds hands in a line and the leader sets off, creating patterns with the line by zigging and zagging across the space. There are also various “figures” you can do such as winding the group into a spiral and then with a pivot and a turn unwinding the group from said spiral. With all 38 of us doing this, it looked pretty amazing.

Dance Night gave each group a chance to show off what we’ve all been working on across the school. Every level performed at least one movement number. Most of the levels performed 2 or 3. It was such a fun night and it was amazing to see what everyone at the school gets up to in their movement classes. There was everything from very traditional historical dances to tap routines to modern dance to hip hop. Our linear carole closed the night and, since every single person at LAMDA knows how to do this dance, the whole school was cheering us on which made it even more fun than usual.

For the rest of the week, classes pretty much resumed as usual. Tuesday we had a master class with Judith, the director of the voice department. She led us in an incredible vocal warm up and then we explored some Richard III text together. We worked in such detail and specificity, relying entirely on the text to answer our questions and reveal the character of Richard to us. One of the things we looked at was the length of the phrases in his first monologue (“Now is the winter of our discontent”) versus his monologue at the end of the play (“Richard loves Richard, that is I am I”). The phrases in the first are long and poetic while the latter has short, terse phrases that seem to demonstrate an uneasy mind in turmoil. Judith was really great to work with and I wish we had her for weekly classes. Since we don’t, though, I’m glad we got to work with her for the evening.

Wednesday evening I went to see La Bohème at the Royal Albert Hall. This was the first opera I have ever seen and I absolutely loved it. The music was heartbreakingly beautiful and on several occasions gave me chills. Everything about it was breathtaking – the set, the costumes, the voices, and the production. I think what at least partially contributed to my awe was that I didn’t understand what was happening in front of me in any capacity. I mean, yes, I understood the story and the character relationships but the art of opera is something I am entirely unfamiliar with. I don’t know what goes into preparing for it, I certainly have no idea how those people sing with the power that they do, and the list goes on and on. When I go see ballet or theatre, I have an acute sense of what goes into those productions so I analyze and find myself being hyper critical. It was an unusual feeling to sit back, relax, and simply let the production wash over me. The theatre was stunning, as well, which certainly contributed to my incredible experience. Close your eyes and picture a stereotypical, classic, old opera house. Now turn that space into a stage in the round. I can almost guarantee that the classic beauty you just pictured in your head is what the Royal Albert Hall looks like. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a theatre like that before. I have a new dream venue… I can’t even imagine what it would be like to perform there.

On Thursday, we had two new classes – yoga and tai chi. Both were wonderful and I wish we could begin every morning with yoga. Tai chi was interesting because our tutor showed us how it really is a calming, grounding, “soft” martial art and yet we also did movements that were truly self defense based. I started to notice that a lot of the movements we did worked with the idea that the person who would be perceived as being in control could lose that control extremely easily at the hands of the other person. I really enjoyed tai chi and look forward to having it again soon.

Friday evening, LAMDA went back to the 90s for our 1990s themed “Sleazy.” The Sleazy is basically just a massive talent show which happened to be 90s themed this year. People came decked out in full 90s gear and many people performed in the show. Pretty much all the performers sang a song and/or played an instrument. Great… as if people here needed to be more talented than they already are. It was a really fun night. I enjoy all these events that bring us together as a school rather than constantly keeping us separated as levels.

This week, I spent an extra day at LAMDA as our rehearsal group met up to do a line-through of our show on Saturday morning. We finished that around 12:30 and I headed to Piccadilly Circus to meet Hannah and try to get tickets to some matinee show. We tried for Blithe Spirit but that was too expensive so we opted for seeing Grand Budapest Hotel instead. I think we made the right choice. This film in amazing. I don’t want to ruin anything because this is a movie worth seeing with relatively little knowledge about it. I will say, though, that the acting is brilliant and the story truly transports you to another time and place. It captures your attention, your intellect, and your heart and holds all three until the end. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend the film.

After the movie, we wandered around, going to Neal’s Yard where there is a pizza place called Homeslice. We will be back. We even saw where one of the Monty Python guys used to live. Then, we met up with some more friends for dinner and then I met Sarah, Teresa, and Caleb at Ghost Stories. They convinced me to face my fears and see a show advertised as “truly terrifying” and “not for those with weak dispositions.” While it lived up to its name and we all audibly screamed on more than one occasion, it was actually pretty fun and I enjoyed. Once we were done being scared out of our minds, I headed to Ariana’s apartment to meet up with a group of people and watch A Night at the Opera. Nothing like some classic Marx Brothers to forget about a scary play.

Sunday the weather was wonderfully beautiful, just as it had been the day before. Spring has sprung over here in London! I couldn’t be happier. After going for a walk in the sunshine, I decided to properly see the Victoria and Albert Museum. Entering its halls at 11:45, I wandered aimlessly through their massive collection. Stopping for a brief lunch break in the beautiful cafe, I finally emerged at 3:00 having seen the entire world timeline of jewelry, an entire exhibition on theatre and performance art, Raphael paintings, Bernini sculptures, the history of fashion, Japanese art, Chinese art, a collection of European art through the ages, and much more.

The collection there is unparalleled, certainly unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I am planning to dedicate the coming weekends to visiting London’s museums as I have been shamefully neglecting them and I know I will regret that. This visit alone made me miss the familiar walls of the National Gallery in DC.

When I finally emerged into the sunlight, it was too lovely to simply walk home and stay cooped up so I got an ice cream cone and sat in a little square around the corner from the South Kensington tube station. I ate my ice cream, got a dose of Vitamin D (something I’ve been severely lacking since arriving in London…), and then headed home to begrudgingly work on my class schedule for next semester and some summer internship applications. It’s really hard to be motivated to work on those kinds of things when you could be out enjoying the rare London sunshine. But, alas…

As is wont to happen here, the weekend all too soon ended and it was back to school today. This week we have rehearsals all day, every day, because we perform our Restoration projects for each other on Thursday. Our show is in pretty good shape and I’m excited to show it to the rest of our group. Restoration is fun and I’ve enjoyed learning about the style but I am really ready to get back to Shakespeare.

As my time in London begins to dwindle conspicuously, I can’t help but be sad and happy all at once. I’m homesick but only for the people who aren’t here in London with me. I wish I could bring my family and friends (and Norman and Coconut) over here and then we could all just stay here forever. I miss everyone terribly but fall in love with this city all over again every day.

Here’s to the remaining month and half of adventures to be had.

Until next time…

Cheers.

I got a text yesterday from Mom saying “Must.have.new.blog.post.” Sorry Mom… I didn’t quite realize how long it has been since I’ve written. It’s been a busy few days but they’ve been filled with adventures.

Last Saturday, I spent most of my day in Hyde Park. I needed to memorize a couple things for the upcoming week at school and simply sitting in my room wasn’t accomplishing much. Instead, I wandered around Hyde Park in some crisp London sunshine, taking photographs and people watching. By the late afternoon, I had found a solitary bench from which I could work on my scripts and still people watch, without being observed talking to myself by too many people.

That evening, I met up with Hannah and we went to this amazing Italian restaurant in Piccadilly Circus. It’s called Bocca Di Lupo and has reportedly become the favorite West End actor hang out. We showed up, without a reservation, hoping for the best, and were quickly seated at the counter. It was 7:00 and we were told we had our spots until 8:15. Everyone was pleasant and extremely nice and we didn’t mind the time limit, we just wanted some delicious food. I had a spinach ravioli with spicy sausage (made at the restaurant) and pecorino. Hannah had orecchiette with a different kind of spicy sausage, red onions, and tomatoes. The food was delicious. I could have eaten 15 more plates of pasta simply because it was so good. For dessert we ordered profiteroles filled with gelato. Everything was delicious and it was nice to treat ourselves to a civilized restaurant meal. After we finished dinner, we wandered around Piccadilly Circus for a while, dodging the hordes of tourists along the way. We eventually ducked into a place that advertised live music and sat and listened to a band that was kind of indie-rock style and they weren’t half bad. Tired and full of good food, we finally headed home to sleep.

Sunday the weather was pretty bad, inspiring me to spend most of the day relaxing and continuing to work on my scripts. For one of the brief moments that the weather seemed to clear, I went for a walk around South Kensington for some fresh air and exploring.

Monday was a pretty standard day of school. In rehearsal, I wore my corset for the first time for all 3 1/2 hours of rehearsal. I am truly unsure how women wore them all the time, everyday, all day. Sure, it helps a lot with posture and gives you a ridiculous figure but it is so uncomfortable. After wearing it for about 30 minutes, you kind of forget the discomfort and settle in to having this thing tightened around your body. But, as soon as you loosen the strings to take it off, you’re reminded how liberating it is to not be wearing a corset. I shouldn’t complain though. I love being able to wear one for our work on our Restoration project. Wearing it to work on our scene, I could feel it helping me find my character and embrace the hyper-stylized work of Restoration comedy.

After rehearsal, I hurried to Piccadilly Circus, hoping to get in line for day-of student tickets to The 39 Steps. The theatre it is at sells £15 student tickets at 7 pm, an hour before the show begins. At 6:12 I walked up to the box office window to double check that they even had tickets to sell for the performance that night. The man asked how many I needed and I replied, “Just one!” He looked at his computer screen and said, “Oh alright. Let’s just take care of it now.” So at 6:18 I walked out of the theatre with a 4th row center seat for £15 for that evening’s performance. Theatres here really know how to treat students properly. Thank you, London theatre. I grabbed a quick sandwich and tea at a Cafe Nero across the street and then spent the remainder of my time in Waterstones (British Barnes and Noble) where I tried desperately to resist the urge to purchase anything but, in the end, walked out with Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. Still, I only purchased one book so I think that’s a pretty good testament to my willpower.

The 39 Steps was quite entertaining. It is a show adapted from a 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film. The cast contains exactly 4 actors – one actor who plays the hero, one actress who plays the three different women he falls in love with over the course of the story, and two actors who play every single other role, sometimes switching hats, voices, and physicality in the middle of a sentence. The show was quite funny and I enjoyed but it is definitely not my favorite thing that I’ve seen. The physical comedy wasn’t quite as clean and crisp as a show like this really demands and, at times, it felt like the actors were kind of just going through the motions. I think the show has been open for a while which might explain this but, still, I had high expectations that weren’t quite met. Don’t get me wrong, though, I was thoroughly entertained and it was nice to spend an evening giggling at silly humor. (I was pleased, though, that I only paid a small price for my ticket while those around me paid probably 4 times as much. Yay student prices!)

The next day was a pretty standard Tuesday and that evening I headed to Amy’s new flat to visit. Yay Amy and John! Your new flat is beautiful and your housemates are really cool. Plus it’s only a 10 minute walk from LAMDA so that’s super convenient. Amy was kind enough to make dinner so we ate our pasta and caught up.

Wednesday morning we met at LAMDA at 9:00 and boarded a bus to Stratford-upon-Avon. I was giddy with excitement and, after about two and a half hours, we arrived in Stratford. After checking into our hotel, we were sent off to explore, find some lunch, and meet for the matinee performance of Wolf Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre. A few of us wandered around the small town (thank goodness it wasn’t raining) and settled on a little dock on the river in the sunshine to wait until it was time for the show.

This was our view from where we sat. You can see Holy Trinity Church in the background, rising out of the trees. We decided to go visit the church, as we had plenty of time before we needed to be at the theatre. Wandering through the RSC Gardens and down a quaint, little road we arrived at the church and were welcomed inside. The inside is beautifully preserved and the windows are full of vibrant colors of paint and stained glass. At the altar of the church is Shakespeare’s grave, surrounded by his wife’s, daughter’s, and son-in-law’s graves. After seeing the grave, we wandered back through the church and marveled at the idea that Shakespeare himself came to worship here. We know so little about this man and yet there we were, standing in a place we know he would have visited during his life.

Finally it was time for the show so we headed to the theatre and settled into our seats. Wolf Hall is the first part of a duo of shows, the second is called Bring Up The Bodies, which we saw that evening. The shows are adapted from the the novels of the same names. They tell the familiar story of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and England’s break with the Catholic church. While a familiar story to nearly everyone, it is told in a rather unfamiliar way. It is told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is nearly always portrayed as the ultimate villain of this era of history, with stories having been told from Henry’s perspective, Anne’s perspective, and Thomas More’s perspective. Instead, this adaptation made you sympathize with Cromwell. Wolf Hall ends just as Henry realizes his shifting affections towards Jane Seymour. Bring Up The Bodies ends with Henry’s marriage to Jane. These plays are written is fairly vernacular, modern-day English but the productions set them truly in their time period. The costumes were true to period and most of the mannerisms were as well. During the first half of Wolf Hall, the actors seemed to be struggling to inhabit this world that straddled two very distinct time periods. Their words were modern but their costumes were stiffly Tudor. To me, it seemed that it took them a while to figure out how to enter the same world all together. It felt a bit disjointed at times and like each character was existing just fine on his/her own but not in harmony with everyone else on stage. They eventually hit their stride and, once they did, it was riveting. The acting was really solid and I particularly liked the actors who played Thomas Cromwell and King Henry. As the story continued in Bring Up The Bodies, I was further enthralled and swept up into this world of political games and changing hearts. Again, the actors playing Cromwell and Henry shined. Between the two shows, we spent about 6 1/2 hours in the theatre that day. I enjoyed both pieces but didn’t love them. I thought the actors and director were extremely talented but the writing was lacking. I wanted to be swept away with this story and leave the theatre still thinking about it but instead I found myself too often bored with a stoic scene. Again, though, the actors and the way it was staged and directed were what blew my mind. Even after 6 1/2 hours, I could have watched those actors all day long, despite the lackluster script.

When we returned to our hotel, the actor who played King Henry VIII was sitting at the hotel bar. A group of us were down there too and ended up talking to him for about 2 hours. I am still kicking myself that I didn’t go down there too but… oh well. He graduated from LAMDA and was apparently all too happy to talk to everyone. He approached them, recognizing some of them from the audience, and thanking us for being such a great audience. (Apparently the cast had been talking backstage about how wonderful an audience they had all day. You’re welcome, cast, you’re welcome.) He then proceeded to talk to them about his career, the rehearsal processes of these shows, and gave them a ton of advice (which they have all subsequently shared with the rest of us). The next morning, he was downstairs at breakfast at the same time and came over to say hello to our group. It was so impressive and so generous of him to do all this. He was truly one of the stand-out actors in the shows because he played Henry as a human being. I think all too often people playing a king or queen try to play the power of their title. But the reality is that kings and queens simply inhabit that power. They’ve been raised knowing that they have it so they don’t have to put on airs, it is simply who they are. This actor (Nathaniel Parker) embodied the power and did not try too hard to show off that he was king. His authority simply existed, no questions asked. At the same time, though, he brilliantly portrayed the vulnerability of a rather young king with an ever changing heart. When he fell in love with Anne you truly believed he was in love with this woman. And when he fell in love with Jane, you genuinely believed he was in love with her. His vulnerability allowed the audience to feel for Henry and understand his fear and confusion while also recognizing his authority as monarch. Parker’s performance was truly impressive.

Breakfast and dinner were included in our stay at the hotel so Thursday morning we feasted at an American-sized breakfast buffet. Following breakfast, we boarded the bus for a tour of Stratford. Claire was our tour guide and we drove around the city center as she told us various historical fun facts about the town. Then we headed a little bit out of town to Anne Hathaway’s cottage. This is where the Hathaway family lived until 1846. Shakespeare wouldn’t have lived here but we can imagine he came to visit while wooing Anne. (For a more PG-13 version of the story, we might put wooing in quotation marks because, in reality, Anne was 3 months pregnant when they got married. Just saying…) We were taken through the house by a friendly tour guide named David, seen here:

It is a pretty big cottage for a family in those days which means that the Hathaways were pretty well off. As David explained things in each room, he would also point out the origins of various idioms that we still use today. Claire had done the same on the bus on our way to the cottage. Some idiom origins that got explained: good night sleep tight, upper crust, under his thumb, bed and board, cold shoulder, frog in your throat, chairman of the board, and bonfire. I am more than happy to explain each one to you so ask away if you’re curious!

After exploring the cottage, we were left to wander around the gardens and surrounding open space. Thank goodness the weather was cooperating, the sun was shining and there were only a couple puffy white clouds in the sky. Wandering included lots of picture taking and sonnet reciting. Thank god we are all nerds enough to indulge each other.

The next stop on our tour was Shakespeare’s Birthplace. 

After exploring the Birthplace for a while, a few of us went to get some afternoon tea across the street. Full of delicious tea and scones, we then walked around the town for a little while.

At 3, I headed back to the hotel for a workshop that LAMDA had organized. The workshop was led by a woman who co-runs a theatre group just outside of Stratford. She has done work with the RSC and her husband and son are both working actors. We looked at some Richard II  text, exploring some of it for a short time. The workshop was only an hour and fifteen minutes but, having studied Richard and friends in great detail earlier this term, it was fun to return to the script once more. It was like visiting old friends once again.

Soon after the workshop, it was time to feast on an American-sized buffet dinner. We ate so much food and then headed back to the RSC to see Wendy and Peter Pan, a re-telling of the classic Peter Pan story with all the characters we know and love just slightly differently told. This show was spectacular. From the acting to the design to the direction to the tech, this show didn’t miss a thing. There is something about revisiting childhood stories again as an adult, or at least as someone who is all too quickly becoming an adult. I wish that all of you could see this show because it is a show that, I think, would be loved by the whole world. Every person on stage was so fully in the world of the play that the audience was swept up in it too. The children in the audience remained enthralled throughout the performance. There was a little girl in the audience whose giggle carried through the entire theatre. There was a little boy in the second row who had a wooden sword grasped tightly in his hand and when Peter Pan happened to be standing in the aisle next to him, the little boy stared up at Peter like he had seen his hero come to life. Us grown-up kids in the balcony were captivated. By the time the end of the show came, my face was covered in tears and they wouldn’t stop falling. Thank god those around me were experiencing similar waterworks issues. The concept of the show was impressive. Half the time Peter was flying, it wasn’t via a cable. It was a group of six people who were his “shadow” and they would pick him up and spin him around. Even when the Darling children and Peter really did fly, the show was unafraid to show the audience the cables that enabled this because they knew we would all still believe it anyway. It was a truly beautiful show that reminded me the importance of play, dreams, and adventures. It reminded me that theatre has the power to tell incredibly meaningful stories that move people. It reminded me that an excited child lives inside all of us and we can never allow that child to be stifled. It reminded me that the theatre is a place where I get to live out my dreams, have adventures, and, most importantly, a place where I will never have to truly grow up. It reminded me that all it takes is a little fairy dust and a happy thought to make everything ok.

You can see the trailer for the show here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHTplamJPNQ

Friday morning, we had to board the bus to leave Stratford, much to my dismay. Despite not wanting to leave, we all boarded the bus and headed to Warwick Castle. This castle is quite pretty and in the middle of a quaint, countryside town. The castle was bought in 1978 by Madame Tussauds. (Subsequently, the Tussauds group was purchased by Merlin Entertainment so now it’s technically owned by Merlin.) Madame Tussauds has turned it into what feels like a tourist trap in the truest sense of the phrase which is a shame, but it has also allowed a lot of money to be poured into conservation of such a historic place. Something has stood on this site since 914 which makes the castle 1,100 years old. It passed through many, many hands over the ages but what struck me as quite interesting is the fact that the most recent family to own it used it as a house until 1978 when they were forced to sell it because they had run out of money. This was a home to people until so recently… Too often I tuck these castles way back into history, viewing them as mere museum pieces now. This fact reminded me that these functioned as people’s homes where children were born and raised and family’s existed. It was fun to explore the castle and its grounds, despite the rather terrible weather we had that day. We climbed the towers, climbed the hill onto the oldest part of the castle dating from Roman times, and even did a little historical dance in the great hall.

We eventually returned to London and headed to our respective flats. A couple of us met back up later that evening to watch the new Tom Hiddleston movie, Only Lovers Left Alive. It was pretty boring but we enjoyed each other’s company and the acting wasn’t half bad. Exhausted from our trip, we all quickly said goodnight and headed home to sleep.

Yesterday, Jane Thompson (Amy’s mom) was in town. Amy was going to be at work all day so I volunteered to play tour guide. Being from England, Jane has seen pretty much all the touristy things there are to do so we opted for seeing a show instead. Amy said that Jane wanted to see Matilda and I have honestly been waiting for an excuse to wake up early to try and score day-of tickets so this worked out perfectly. I arrived at the theatre at 7am to wait for the box office to open at 10am. I was first in line which meant we were definitely getting tickets and I was very excited. Lindsay came to join me in line and we worked on our lines and I worked on my RP night scene. We were a living cliche of actors waiting in line for cheap theatre tickets while working on their lines. Amy even stopped by to say hello on her way to work. Finally the box office opened and I got our tickets for the matinee. I met Jane at her hotel at noon and we grabbed a quick sandwich and tea before heading towards Leicester Square. We popped in to visit Amy at work and then walked to Trafalgar Square to see the blue rooster statue on the usually empty plinth in the corner of the square. Everywhere we walked, we were battling a ridiculous number of tourists which was a little annoying but such is life I suppose. We headed back towards the theatre and took our seats for the show.

We had incredible seats (thank you, Jane!!) and the show was wonderful. The little kids in the show ranged from ages 9-14. They were so impressive, often dancing the choreography better than the adults. The staging was incredibly creative and possibly one of the coolest parts of the show. The set design was ingenious and the costumes quite funny. Every element of the show came together to create a whimsical world of magic and stories. I am so happy I got to see this show and highly recommend it to anyone in New York or London.

After the show, Jane and I grabbed a cup of tea while waiting for Amy to get off of work. Then, we met up with Amy and walked to Chinatown to get dinner. We went to the Royal Dragon and ate an impressive amount of delicious, authentic Chinese food. Everything was so good and we all enjoyed thoroughly. We parted ways and Jane returned to her hotel and Amy and I went to Amy’s house warming party. This was great because it meant I got to meet all of John’s friends that Amy has been telling me stories about for the past year and a half. They were all as funny and nice as she had made them seem and we had a great time.

I can’t believe another weekend is about to draw to a close. Time is flying and I am trying to make sure I soak in every passing second. Our timetable is on a piece of paper that is double sided, with the first half of the term on the front and the second half on the other side. I remember when they handed them out and it felt like the point when we would have to flip them over was so far away, almost unattainable. And yet, here we are. Monday marks the flip of the timetable, a rather trivial thing in the grand scheme of the world but a physical reminder that our term is half over. So bizarre… Now I’m off to go do some homework and maybe go brave the crowds at the V&A.

Until next time…

Cheers.