Not sure how many of you could tell but that last post was written in quite a state of sleep deprived delirium. After my nap I re-read the post and realized just how many typos were in it. I’ve fixed the ones I found but am finding it hilarious that in my drowsiness I still updated the blog.

Anyway! I spent today sleeping in to completely recover from my night on the pavement. Then I took a jaunt to Oxford Street to acquire some more black clothes for school. I have a feeling that by the time I come home every item I own will be the color black. (I’m an artist, didn’t you know?) Praise the lord for Forever 21 where I found shirts for £3. I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be back for more…

Oxford Street is a stone’s throw from Amy’s flat so we grabbed some afternoon tea and some delicious carrot, ginger, parsnip soup. I love having friends all over this city. It’s wonderful and makes it feel a little more like home. (Don’t worry Mom, it doesn’t feel completely like home.)

Now I’m already in my pajamas and mostly packed up for school tomorrow. I’ve even made my lunch and it’s sitting in the fridge, complete with a giant reminder to actually put it in my bag in the morning sitting on my desk.

Oh! And someone snapped this group photo at the Tower on Friday. Here are my newest friends and theatre nerds:

But who cares about today and a group photo? There are much more important things to discuss.

Coriolanus.

The play absolutely, positively, 300%, without a doubt was worth every moment spent waiting for a ticket. It was easily the best show I have had the great fortune of seeing in my entire life.

I was almost entirely unfamiliar with the script so it was exciting enough to be seeing a “new” Shakespeare play on its feet. Even with all the hype and rave reviews, nothing could have prepared me for what we saw. From the space to the design, the actors to the technical elements the production was simply brilliant. The Donmar Theatre is a small theatre; it only seats about 250 people. The stage is a small square, nearly even with the first row of the audience. The set was a purely vertical ladder about 1/4 of the way onstage from stage right stretching all the way to the ceiling with a bare back wall of brick and some simple chairs. The design used projections along the back wall to help set each scene and there were musical interludes in longer scene changes that fit the mood well. The actors were incredible. Throughout the performance, if ever there was a moment of silence on stage, you could hear a pin drop in the house. I have never seen an audience (of quite a wide age range, I might add) so captivated by the performers. It was an ensemble based show with 4 actors playing all of the smaller roles and the remaining 9 playing the leads. That’s not including the little boy played by 1 of 3 adorable kids depending on the night. Unlike in Richard II, where I felt there was quite a disparity of talent, each actor held their own in this production. Each character clearly lived in the same world as all the others, unifying each individual and the story and making this violent Roman world come to life. They spoke the words as agents of the story, rather than treating the text as sacred simply because it is Shakespeare and poetry. That is definitely something I personally need to work on as an actor.

Tom Hiddleston (as Coriolanus) and Deborah Findlay (as Volumnia) were my personal favorites. Both of them commanded the space and, whenever they were on stage, I couldn’t tear my eyes off them. They had such presence and energy which made them mesmerizing to watch. Coriolanus delivers a famous speech after he is banished from Rome. He cries,

You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o’ the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservation of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.

Hiddleston’s performance of this was spectacular. There really isn’t another word for it.

Volumnia has a long speech at the end of the play in which she implores her son not to destroy Rome. It persuades Coriolanus to give up his plan of war and ultimately costs him his life at the hands of Aufidius. It is an emotionally charged scene to say the least and Findlay delivered the speech with power and vehemence. Where we were sitting, we could see both her face as she spoke the words and Hiddleston’s as he reacted to them, with his back turned to his mother. As she neared the end of her monologue, tears started falling from Coriolanus’ face. I, myself, (as well as nearly everyone I was with) was also moved to tears. We cried from that point all the way until we exited the theatre. It was truly a beautiful, cathartic, moving production.

I feel so fortunate to get to see such wonderful theatre. Each time I do, it reminds me why I am doing what I am and how much I truly love it. Classes begin with full force tomorrow. I have Alexander technique, acting, and clown in the morning before heading into our first Richard II rehearsal in the afternoon. I can’t think of a better pre-cursor to my first week of classes than seeing Coriolanus this weekend. I am feeling perfectly inspired to buckle down and work my butt off for the next 3 months. As Volumnia says so beautifully, “Action is eloquence.”

Until next time… Cheers!