One Brilliant piece of Theater!

Poster

So on Thursday we had our last workshop followed by our last class play and both were focused on the play War Horse. We started our morning out with a workshop at the New London Theatre where the play is being performed. We were led by two of the Actors from the show, Sarah Mardel who plays Emilie as well as the head of Joey when he is a foul and Jack Monaghan who plays Albert. We first started off the workshop with some warm ups and stretches that were all a lot of fun. For the most part during our warm ups we focused on using our peripheral vision since unlike our eyes, horses eyes are on the side of their head. After our warm up we were told that we were going to do the same exact things that the actors had done during rehearsals and of course that started with watching some videos of horses and learning how they move and respond to things. When the video was done we split up into groups of two and learned how to work as a team to maneuver the horses’ legs with sticks, first working on a walk, then a trot and finally a gallop. It was definitely a lot harder than it seems to be able to stay in time with one another and make the movement look real. Next we sat in a group and were given a balloon and told to blow it up so that it fit in the palm of our wrist, obviously mine wasn't that big. We were told that this balloon represented the head of our horse and learned how to work with that as well as how to make horse noises since all the animal noises in the show are made by the actors. After working on the head we teamed up in groups of 3 or 4 and put on a small example of how a horse would react to a noise while they were eating. This workshop was a lot of fun and I definitely had a new appreciation for the actors who have to work with the puppets on stage because it takes a lot of teamwork and concentration. The only thing I was a little disappointed on was the fact that we didn't get to work with the actual puppets.

After the workshop Sara and I grabbed some lunch at pizza hut before heading off to do a little shopping before the show started. I managed to buy some pretty awesome souvenirs for some people and hope to be able to finish the rest this weekend. With not much time before the show we headed back to the dorm to drop off our purchases before heading out to the theatre.

A group of us with Jack and Sarah after the workshop

When we got to the theatre, we were told that they had one ticket for circle area and one for the stalls. Seeing how Sara and I were the only two left we had to choose who would sit where. Let me just say I sold Sara out in a heartbeat and took the ticket in the stalls. I figured since she's going to see Phantom of the Opera and I’m not, she wouldn't mind if I took the better seats. I'm glad she didn't protest too much since this is the show that I've been waiting to see since we got here. As soon as the show started I was immediately drawn into the world of the play. I thought that being able to see the actors moving the puppets would distract me, but I hardly knew they were there. Within the first twenty minutes of the play I was already sobbing and as the play continued to get better the tears continued to come. If you haven't guessed already this play is definitely top 3 material. When the show ended we headed some of us headed to the stage door to see if we could get our program signed by Sarah and Jack who had led our workshop this morning. I'm glad we waited because Jack came out and gladly signed our programs. Afterwards we headed back to the dorms and I hurried to my room since I had a Skype date with my family and was running almost an hour late. After talking with my family for a bit I headed off to bed after having a great day.

Last week already!

I can hardly believe that it is already my last week here in London. Time really has flown by, especially this week. So far the majority of this week has been dedicated to different workshops and seeing the last of the plays on our list.

On Monday we had our first workshop at the Victoria and Albert Museum and focused on The Duchess of Malfi. We did some exercises and some of them were even new to me which was great because I have some new ones to add to my warm up list to use while teaching. After a while we talked a bit about the play and were asked to make a short 1 to 2 minute skit about the play. My group decided to do a quick Melodramatic version of the play which included gender reversed characters since we were a female heavy group with only one male and the play is the complete opposite. It was a lot of fun doing this even though we only had a 10 minute planning/rehearsal period. After the workshop I explored the V & A some more since it inherited the artifacts from the London theater museum when it closed down not too long ago. It had some really cool things including this temporary display that showed how five directors would have interpreted Ophelia's mad scene in hamlet and how they would have had the actress behave and interpret the section. Later on that night we headed back to the Almeida theater to see some protest theatre put on by the Belarus Free theatre company.  Eurepica Challenge  was a collection of about 12 short plays/monologues that dealt with numerous problems within the world and each one focused on a specific problem within one country.While I applaud what they attempted, I wasn't a big fan of it and found that it just wasn't my cup of tea.

On Tuesday I put my big girl pants on a joined my classmates for a very creepy tour of St. Leonard's Church Crypt where the Burbage family is buried. For those that don't know James Burbage built the first Elizabethan theatre and later built the Globe. His son Richard Burbage was a famous actor during the Elizabethan time. Anyway we met up with Father Paul and he graciously took us around downstairs and showed us around. While down there I saw numerous tombs, bones and coffins and learned quite a bit. I'm sure it would have be a lot more enjoyable if I hadn't been frightened that a dead body was going to pop out from somewhere. We all headed out and some of us with a bit more than expected since we had "dirt" on us or as some of us thought dead people's skin that was floating around (I wasn't too thrilled about this). After finishing our tour we headed down the road to where the first theatre once stood and had a quick lesson there. After class we were allowed to go our own way and do what we wanted until our show that night. A small group of us joined Alison for some lunch before heading off in search of where the Blackfriar's theatre once stood. Unfortunately we were unable to find a plaque that stated anything about it standing anywhere, but we like to believe that we found the area. That night we watch One Man, Two Guvnors which has been so successful at the NT that they are moving it to the West end. After watching the show, I know exactly why it has been so successful. This play has been by far one of my favorite plays since we've been here (definitely top 5 material). After the show we headed to a pub by our dorm called the Goat in boots to celebrate one of the girls birthdays. It was a great time had by all, until closing time at midnight.

Today we headed back to the Globe, where we had our second workshop for the week. When we first got there they gave us another tour of the area, this time I felt our tour guide gave us a lot more information about the theatre, which wasn't given to us before. While on our tour we were able to see an understudy practicing for a role since he was going to take the stage sometime soon (later came to find out it was the show we were attending). Once our tour ended we met up with our instructor for the workshop named Chu, I kinda giggled inside thinking of the movie Ladybugs and Robin hood Men in tights (I know kinda childish, but I couldn't resist). He was great and once again I learned some great exercises to use when teaching. For this workshop we focused on Hamlet, and he definitely gave some new perspective with the text and I rather enjoyed myself. After the workshop ended I was hoping that I would be allowed up on the stage to perform a monologue, but unfortunately since there was a matinee at 2 we were unable to. This Matinee also happened to be the one we were attending so it wouldn't have been the best time to perform it. We watched Doctor Faustus, which I had heard about but never seen. I thought the acting was good and some of the elements were really entertaining but at times I was just so bored with the play, and it didn't help that the seats were extremely uncomfortable. When the play finished we headed down to another area of the Globe where we were going to have a Talk back with some of the cast in the show. I found the talk back to be quite entertaining and a lot of fun. The only negative, besides the lady who wouldn't quit interrupting was that the man who was choosing the people to ask questions, seemed to ignore our side and favor the other areas, since neither Sara or myself were chosen to ask our questions. On the bright side, after the Talk back we ran into the actors and were able to ask them our questions really fast and they gladly answered. Afterwards we were given the evening off to do as we like. I headed back to the dorm to write this and work on my project. We have our last day of workshops and plays tomorrow night and what better way to end it than with War Horse. I'm so excited about this and really hope it doesn't disappoint. We'll just have to see and don't worry I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

XoXo

End of the week

So the week has finally calmed down and I finally have a chance to do an "end of the week update".

Sign to Shaw's Corner

On Wednesday we had a guided tour of the Tate Modern, which obviously focuses on modern art specifically abstract artwork. Now I've never been one for abstract art, but I thought it was fairly interesting and found that some enjoyed it more than others. After I left Tate Modern, I decided to take a stroll and explore that area a little more since I hadn't really spent too much time there. Not wanting to get lost all I really did was walk in a straight line towards the Waterloo tube station. It turned out to be a good distance than I was expecting but still a good way to see the area. On my way back to the dorm I was hungry since I hadn't had breakfast and stopped Wildwood Italian restaurant and picked up a spicy pepperoni pizza to go since they have them on sale. By the time I walked back my hot cheese had turned cold, but I was still excited to eat it since I had been wanting pizza. I should have realized that when it said spicy it really meant spicy. I at the pizza, moving the hot peppers around so they were not all clustered together and it was quite a good meal. Later on in the day my eye was itching so like a genius I rubbed it with my fingers (which I hadn't washed since moving the peppers) and of course my eye started to burn as if it were on fire. Even after the burning in my eye had gone away it still hurt and so I figured that was the perfect excuse to take a small nap before our Richard III show that evening. When we finally arrived at the Waterloo station which wasn't that far from The Old Vic theatre it started to rain again. We rushed over to the theatre only getting a little drizzle on us. A group of us had dressed nice in hopes of being able to meet Kevin Spacey after the show that night. We were all really excited until we got to our seats and found that we couldn't see very much. When our trip was booked, this production had already been technically sold out we I guess we were lucky enough to be able to have even seen it. Once the show started I was really excited and kept leaning over the railing to try and see what was going on but to no avail. Soon after I lost interest because I couldn't see what was happening and just sat back and listened. At intermission a lot of the people in our area went to sit in open seats that had better views, which opened up seats in our area that while still a bit restricted, were loads better then where I was sitting. Once I was actually able to see what was going on, the play became so much more enjoyable. The play was really long and by the time we got out some of the tube stations were already closed so we had to walk to a different one. Sara and I hadn't eaten dinner yet so on our way to the tube we stopped by this Indian restaurant which was alright. Before we sat down we had asked if they were still open and they said yes and took us to a table, but it was as if they were already closed because they kept rushing us and it was just very uncomfortable especially when they were watching us eat. We quickly ate and then headed to the tube so we could hurry and get home since we had an early morning the next day.

Shaw's Oscar for Pygmalion

On Thursday our group woke up early and jumped on a bus for our day trip to Hertfordshire to see Shaw's Corner as well as Hatfield House. It didn't really take us a long time to get their, 2 hours at most. We first started at Shaw's Corner, which is the house that playwright George Bernard Shaw and his wife lived. Most of the rooms we visited have been left the same way he had had it when he died in 1950. I was even able to see his Oscar that he won for the screen adaptation for the play Pygmalion, which I knew fairly well. After looking through the house we wandered into his garden and saw his writing hut where he spent a great deal of time. It was a great experience, and I even took a little souvenir (a pine cone) from his garden. We next headed over to Hatfield house, which was the complete opposite of Shaw's corner even though they were both built during the Jacobean era. Hatfield house is the area where Elizabeth I lived before she was crowned queen. In fact they even have the tree she was sitting at when she found out that her sister Mary had died and that she was now queen. Before our tour of the house we had a bit of time to grab some lunch. I ate at the restaurant that was on the grounds since it was more convenient. All the food looked really good and I finally decided on Bangers (sausage) and mash. When lunch was over we all headed to see Elizabeth's tree and lost track of time because we were five minutes late for our tour. The house still has a royal titled family still living in it today so some of the 200+ rooms were off limits, but we were still able to see many different areas' within the house. One of the really cool things is that Hatfield house has been a shooting location for many famous films including Tomb Raider, the original Batman films, Sherlock Holmes, Get Him to the Greek, and the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was really excited because I the estate had  real garden maze on the grounds and I really wanted to do it, unfortunately the maze is never open to the public so that idea was done for. After our tour was over, we headed back to the bus for our return trip to London. We got back a bit of time to spare so I worked on one of my projects and ended up finishing it, so that is one less thing I have to worry about. Around 6:30 I took the bus and headed for the Royal Court for a new show, The Village Bike. This show has by far been the most contemporary and sexual that we have seen. I enjoyed the show, but felt that by the end of the show the cast members were miserable and didn't want to be in each other's company. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the show and thought that for a newer play is was good.

Outside view of the Hatfield House

This weekend we have another chance to travel outside of London as part of our free weekends. On Friday a group of us headed to bath to visit the Fashion Museum as well as the Roman Baths. We woke up early and headed to Paddington Station to see if we could get tickets and surprisingly we did. In a matter of a couple of weeks I seem to have used all forms of transportation here in London including, buses, tubes, walking, trains, and boats. The only two I'm missing are bike and car, but I'll pass on those because with my luck I'll probably head into oncoming traffic since they drive on the opposite side of the road. Anyway we headed to Bath and the train trip took us about an hour and a half. We headed towards the Fashion museum first, to make sure that we were able to spend as much time there as we wanted. On our way, many of us were hungry so we stopped by a pub and grabbed some lunch. I was really excited because I order the lunch special and only paid £ 7 for my BBQ Chicken meal and my Swedish Cider (which is amazing, if only it was sold in the states). The Fashion museum was right around the corner, which we weren't expecting so it wasn't that far of a walk for us after lunch. At the museum they had a "Dressing the Stars" exhibition that included costume sketches as well as the actual costume from many movies including The King's Speech, Troy, Elizabeth I, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In honor of the Royal wedding they also had a "Wedding Dresses through the Years" exhibit which was also really nice. After spending time in the Fashion Museum we headed over to the Roman Baths. We grabbed our hearing guides and walked around the baths which was huge. Before we left the Baths, we asked one of the workers how often people fall into the water, since there are signs everywhere telling us not to touch the water. He told us that two days ago they had someone actually jump in. We also asked him why we were not suppose to touch the water and he said it was because it hadn't been treated in years, possibly since the Romans built it and that it was possible that there were ameba's that could cause Meningitis. We were all soon sad that we had broken the rules and touched the water, but on the plus side I had some germx and we used to clean our hands. After our visit to the Roman Baths we headed back to the train station and were lucky enough to make the 5:13 train ride back to London, but our trip home took longer than expected because we kept having to stop due to some problems. We eventually made it back to our dorms and for me I decided to call it a day except to go grab some dinner at the Pizza Express near our dorms.

View from the Top of the Baths

Today I woke up and went to grab some groceries to help cut down on the cost of having to eat out, only to remember when I got back that I don't have any pans too cook my food in :( bummer. After putting my food away I did some Laundry and read the play The Duchess of Malfi for our workshop at the V&A on Monday. I'm thinking about heading out for a bit to explore and then coming back to find a monologue from the play that I need for the workshop. We'll just have to see what else this day has to bring, other than the coldness outside.

Costume used in Elizabeth I

The Start of Week 3!

I apologize for not updating my blog daily like I was when we first got here. I found that the longer we are here the harder it has been for me to find the time to write everything down, but I promise that I will try to update as often as possible. So with this post I'll try and catch up on the past three days.

Marble Arch

Sunday was a pretty simple day since I stayed in my room for the majority of time since it was really rainy here and I didn't want to venture out by myself since Sara hadn't come back from her trip to Scotland yet. I took the time to work on my projects which was pretty useful that way I won't be cramming before we leave to finish them. Gloomy weather makes me sleepy so it was only fitting that I took at short nap hoping that Sara would be back by the time I woke up. Turn out when I woke up she still wasn't back. When she finally came back she told me that she had lost her phone on the tube somewhere. Turn out this very nice man had called her boyfriend and let him know that he had found it as was turning it into the station. When he finally managed to get a hold of her we headed off to get it and the decided to grab some dinner on our way back since neither one of us had really had anything to eat that day. We stopped off at this local steakhouse near the tube and I think I left my pocketbook there since the price was so expensive. One thing that we American's are privileged to have are side dishes with our main entree and over here it's just the meat and the sides of course cost you. Hence why I paid £ 21 which is almost doubled in the US. When we got back to the room Sara told me about Scotland and showed me the pictures she took and then we called it and night.

Guards at Buckingham Palace taking shelter from the rain

On Monday we took a class trip to the British Museum, which put the National Gallery to shame size wise. They had a lot of artifacts from ancient Egypt as well as from Greece and Rome, which I found really nice. I thought it was pretty amazing how they have been able to preserve so much history in this museum. Everything for the most part was out in the open for people to take pictures and walk right up to, which is completely different from the other galleries/museums that I've been to since I've been here. I started with the ancient Egypt stuff first and saw a lot of thing that they took out of the pyramids, including a real life mummy! I'm usually not one for those types of things since I'm such a huge chicken, but I thought it was just so fascinating so of course I had to look, but only for a bit because then I scared myself thinking that it was going to come alive so I had to walk away. While walking towards the Greece and Rome section I stopped by an artifact that was completely surrounded by people because I wanted to get in on the action as well. Turn out that everyone was looking at the Rosetta Stone. After realizing that this was where the language learning program came from I felt pretty dumb but didn't feel so bad since I wasn't the only one who didn't know that the Rosetta Stone was a real thing. Once the area got too crowded for me I continued on to the section where remnants of the Pantheon were on display. Being able to get an up close look at these statues amazed me because I couldn't imagine the amount of time that went into sculpting something that flawless out of marble. I stood in awe for a while and then decided to explore other areas of London that were nearby. I hopped on the nearest tube and took it all the way to marble arch since I had been wanting to take pictures of that area but hadn't really had the chance. By the time I got out of the tube it had started raining so I was forced to seek shelter under

Wreaths at a war memorial

some trees since my umbrella just wasn't doing the trick. After taking some great pictures of the nearby area I headed down to Hyde park since it was right across the street. It was really nice to actually take the time to have a proper walk in the park, it honestly felt like a scene from out of a movie minus the gray clouds and rain. I then continued onto Green park which had a lot of War memorials which were very nicely adorned with wreaths. When I came to the end of Green park I found myself at Buckingham Palace and thought what an opportune time to take a close picture of the Guards. I took some fast pictures because it started to rain and I retreated back to Green park, but not before noticing two things. First, when it rains the soldiers retreat into this little black shed looking thing but still maintain their royal duty of protecting the Queen. Speaking of  HM the Queen the second thing I noticed was that a different flag was flying over Buckingham palace from the first time I was there so I can only assume that HM was in residence. After my fun trip to Buckingham Palace I jumped on a but to head to the National Theatre for our Productions of The Cherry Orchard. When I finally got to the end of the bus route I asked some people whom I thought were locals where the NT was and they told me they didn't know, so I hopped on the tube and went one stop back to Embankment station so that I could cross the bridge and know where exactly I was going. The Cherry Orchard was alright but mostly as snooze fest. I found that the script was very bland and I didn't care for it very much apart for the actors. My favorite one by far had to be Zoë Wanamaker, who happens to play Madam Hooch in Harry Potter. It was quite a pleasant surprise because I didn't recognize her until someone mentioned it to me. After the show ended I somehow managed to get lost from my group because I was following two people whom I thought were in my group only to find out when I caught up to them that they were not the same people. I had managed to get lost and had to walk back to the dorms by myself in the dark, with umbrella in hand in case I needed to hit someone with it. Turns out that my group got lost on the way back to the dorm as well and I managed to beat them back by an hour and a half.
 

View while walking in Hyde Park

Today has been a busy day. Housekeeping came into our rooms this morning and made me wake Sara up so that they could clean our rooms. We had to quickly get dressed before being kicked out of our rooms. We headed to the Common room, after making our lunches, for our two group class discussions. I was apart of lucky group number one and talked about the first section of the book. Our group did well and we had a good amount of discussion. After the morning discussions was over we headed by bus towards Covent Garden. On the way Sara said she wanted to stop by a glove shop she had seen the other day so I got off with her a few stops early and we checked out the store. We were once again greeted by the rain on our journey and made mad dashes in and out of stores to keep from getting wet. Around 3:20 we jumped on the tube to take the last few stops to Covent Garden, where we were to have our very last theater tour of Drury Lane. Surprisingly Sara and I were the first ones there so we decided to stop by Starbucks. Sara stood in line as I went in search of the Loo. When I had finally found it I decided to pass since there were literally like 30 people in front of me waiting to go. I decided to try another store, but they didn't have one. On my way back to Starbucks I noticed that our group was already waiting so I headed over to grab our tickets so Sara and I could walk over together. When I got back to Starbucks she was nowhere to be found and I went in search of her. You see she too had gone in search of me and managed to catch up with the group when they told her that I had done the same. Eventually we found each other and we headed in for the tour. This 

tour was by far the best one that we have been on since we have been here. They mixed a lot of history, with theatricality as well as a little bit of Ghost stories (which I was terrified by). We were taken in dark tunnels dating back to the 1800s and told about the man in gray who was found buried in the wall during renovations before being taken underneath the stage area. After the tour we headed over the bridge to the NT for a new documentary theatre productions of London Road, a new "musicalesque" show about the 2006 murders of five prostitutes in the town of Ipswich and the effects it has on the community. This was a very different production from anything that we have seen so far, but I thought it was absolutely amazing . It was also held in the smallest theatre withing the NT so we were in a very intimate space with the actors. I literally could have reached my hand out and touched an actor. Overall today was a Great day



Taking a Picture at Drury Lane with Shrek Poster







Free Weekend #1

Painting on The wall of Excavation site

Well this weekend is our first official free weekend to so whatever we would like. For the most part most of the group packed up and went to another part of Europe, this included my roommate Sara so I was left to do my own thing. The first thing I did on Friday morning after I woke up was head to the corner store to buy some detergent so I could do my Laundry since I was pretty much out of clothes. I only paid £2 for it and it smells really good. I grabbed a muffin for breakfast and headed back to the dorm to get my laundry done. What I wasn't expect was for it to be so expensive to wash my clothes. I ended up spending the equivalent of $16 on 3 loads of Laundry and 2 dryer loads, not exactly what I was expecting. A little later in the day Alison sent of message to the 6 of us that stayed in town letting us know that she was going to explore shoreditch for the day and that we were welcomed to come. Not wanting to waste my day indoors, I agreed to join her and she let me know that where we were going was not too far from the Mask shop I went in search of the other day. We took the tube for a short way and then decided to try a different method of travel and road on one of the double decker buses so that we could take a scenic route. When we eventually got to where to shore ditch, we hopped off the bus and went in search of the site of two old theater spaces that were around during Shakespeare's time since (The theatre and the Curtain). Alison would be doing a lesson over these two in the coming weeks so she wanted to make sure she knew exactly where they were. They actually just recently found the remains of what they believe to be The Theatre and have been busy excavating it. We hoped that when we found it we would be able to peak through the fence, but it was all boarded up and someone had even taken the time to decorate the fence. We continued on to find St. Leonard's Church where we will be doing a crypt tour while in the area in a few days. Well we were quite surprised to see that the church was very unkept and was now being used as a homeless shelter. We weren't even sure if services still took place there because it looked so runned down. As we had a look around the outside of the church (since the man running the shelter refused to let us in) we noticed that a lot of the homeless residence were just hanging out on the church grounds drinking beer and sitting on gravestones and benches, somehow I found this very sacrilegious. We continued on to head to Mad world Costume shop and on the way found this really cool outdoor bar/lounge that was called the red market. We headed in for Lunch and some drinks from the bar. The atmosphere was very relaxed with sofas and makeshift tables and chairs all around. They also had some really awesome graffiti on the wall that leaned more towards the artistic side rather than tagging.The area that we were in was the complete opposite of what we had been use to in the Central part of London so Graffiti was very common everywhere we looked. After our late lunch we headed to Mad world and ended up finding it without a problem. In fact I felt really dumb because Sara and I had to have passed it at least 4 times when we went looking for it the first time. After taking a look inside, we hopped back on the bus and headed to watch a play at the NT that was still in its preview stages called A Woman Killed with Kindness. For the show we ended up getting really good deal on student tickets and i was the 6ths row from the stage and only paid £10 for it. While we waited for the play to start there were some acrobatic performers that were entertaining the crowd outside and so we decided to join and they were quite good. After both shows were over we headed back to the room and called it a night.





Acrobats

On Saturday, we had planned on going to Parliament and took the bus to there around 11. By the time we got there the line to get in was crazy and super long that we decided to pass on that idea and book tickets in advance for either the next Saturday or the weekend before we leave. It's been a really gloomy day here in London with lots of rain and standing in line for who knows how long just didn't seem like a good way to spend the day. After leaving the craziness of Parliament square we wondered down towards Trafalgar's square. On our way we passed the Prime minister's house as well as the area where two guards on horses stand guard and somewhat do a changing of the guards type of ceremony that people like to watch. Since it was so busy in that area, we decided to just walk by and try to look at those areas some other time. We were quite hungry by this point and decided to stop somewhere to enjoy lunch. We settled on Texas Embassy, being the proud Texans that we are and decided to see what they had to offer. Let me just say now that this has been by far the best food I've had since I've been here. I ordered a Chicken Pimento and it was absolutely delicious. It was also one of the most expensive places I've eaten at, but hey at least you know the food you pay for is going to be good. I definitely plan on coming back to eat there again before I leave. Their food would have made Texas proud. After lunch we split up and Christian and I headed to the National Portrait Gallery to work on our Project a bit. We figured since it was so nasty outside it would be best for us to be inside somewhere. When we got there we found that other people had the same idea, since it too was also packed with people. We toured the rest of the places in the Gallery that I had not yet been too and then headed back to the dorms. It was starting to get chilly and since it was still raining I decided to call it a day and plan on staying inside for the remainder of the evening.



XoXo 



What do Shakespeare and Harry Potter both have in common?

Inside the Globe

Well for one thing they are the reason's I have traveled to London, and the other is that today's events revolved around both of them as well. So on Thursday we began our day with a very detailed tour (3 hrs) of Shakespeare and visited some area's that would have been in his everyday life. We were able to see where the 2nd Globe stood and exactly how close The Rose theater was from it since remains of both sites have been found. We continued on and saw a very touching memorial to the "women of the night" who were buried in a lot by a brothel because they were not allowed to be buried on Sacred grounds. A while back when they were digging to make the underground, they found lots of Women's bodies (some of them with child) who had been put here. To this day people still visit the site to remember those women. What's really sad is that it's tucked away in an unseen part of London and many of the Londoners probably don't even realize it's there. After visiting the memorial we continued down numerous streets named after what they were known to have carried during that time, people in Shakespeare's time were so inventive. For example, Bread lane is where the bread makers were stationed as well as milk street where obviously the milk man would be. Eventually we ended up on Bear Gardens which was known for its' bear bating rings (a popular entertainment during Shakespeare's time where they would tie up a bear and let dogs attack him).  On the end of the street was an actual Ferryman's bench that had been preserved, an exact date of when it was first built is not known. After that we walked a bit further to the Current location of the Globe Theater. We took a small tour of the Globe which really consisted of sitting/standing in the different areas within the theater. After the tour finished we headed to another part of the Glove where they had an exhibition that consisted of the Globe history, past design ideas, and even some demonstrations. A group of us soon headed back to the dorms since we had spent so much time on our feet earlier in the morning, that we just wanted to relax for a bit. On the way back some of us stopped at an Italian restaurant and picked up some food to go. When we got back to the dorm I ate my food and then took a small nap before we had to head back for a new type of theater experience. We finally headed out in search of the Almedia Theatre for a brand new experience called The Theatre Brothel. The idea behind it is that we go in and speak with some assistance who ask us a variety of questions before finally suggesting what plays for us to watch. Out of 6 possible show we are then given colored poker chips to two of the shows, not knowing which one we'll be watching. The first show that I watched (Blue chip) was about Judas. It was very interactive and basically told the story of what happened the week of Jesus' execution and what events lead up to his betrayal. This show was very enjoyable and combined a great about of audience participation, comedy, and dramatic effect. The second show I watched (Orange chip) was about two older men who invest their time and some money into a Russian mail order bride site. I personally thought the show was OK, thinking that it was bland and lack personality and quite frankly I zoned out within the first 5 minutes of the show. The blocking choices could have been a little better since a lot of the play took place on the ground and since there was no raked stage it was very hard for anyone other than the first two rows to see what was going on.

Memorial to the Women of the night

By the time both shows were over it was a little after 10:30. Thinking that we were late, Sara and I hurried back to the tube station so that we could hurry back to the dorms and change before heading to the Cinema for the last Harry Potter film. We made it back to our rooms by 11:15 and were at the theater by 11:20. When we got there we were surprised to see that people were still lining up and that the doors were still closed, so we decided to grab some food from the snack bar. When it was my turn I asked for the popcorn combo which was just a regular popcorn and a large drink. The lady asked me if I wanted salted popcorn or the sweet kind. I replied salted and then asked if they had butter. She giggled and replied no as if only "an American" would ask that. Anyways I changed my mind and told her that I wanted the sweet kind, and boy am I glad I did. It tasted just like kettle corn and was super tasty. Finally around 11:45 they let us into the theater and we took our seats. The screen was much smaller than that of a typical American movie theater. At around 11:55 the lights went down and I got super giddy, but turns out there was no reason too because here in the UK they show commercials before they show the movie, and even before the previews. The commercials last about 25 minutes and some of them were rather ridiculous. For those of us Americans who didn't know of these commercials we were quite upset since the ticket said the movie started at 12:05 and not 12:30 when it finally began. Needless to say once the actual movie started it was greeted with cheer and whoops from its' dedicated fans.

Our group at the Midnight Premiere

I really loved the movie and thought that it was a great way to end the series. I saw it in 3D and honestly I couldn't really tell except for a couple of parts, but then again I could have just been distracted with it being the last movie and not really have paid that much attention to the 3D effects. Anyway, my biggest fear was that I would start crying hysterically during the movie and would be asked to leave because I was disturbing the other viewers. Although I did cry, It was bad enough for them to kick me out and the people next to me said they couldn't tell that I was. I told them that I was trying super hard not to make noise when I was crying, especially when Harry goes to the forest and uses the resurrection stone to see his loved ones. I'm pretty sure that was the one part that sent me over the edge. Being someone who has grown up with these books since I was ten and has watched all the movies religiously, it was really hard to say goodbye since not only was this an end of an era, but also the official end of my childhood. Overall I thought it was a way to end it and was super excited to have been able to watch it before anyone in the US.

Busy as a bumble bee!

Sorry it's been a few days since I've updated my blog. We've been really busy the last couple of days and by the time I get back to the dorm i'm just too tired and head straight to bed. So here's a quick run down of the past couple of days.

Monday, July 11

The Tomb of Shakespeare

 I honestly felt like the majority of our day was spent on the bus, first to Stonehenge and then to Stratford-upon-Avon. The bus picked us up around mid morning and we headed off to Stonehenge for a brief photo op. I was really sad when we got there because my camera wasn't working and for some strange reason it wasn't letting me take any pictures with the memory card so I had to save them on the actual camera only to find out that I didn't have the cord to upload them. Once we got back on the bus I started to fiddle around with the camera to try and find out what was wrong with it and then whala I realized that the memory card was set to Lock and that was what was causing all the problems. After I moved the little switch over it started to work just perfectly.We continued on our Journey to Stratford, the Birth of Shakespeare, and I tried to take a quick nap but that didn't work too well. We were suppose to get to Stratford by 2:30 so that we would have plenty of time to stop by the Holy trinity church, Shakespeares' Birth place as well as Anne Hathaway's house all before our tour of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Unfortanetly we didn't arrive until 4:30 and had to make a quick stop by the Church where Shakespeare and his wife Anne are buried and were given the option of either going on the RSC tour or the tour of Shakespeare's birthplace. I thought that I'd finish with plenty of time to do both but I didn't I was only able to go on the RSC tour. The tour was nice and quite enjoyable. After the tour I had 30 minutes before The Merchant of Venice and decided to grab a quick bite to eat. McDonalds was just around the corner and since they specialize in Fast food I figured that would be my best option. Yep, the food definitely did not taste like the food in America. It was quite flavorless and gross. Needless to say i'm going to make sure to stay away from any big fast food chains and stick to the little mom and pop places and the pubs. I headed back to the RSC for the show and made it just in time. I felt like the show for that evening was alright. I liked the concept of taking Shakespeare and contemporizing it, and I give props to the director for sticking to his concept, but I felt like it was a little overkill. I wasn't a big fan of the stereotypical American's or the Elvis who sang like every 5 minutes. To be honest for it being a RSC production I expected a lot more from them and I felt like they just didn't deliver. One good thing was that I got to see Patrick Stewart on stage and thought he was brilliant. After the play was over I headed back to the bus for the ride back to the dorms, hoping that this time it didn't take 5 hours when it should have only taken 2.

Tuesday, July 12

Outside area of the NT

On Tuesday we had the morning off to do as we pleased and then we were to meet up in the middle of Trafalagar's square so we could walk as a group to the National Theatre for a tour of their facilities. Well Sara and I were exhausted from the trip the day before and decided to sleep in until about 11. After we both got ready we headed over to Primark because Sara needed to buy some leggings. Let's just say we left with more than we expected (including 15 pairs of leggings, 2 pairs of matching slippers, and hand sanitizer) and spent way more time in there than we anticipated. After we finally left Primark we headed to the National Gallery to work on our projects but only had about and hours time to do so. When our time was up we headed to our meeting grounds and walked as a group over to the National theatre. I really enjoyed the tour of the NT because they were really the only ones who gave us a look at their actual backstage area. We saw the costume area, passed by the dressing rooms, and were able to see some of the props in action (one of the horses from War Horse). After the tour we attended a performance of Emperor and Galilean, which was very complex but still very interesting. One thing I absolutely loved about it was the set design, it was so intricate and was used in so many different ways that it completely blew my mind.  Overall it was a pretty good day.

Wednesday, July 13

View of the Abbey from the Courtyard

We had another tour on Wednesday but this time instead of a theater it was of Westminster Abbey. We met back up with Ingrid, the lady who gave us our very first guided tour here of London. Words cannot explain how amazingly beautiful the church was on the inside. The fact that they have been able to preserve so much of its' history there is mind boggling. On our tour we were able to see the actual coronation chair that has been used for all of the Royal Coronations going back all the way to 1300 and was even used for the current Queen's coronation's and they plan on using it for many more to come. We also saw the tombs of many of the past Monarchs, the area where the Royal wedding took place as well as poet's corner where many famous poets are buried. I also saw where Charles Darwin and Sir Issac Newton were buried which I thought was really cool. One of the most touching tombs we visited was the Tomb of the Unknown Solider which is actually the only tomb in the Abbey that you are not allowed to walk on. One thing about the Abbey is that during the day it is still a working church meaning that while we were on our tour we had to stop and remian silent while a daily prayer was said on the hour. Ingrid was amazing as usual and had loads of information for us on the tour. After the tour was done we were free to explore until the show at 7:45. Sara and I were really hungry and decided to join Alison for a tasty meal at a pub down the street (they really have good food). When lunch was over Sara and I decided to go looking for this Venetian Mask store that I had found online, since I was trying to be a good sister. I didn't know much about this store since I had only briefly looked at it but I knew which tube station we needed to get off but as far as remebering the address I wasn't so sure about. We still decided to go and try our luck since we had quite a long time before we needed to be at the Open Air theater. When we got to Old street station, the area we were in was not what we had expected. It was quite shabby compared to all the places we had been to and we didn't feel as safe there as we normally had in London. By this time I had remembered that the place was on Tabernacle street and so we headed that way to look up and down the street for the store. Since Sara is bad with directions, I was given the task of finding our destination, but to be honest it was like the blind leading the blind and we ended up lost. After asking several times about the store no one seemed to know what we were taking about so we left Tabernacle street and headed back to the dorms for a bit. Getting back wasn't so hard since we just retraced our steps. We relaxed for a bit at our dorm before setting off to find Regent's Park for our first Open air theater experience. We left about an our before our scheduled class meeting time to make sure we had plenty of time to get there. What we hadn't taken into consideration was the fact that it would be packed with people just getting off of work. The tube line was a little packed but nothing we hadn't dealt with before. Once we were on the tube we kept stopping in the middle of the tunnels to let other stations catch up so there wouldn't be a long break between tubes, and at one point we were stopped for 5 minutes. These unexpected pauses caused us to loose a lot of time. We eventually made it to baker street station and headed out to find the theater. As we walked out of the station there is a sign that points left for Madam Tussauds and right for Regent's Park. Since I was leading us to the place I went right because I knew I was looking for Regent's park. After about 15 minutes of walking and not seeing anything that looked like a park I stopped and asked a local women and she told us we were heading in the completly opposite direction from the park. She let us know that the sign we followed causes confusion quite often because it leads to Regent's Park street and not the actual Regent's Park. By this time we were already suppose to have been there but were running late and hurried back the way we were suppose to have gone. We eventually made it to the Park, which was gorgeous, and were only about 25 minutes late for class. The good thing was we made it before The Beggar's Opera had started. We grabbed some dinner from the theater and took our seats. The Beggar's Opera  was probably one of the most enjoyable plays that I have seen since I've been it. It had great moments and really had me laughing the whole time. Besides the two minor detors we took today, it wasn't that bad of a day.





 

Sara and myself with our matching slippers

A time to relax...Kinda

Today was our first official free day and we mostly improvised our day. First I was able to sleep in for a bit. I woke up at 10:30 this morning and got myself ready for the day and waited for Sara to wake up. After she woke up and got ready we decided that we were going to watch a musical. We took the tube to see if we could get tickets for Phantom of the Opera, but they didn't have a show on Sunday so we decided to try another. We quickly found out that most place are not opened here on Sundays so we decided to just grab lunch instead. We quickly decided on an Italian restaurant that was nearby since they have a lot of those here. After lunch we decided that we wanted to try and get one of our projects out of the way and headed over to the National Portrait Gallery. By the time we got there we only had about an hour before it closed so we tried to cover as much ground as possible. We actually got quite a bit of information out of the few rooms we were able to visit and plan on going again to try and finish looking at the rest.

Once the National Portrait Gallery closed we headed back to our dorm and decided to try and catch a movie at the cinema (as the British like to call it) by our dorms. Nothing really good was playing so we decided to just head back to our dorms. The Corner store is right next to the Cinema and the dorms so we decided to pick something up for dinner and then head back to our room. Once we got back to our room, Sara had a fabulous idea that we go eat outside in our garden that's in our backyard, so we did. It was quite nice until a bee showed up and wouldn't let us eat comfortably so we headed inside to finish our dinner in the Commons room. We headed back up to our room and on the way up we ran into Grace and Owen and they invited us to the movies to go watch The Tree of Life. Since we didn't have anything else to do and we had no idea what he movie was about we agreed and started to head off to the Cinema, but stopped because Derek told us he had booked a private Jack the Ripper Tour for all of us. Me not being a big fan of things that go bump in the night decided that I didn't want to go but some of the others did. He said that he needed a minimum of 10 people to go so that they would only have to pay 10 pounds and I felt kinda bad that he had already booked the private event so I decided to be a trooper and go along. I was lucky enough that not enough people wanted to go tonight, so the event has been postponed and I may not have to go the next time. Some of us still wanted to hang out so we headed over the the pub down the street and hung out for a bit before it closed at 10:30. Afterwards we headed back to the room and called it a night.

Oh I almost forgot after the portrait gallery closed Sara and I headed back to King's cross to see if we could find Platform 9 3/4. Being the dedicated Harry Potter fan that I am, we Found it!!! They moved it to an outside area because where it originally was is under construction. We had to ask one of the conductor people, but once we found it we were really excited. The paint on the 4 was chipping but believe me it is the original sign.

One Wicked Day!

Tour of the Royal Opera

So yesterday was a pretty Awesome day. We got to sleep in for a bit which is always nice. Our first stop of the day was to the Royal Opera House for a little backstage tour. When we got there we met with our tour guide, who was really funny. He gave us a lot of background about the Opera house and told us a little about the renovations they made not too long ago, where they were actually closed for two years before they reopened. He took us into the actual theater area and we sat and talked a bit while some members of the crew were setting up for a filmed rehearsal at noon. Unfortonatly we we unable to watch the rehearsal but it was still fun to see what we were able too. He told us that everyday they alternate their shows so they are constantly changing the set, but with their pulley system it only takes them at max four hours to move one set off and set up another. He said in a typical year they show 22 different operas and 12 different ballets and that some of the company members only get about 4 weeks off during the whole year.  Afterwards he took us to the upstairs area where we were able to see the build area where they assemble the sets before moving them on stage, as well as the ballet studio, and the costume support area where they keep up with the garments that are currently in production. I was really sad that we were unable to tour the inside of the Costume Support area because they were really busy, but it was still really cool that we got to see some of the stuff that we did. After the tour was ended he told us that was just a glimpse of the Opera house and that there was so much more to see.

After the tour we were given some free time until the evening performance of Comedy of Errors, so some of us decided that we wanted to see if we could get some tickets to the matinee performance of WICKED. We knew that it was a long shot since the performance was in an hour but we decided to try anyway, and i'm glad we did. One of the best parts about London is that they give student discounts at many of the Shows and attractions. When we got to the box office the only tickets they had left were the  £65 ones ($130 in US) but because we were students we were able to get for only £27.50 which is like $55 in the US. So of course we bought the tickets not knowing if they were good seats or if we would be sitting togeter, but we were. We sat in the stalls which is the area right before Orchestra seating and on the lower level. Pretty much they were amazing seats for a last minute deal. Words cannot describe how awesome I thought this show was, it exceeded my expectations and I'm so glad that I was able to see it. When I get back in the states I hope to be able to see it again with my family because I know they'd love it too. I only wish that I would have been able to take pictures during the actual performance because the costumes and set were soooooo good.

Curtain Call

After Wicked we grabbed something to eat because we hadn't had food all day and knew that in 2 hours we had another play, so we stopped by an Italian resturant that was right by the Apollo theater. The food was really good, I would have grabbed some dessert had time not flown by so fast because we were almost late to The Comedy of Errors. After watching Wicked,I just wasn't sure how this one would compare since i'm not a big shakespeare fan but it was quite funny to say the least. This play was far from a traditional period play, taking place in some lower level who knows what area, but hilarious non the less. It had tons of physical comedy and kept me from nodding off the whole time. I loved the fact that it was done in the traditional all male cast where some guys dressed as the women, which is what would have happened in Shakespeare's day. I'm pretty sure that if all of Shakespeare's plays were performed like this I would love them all. When the play ended Sara and I headed back to our dorm room while some of the others went to see a midnight performance of Hamlet and others went to a pub. On our way back to stopped to get some snacks, mine being grapes and some chocolate cheesecake (which was super yummy). Walking back to the dorm we heard some random bagpipes, which a local said the person playing it was probably drunk. When we finally got home I was able to skype with Sam and my mom and sister which was awesome. I chatted with them for a bit which is always good. Before heading to bed Sara and I watched some of the Wicked songs on youtube before finally calling it a night.

Comedy of Errors Preshow

Greenwich

After a very exciting day yesterday, I woke up feeling a little tired and even had a little nose bleed. Today for class, we took a boat ride to Greenwich (before that we took a tube to get there and these two men hopped on the tube and started playing Irish music which was really cool) and then climbed this hill and went on top to the Royal Observatory, which had and amazing view of the city of London. I'm really proud of myself for climbing all the way to the top, but it definitely reminded me of how out of shape I am. That's one thing that's really good about London, their people walk everywhere so they can usually walk for miles at at time. My roommate Sara and I believe that by the time we leave London we are going to be super healthy and able to walk for miles because we'll be so use to it by then. After making it to the top of the Royal Observatory, I took a few pictures and was really excited because this is the Park where the Prime Meridian was located as well as the Greenwich clock which is the official time that all clocks are set to go off of. I was really hoping to be able to get a picture of me standing in two time zones, but wasn't able to because there were so many school children taking a field trip so I'll probably have to make a trip back on one of my days off.  It was kinda hard to completely enjoy Greenwich because it was really rainy today. I rained for most of the day and the boat tour we took had us sitting outside on the top of the boat so we got really wet. On top of that I still haven't broken down and bought a Jacket yet and it was quite cold especially mixing the wind and rain.

Greenwich Clock

After we got back from Greenwich, Sara and I decided to head back to the dorms really fast so that we could change into something a bit nicer for the play tonight. At the last play the seating was really uncomfortable and there wasn't very much space so this time I decided to just take the essentials (dorm card, oyster card (underground card that gives me free access to the tubes while I'm here), money, and copy of my passport). Since I didn't take my backpack I had no where to put my card holder so I decided to but it in my bra because I knew no one would be able to steal it because if they tried I'd probably taze them and be put in jail. Anyway Sara and I left for the Royal theater early so that we could stop and get something sweet near the theater. When we arrived we couldn't find any place with sweets so we decided to venture down a little longer. Once we finally found somewhere we realized that we only had about 7 minutes to get back to the theater before the show started, so we hurried along. While we were running back I happened to look down and noticed that I had lost my Card carrier that had all of my essentials in it and started to panic so we turned back and I frantically looked for it, to no avail. I decided to look in my shirt one more time and to my delight It had just fallen out of my bra and was barely hanging inside my shirt. I felt really dumb for panicking the way I did but hey i would have been SOL had i lost it.

View of London from the Observatory

Tower of London from the boat tour

Finally we made it to the theater with like a minute to spare and rushed inside. Tonight we watched Chicken Soup with Barley and I had never heard of the play before so I didn't know what to expect. After seeing Betrayal the other night, I wasn't too sure about this one. This play was nothing like I had expected and it was totally amazing. The main actress Samantha Spiro was completely brilliant in her role as Sarah Kahn and she's the reason I left the theatre feeling completely speechless, but in a good way of course. After the play some of us headed to find some food and found this place called Gourmet Burgers which surprisingly had really good food. When we finished dinner we walked home and called it a night.

Harry Potter Day!

So today was our wonderful Harry Potter day in honor of the Premiere. We woke up at 9 today and left for Kings Cross to take a picture at Platform 9 3/4. Unfortunately when we got there we couldn't find it. We checked between platforms 9 and 10 where it would logically be but I believe I remember reading somewhere that it's actually between Platforms 4 and 5. I guess I'll just have to make another trip on Sunday to see if I can find it. After leaving Kings cross we headed to the British Library since it was right across the street and saw some really cool artifacts. I saw an original Jane Austen, Some Shakespeare, Original Da vinci stuff, as well as the Magna Carta. It was really cool the only negative was that I wasn't allowed to take pictures. After that we headed over to the National Portrait Gallery and saw some really cool paintings. I took a couple of pictures before I was told to put my camera away. There were so many different rooms that I wasn't able to see everything so another trip is a must!

Red Carpet

Arthur Bowen who Plays Albus Severus

 After visiting that some of us went to eat lunch at an Italian restaurant at Leicester Square where the Harry Potter Premiere happened to be taking place. After not being able to get a wristband yesterday I was feeling really sad, but not discouraged. I told Alison that I wanted to say and see if I could get close to the red carpet and she said that was find just to make sure I was careful since it was probably going to be really crazy. While waiting for the cast to arrive I ended up making Friends with these two girls from Plymouth and we decided to try and help each other get the best pictures we could. I started waiting at 2:30 and the stars were scheduled to start arriving at the first entrance around 4. Well we didn't see our first star until around 6 so we had a lot of waiting to do. There was almost a riot at the premiere because the security guards put up a huge standing screen in front of all of the people who were not directly in front of the red carpet (this was including me). People started booing and trying to push down the screen and the guards eventually gave up, much to the delight to the crowd. One people started arriving it got hard to see because people were crowding around and it was just big pandemonium. The first people that I saw were the kids playing Harry and Ginny's children and the girls playing Ron and Hermione's daughter. They were so adorable. Next i saw some guys from the band McFLY (I had no idea who they were until my new companions informed me). I was told that Darren Criss and Cord Overstring were also at the premiere, but I was unable to see them. My most prized person that I met/ touch hands with was TOM FELTON aka Draco Malfoy!!! I squealed like a little girl but I really didn't care. The Phelp twins were also there as well as the actors who play Flitwick, Filtch, and Hagrid but they were too far away for me to take pictures. We waiting and waited for Daniel, Emma and Rupert but unfortunately they never showed up where we were. We think they may have been driven in a car to the front of the theater because they were running late. That was kinda a bummer and I was really sad that I didn't get to see them since they are the main stars of the Movies. Around 9:15 security came by telling us that the event was over and that we needed to start clearing the area. I said bye to my friends and headed back to my dorm as happy as could be. I'm really glad that I was persistent and decided to keep trying to get into the premiere because it actually worked. It was a Great end to my day :) Now I can't wait to actually see the movie!

My New friends from Plymouth

Some really dedicated HP Fan

I think the Girl who plays Rose Weasley

Will Dunn Aka James Sirius Potter



And of course TOM FELTON!! AKA Draco Malfoy