Lecture within the flat on playwright Edward Bond given by our own Professor Richard Scharine (for the first few weeks we've had two additional professors traveling around with us, just for the fun of it. Our director's wife and son are here too. And our event coordinator's husband, sister, niece, that niece's friend, Princess Diana, a moose, and Madonna. A lot of people, basically). Richard is something of an expert on Bond, having written several books on his plays, so it was a treat. Then it was off to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre for one of his plays, "Chair," with a pre-play discussion with Bond himself. The Hammersmith has a rooftop balcony, so it was nice to get there early and sit around among the lavender bushes discussing the Vagina Monologues (acting students can relate anything to a play, ANYTHING, I tell you....).
(By the by, that's Richard on the far right)
The discussion was...strange. Bond refused to answer any questions, choosing instead to give a long and rambling lecture on what he called "the gap" between drama and....I don't know, language or something, I wasn't too enraptured. He also did a lot of criticizing of modern playwrights, with the arrogance of an old man who knows he is very important within a very select group of people. So that was that.
"Chair" was brutal.
It takes place in an oppressive futuristic society. A woman named Alice attempts to give a chair to an elderly woman prisoner waiting for a bus with a guard outside Alice's flat. An ugly scuffle breaks out when the woman reaches out to Alice, resulting in her death via gunshot and an inquiry for Alice. This is a problem because Alice has been secretly harboring a foundling, Billy, for 26 years. Because he's never left the flat or interacted with anyone but Alice, Billy remains childlike, spending all his time making crayon drawings. Billy stays hidden during the inquiry, but the investigator, suspecting something is amiss, orders regular home visits for Alice. Rather than face the consequences of breaking the law, Alice hangs herself in the flat and leaves instructions for Billy to scatter her ashes in a parking garage, which he tries to do, but is shot before he can finish.
It's disturbing and shocking, especially the hanging, when Alice's body remains on stage, dangling behind a doorway (I couldn't bear to look at it), yet depicts such a well-written moment in a realistic, even possible future that it ended up being one of my favorite plays. I'm never watching it again though.
Tuesday
Class. Backstage tour of the National Theatre! (This place didn't mean anything to me at all before the program, but it's apparently Very Very Important Indeed if you're involved with the performing arts. One girl was literally wriggling with anticipation on the tube ride). It was amazing though, the National has three stages and we visited each one. Because it's such an important theatre, it usually has more than three plays going on at any given time, so they had to design the stages to accommodate two plays at a time. The middle-sized stage, the Lyttelton, has two stage-sized spaces behind and to the left of the main stage so the sets to plays can be built on moving platforms and slid forward or back. So for example, the set for "Traveling Light" was on stage at the moment and the set for "Misterman" (Cillian Murphy's show!) was behind it, off-stage. The biggest stage, the Olivier, is even more impressive. Its floor is a massive drum that actually drops down, below the stage floor, several stories, so an entire set can be stored beneath. The drum can hold 60 tons, which seems like more than anyone would ever need, but last year, the set for Frankenstein (with BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH!) was so close to the limit that each actor had to be weighed to make certain they wouldn't go over (including BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH). We saw some other cool things, like where sets are made and costumes are kept (anybody can rent them out!) and an original War Horse puppet (amazing detail).
Finally a play, "Traveling Light."
Compared to "Chair," this light-hearted piece about the beginnings of the motion picture industry was positively fluffy, but it was exactly what we needed after it. The story wasn't the most original or ground-breaking, but the set was great and it was fun to watch.
Wednesday
Hampton Court Palace! This is the oldest standing Tudor pleasure palace, originally used by Henry the 8th and in continuous use til present day. It has a little bit of a theme park feel, with actors milling around in period costumes as Henry and his wives, but mostly it's just a beautiful and historically fascinating glimpse into the past. My favorite part was a gallery of mostly decadent portraits of important lovers and wives of nobles because it had a great portrait of my favorite English noble, Charles the Second (he was the one to bring women to the stage in England and was very much into pleasure and fun. Plus he was a handsome devil). The gardens were AH-MA-ZING. And we could take photos!
View from one of the courtyards
Kitchens were huge and prepped to make mountains of meat. Did you know the Tudor diet was 75% meat?! (And I think the other 25% was wine)
These beasties have showed up in several other royal places, they represent nations (states?) under the United Kingdom. I like them, here are some more:
Hampton Court is home to the oldest hedge maze in the world and we went through it! We only got lost for, like, most of it!
Me in the maze!
"LOOK AT THE FLOWERS, GAHHHH, SO PINK, WE GO NOW" *Dani takes off running*
Baby cygnets are so cuuuuuuuute.
Finally, this rather uninteresting picture is of the world's oldest grape vine (England is big on "this is the oldest," "Britain's oldest stone wall," "Britain's oldest door," "Britain's oldest piece of gum stuck to a tube station")
Thursday
Class. Then, the Natural History museum! All day! Until they closed at 6! It's a fun change of pace being among a big group of artsy people, but I think there's still a limit on just how much theatre talk I can handle before I run away to find something else and the museum really hit the spot.
It's a kiwi. A real, dead kiwi, you guys. (For those not in the know, I desired nothing more than a pet kiwi bird for at least four years)
Oh gosh this was amazing, the picture doesn't do it justice, basically a giant, lighted globe with an escalator taking you up inside it.
Flatmate Eva: "Gems! Let's look at the gems! Gems good!" Me: "Uhhhh, gems? Really, gems?" *ten minutes later* Me: "THE GEMS! The gems are amazing!"
The best part though was the dinosaur exhibit. It wasn't clearly marked and was oddly dark and empty. You had to walk along a mysterious overpass with fossils sort of dangling from the ceiling in places, but there were so few bones I was a little disappointed until I turned a corner at the end of the overpass and found a LIFESIZE, MOVING AND GROWLING T- REX. It was so realistic it was actually kind of scary but so amazing I want to go back just to watch it. I took some kickass videos of my bro T, but Blogger is being stupid and won't let me upload so please remember to ask to see them!
Friday
Westminster Abbey! Um, it's old and there are many, many important dead people buried within and there are no photos allowed within. It was originally constructed as a shrine and resting place for Edward the Confessor, who still lies at the heart of the building, but the general public isn't allowed to see it up close because it's so fragile....but we totally got to, it was awesome, our coordinator Jane rules.
It was actually kind of surreal walking around inside because a number of people have elaborate statues and shrines, but there are even more buried underground, with just slabs on the floor to mark where they are, so you're just WALKING on these really important figures, including most of the people I knew, like Charles Dickens, Edward Lear, and best of all, Charles Darwin. Paying my respects to him was the best part of the day.
In the evening, a play at the Young Vic theatre (in case you're curious, yes, there is also an Old Vic), "The Suit." This one was interesting, it was written in the 1950's, making it, I believe, the oldest play we've seen and it had live music and singing. It was about a man in South Africa who catches his beloved wife having an affair and forces her to treat her lover's abandoned suit as an honored guest in their home as punishment. The set was simple, just a few chairs, metal frames, and two tables, but the acting and singing made the somewhat convoluted story pop. I liked it.
Also, Jammie Dodgers on the cheap. Don't ask how many I've eaten...
Saturday
Visit to a tiny and very beautiful gallery, the Courtauld. Post-impressionists like Van Gogh, and Monet and Manet and Gauguin and I should be used to suddenly seeing famous works of art by now, but it still floored me to see Self-Portrait with a Wounded Ear by Van Gogh and Two Dancers on a Stage by Degas. SIGH, so much art to appreciate....
Oh, just an amazing and gorgeous courtyard stuck in the middle of nowhere, London, you so wacky.
Then it was back to Portobello Road because...I have no idea, I had nothing else to do, but I had a tasty sandwich for lunch at the market and a grande cookie crumb frappachino for less than two pounds each (there's a happy hour at Starbucks for frappachinos? SCORE!).
And later we tried to go to a club and it didn't really happen and I ended up riding the tube home alone past midnight (I know, I know, outstandingly stupid, I was terrified every moment but I got home safe and sound).
Sunday
Church service at St. Paul's cathedral. Amazingly beautiful building, amazingly beautiful choir.
This is where they sing Tuppence a Bag in Mary Poppins! Crazy!
After, I sort of wandered around by myself for a while. I have to say, it is a remarkable experience to be in a new city so long that you can pop up at a tube station you've never been before and immediately know where you are and how to take the scenic route home. Photos?
'Paul's from a distance
If you can find the river, you can find your way home.
Best Play of the Week
Must be "Chair"
Most Magical Moment of the Week
Flopping down in the grass at Hampton Court in the heat of the day, braiding flowers into Eva's hair, watching the cygnets, and realizing summer had finally begun.
Weirdest Moment of the Week
Jane asking if I could lead a tour and discussion of the Natural History Museum with the rest of the group. I had to politely decline ("Uhhh, this is petrified wood. It's made when trees get, like, majorly old."). She said I was the "most qualified." You know you're in a seriously artsy group when the most qualified person to lead a tour of a natural sciences museum is a twenty-year-old psychology major.
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