"Theater is a celebration of language." - Clum

Well, it really is, isn't it. In its simplest form, a script of a play is merely words on a page that state something or tell a story. What theater does, through a play, is glorify the words on the page, putting them in front of a willingly receptive audience, with actors moving and creating a connected picture, with lights and sounds and music added in, too. So it's just a way of taking language, words, and using them to raise big questions, ideas, and issues, generally leaving it up to the audience to decide how they feel about it, or try to answer some of the questions for themselves.  

Why is that a celebration? Well, what are we, but our connections to the world, to the people in our lives, to our beliefs, to our knowledge. How

 do we get anything across? Language. 

That is what this six week program is. A celebration.

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Today, was a much better day. The bed was quite comfortable, I finally found hangers, and I got a fan. 90s in Florida is bad with AC. 80s in London with no A

C is hot as heck.

My thoughts on class are above. It was interesting.  Clum sort of gave us a history of London theater, different ideas, and talked about the show we would see that night (A Little Night Music) and some about Time and the Conways (tomorrow's show, should be fabulous). I think the general consensus of all the kids is that Clum knows everyone famous. Everyone. He knows Hugh Jackman. The Lead character in Time in the Conways is going to come teach me how to act on Wednesday and Thursday. yeah.

Random cool things I learned in class (just side stuff):

-The Office was originally started in the UK (It's pretty obvious how much experimenting Londoners do in theater; with so many subsidized theate

r institutions [man I wish our taxpayers could donate some to Hoof 'n' Horn and VHS players!], it definitely gives them a little more leeway to try things).

-Let me reiterate the arts are heavily subsidized here.  The National Theater of Great Britain is completely subsidized. Students study drama in public school starting Day 1, and have a play reading list that they must complete in order to pass their examinations. 

-I liked two metaphors Clum gave us about theater today: 1) Theater is like a church. people come together in a space to share an experience about larger questions. 2) Theater is like a courtroom, where the audience acts as the jury, judging and evaluating the characters, see their talents and where they have failed, etc.

-Revivals are really just bring the present and the past together. It's a new version of old words, and actors really have to figure out why they are reviving this in order to give it new meaning. Clum said a cool quote, "Treat a new play like it's a classic, and treat a classic like it's a new play."

-"A script is not a play, it's a blueprint." Plays are meant to be seen and heard. Not read.

-Generally, plays are the last chapter of a really long story. You find out parts of the story through exposition told by the characters. Take any play, and think about it. 

-Theater is just overall much easier to do here. People can turn a profit with a show in three weeks. In NY you couldn't do that in under a year because of labor union rules, etc. For instance, Orchestra unions have a rule that a certa

in size orchestra is necessary for a certain size theater. For instance, Mamma Mia! is/was in a theater that by the rules needed a 20 person orchestra, Mamma Mia! only needs 9 musical parts, but they are still paying 11 other parts because they have to! CRAZY. 

-etc etc etc

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After class we (Ted, Cam, Alex, Kyle, Robert, Geoff, John, and I) went to a pizzeria (there's a million everywhere.) These Italians owned it, a

nd were very nice. We split four pizzas and garlic bread (again, the food is too expensive). Their version of crushed red peppers (which, if you know me, I'm obsessed with when it comes to pizza, pasta, etc), was really weird! It was in like an olive oil jar and liquidy with the crushed red peppers on the bottom. I don't really know what it was, but it was Good!

After that we headed to a Robert (or was it michael??) Dyas and got fans and hangers, hallelujah. And I think we'll be able to return the fans so that's nice. no more wrinkly dresses either. Definitely put me in high spirits, haha.

We came right back to Langton Close and Clum picked us up for a quick tour of some stuff and then to dinner and the first show! We saw a lot of stuff. (Wow, Becca, specific). Erm. We jumped on a double decker bus (Their bus system is almost as good as their underground system, and you can use your tube card [Called an Oyster Card, now] to get on the buses, so that's nice). Went to Covent Garden, which use

d to be a food market a long time ago, but is now shops and restaurants, it was a very cool little area. And then went to the National Gallery of Blah Blah (I'm forgetting names already :( ) and saw some paintings for free (the museum was free). Went to Trafalgar Square (Hey, remember that rents??), It has the big statues of the Lions and the fountain and tons of people. Went on some bridge and looked at the London Eye, B

ig Ben, and Parliament from a far. and He pointed out to us some really expensive flats (apartments) and a really expensive hotel with tiny rooms, as well as some other theaters for future days. 

By that time, we were all pretty worn out. Most of the girls had worn heels (Not I!), and everyone was hot and thirsty. We got to the restaurant, The Forge, and they had a whole room set up for us! We got to order whatever we wanted and everyone had three courses, haha. I got linguine arrabiata (pretty much linguine with marinara sauce), Roasted chicken with potato gratin with some yummy sauce, and Banoffee Trifle. Don't ask what that dessert was, but it was AWESOME! bananas, fluffy stuff, and yummy stuff. Then I had earl grey tea, and thought of my momma. The boys pretty much all got steak

 and fries, lemon tart and expresso. haha. Clum also ordered wine for the table, too! (Don't worry, I didn't finish my glass, padres). I can't believe the drinking age is 16, though. Sounds way too young, even if it's proper here.  We pretty much were in bliss, and just listened to Clum talk really because he has so many cool stories, and of course, knows everyone that's famous. 

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A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim

Garrick Theatre (built in the 1880s, reflecting class structure, rich on first balcony, middle class in "the stalls" [best seats by today's standards, and where we sat], and 2nd and 3rd balconies. Very ornate and very old. Europe likes carving naked ladies. 

The show itself is a the 4th revival in London of a 1973 musical. It's based on a movie called Smiles of a Summer Night, which is a classical farce (pretty much like the musical, plot-wise, too), that takes place in Sweden at the turn of the century. It possesses stock characters and situations like a old man that marries a teenage, naive girl, a vain soldier acting icy and stiff, a maid who seems to always be aware of everything, but also is the typical...as Clum called it, "sexually alert," a stern young man confus

ed about the world and life and love, a woman dealing with a cheating husband (the soldier), and an actress who is adored by...everyone (by 'everyone,' I mean men, and by 'adored,' I mean a slightly more...desire). Sounds simple, truthfully. But the story handles all issues that come up in life because of such relationships in a very connective, dream-like way, which Sondheim contributed to beautifully with breathtaking musical melodies and poignant lyrics that show up again repetitively, but with newer, different meanings each time. And the director of this revival, Trevor Nunn, was wicked awesome in the way he created the picture on stage,  the blocking/movement, the lighting, everythin

g. The show itself was a comedy, but the lighting and setting was rather dark and mysterious, while being lightened up by the dresses of characters Anne (Jessie Buckley), and Fredrika (Katie Buckhholz). and everyone when they were "in the country" 

I couldnt help but take out my notebook and jot down quotes in the dark that I didn't want to forget:

"Doesn't anything begin?" - Henrik (Gabriel Vick), the guy struggling with life, is the single character that stands out the most in the c

omedy because he simply can't get himself to fit in a such a life of deceit like the others, unhappy, and yet unwilling to change anything. On top of everything, he's madly in love with Anne, who just so happens to be his 18 year old step-mother to his rather old father. So, he joins the priesthood (which everyone makes fun of him for until the very end), and struggles so much that he almost kills himself. But, yay, Anne gets there in time, and realizes how much she cares about him and they kiss and I was very happy! :) He also played the cello during the show, which was awesome

"How strange to end one's life on a bench in a garden." - Fredrik (Alexander Hanson). An man trying to "renew his unrenewable youth" w

ho has been married before and had a beautiful mistress, Desiree Armfeldt (Hannah Waddingham - phenomenal), marries Anne, knowing her when she was verrry young. Anyway he says this once he realizes that he has brought his family to the country to be close to Desiree only to lose everything (and his wife and son, since they run off together), and is sitting in a garden. It is ironic, really. Anyway, he gets Desiree back so everything turns out okay.

"I'm here at last on the ground, you're in mid-air" - EPIC song. Hannah Waddingham as Desiree in "Send in the Clowns." So pretty and so sad. She realizes that she wants Fredrik for good and tells him so, and he says he cant because 

of his wife (just before he finds out she's

 run off with his son anyway). That quote was amazing. Explaining it if you dont get it, loses something. so try hard.

And of course, I loved all the group numbers. "A Weekend in the Country" was fabulous, and very visually appealing. I love it when actors are onstage singing, but doing different things in their own separate bubbles. (rather incomparable example: It's Superman (Reprise) Act Two).  And the Now, Later, Soon segment at the beginning was sweet. 

So overall, Great Start!!! This show tackled some tough ideas about love and life and morality and fidelity and just beautiful. 

It is coming to New York in the winter. I'll be interested to see how well it does, simply because it was so experimental, and though it was a comedy, it held a lot of deeper meanings that I'm not sure Americans would prefer over simple-plotted shows that just have bright colors to entice (ie Hairspray.) So, we'll see.

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There you have it, I could go on and on, and I suppose this blog would get rather boring, especially without me giving a complete play synopsis in order to say anything about it, so from now on, i'll try to make these shorter. I just don't want to forget a moment of this. But, I want you guys to enjoy reading just much as I want to write down every single little thing I did, so I'll make a bit of a comprise. It's super late, I'm super exhausted, and super excited for what tomorrow will bring!

Miss you guys, and wish you all could be here seeing all this,

Becca