All the broken bits that make you trip up and grassy bits in between.

The idea of catching up the last three and a half days is a little overwhelming. And each day was so awesome that to describe every detail of each day is crazy. So. I have an hour. And you will get, that much of information. unless Eugenie comes back, because I need to talk to her. haha. 

Neal left off on saturday night, the Jack the Ripper Tour. Even right now, four days later, it gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about that tour. It'd be cool for you guys to do (mom, dad, sarah) when you come sometime...but i probably won't tag along. haha. yucky. 

Sunday morning we went over to the museum area of South Kensington early because we had a lot to do that day. We did Natural History first, since I kinda knew my way around there and knew we could do it fast. We selected exhibits: Dinosaurs (still my favorite, haha), other fossils, and then we did the whole Earth section which i hadn't done yet. They had an earthquake simulator that was kinda lame but still a lot of fun. We saw a lot. Then we ran over to Victoria and Albert and had a picnic on the lawn in the middle of the museum, which sandwiches, pasta salad, and i had a Mocha cuz it was cold out. Then we did V&A. I love the V&A. It has SO much in it, and all of is not only interesting, but beautiful. We just ran through my favorite exhibits there too because we didn't have long: Sculptures, old Britain (included old time Bookmaking), Stained Glass, Jewelry, Fashion, Theater and Performance, and ran through gold and silver. I love that museum.

On our way back to Russell Square station we picked up cheap milkshakes from this place just outside, despite the cold. This milkshake place is cool  because the guy just has a bunch of english chocolate bars (which you can't buy themselves, kinda funny) and you pick your chocolate bar and he adds vanilla ice cream and makes a milkshake. yum. Our new favorite candy/milkshake is bueno bars (chocolate flaky crust and hazelnut filling mmm), but I'm going to get a Rolo bar milkshake next time (chocolate with soft toffee inside...mmmmm). We drank them as we went over to Sadler's Wells Theatre to see Dorian Gray (#2 for me and first time for neal). Again, it was excellent, but the audience was a lot lamer (sunday matinee, go figure). so awesome. i love dancing. 

We were going to try to do Science Museum after, but everything closes ridiculously early on Sundays here, so I decided to show Neal Covent Garden, what used to be an old fruit and vegetable market that has been turned into a lot of shops and restaurants and is overall just a really cool area. We went to a Wagamama nearby, which is a japanese chain i've been wanting to try. We loved it! we got chicken and vegetable dumplings and then got a pasta (wagamama is known for its noodle dishes) with chicken, prawns, and peppers. SO good! but we did have a hard time eating pasta with chopsticks! oh boy! Cool thing about asian restaurants in London: you have to ASK if you want silverware....and no one does. So, under pressure, I've gotten a lot better at using them. I met my match with pasta though. that was intense, but I definitely made less of a mess than Neal did! :)

After wagamama we walked around and watched a street performer for awhile (there were also a bunch of crazy people statues - a dog in a doghouse, an invisible mad, etc!) then as we were leaving we walked by a BEN's Cookies!!!!!!! from Oxford!!! I was so happy we got a small box of all different kinds and were off to BFI IMAX, the largest movie screen in  Britain to see Harry Potter 6!

We got the only tickets left...front row center, which if you can imagine in an imax, is huge, daniel radcliffe's fae was like 20 feet tall. Not to mention, the first twelve minutes were in 3-D so it was pretty trippy. but we leaned back as best we could and enjoyed our cookies :)

As for Harry Potter... it was good. I feel bad, saying "sorry it really wasn't the most epic thing I'd ever seen in my life." I still have a lot of issues with some people in the movie who cant act. and I think I'm finally getting too old for the HP fan frenzy. I'll just be glad when all the movies are over truthfully. It was a good movie.

My favorite part of the movie, however, had nothing to do with HP itself, but just the girl who played Lavender Brown, Jessica Cave (aka Jessie), who had played the academic genius Thomasina in Arcadia which we saw two weeks ago. Though I liked her as Lavender a lot better, I thought it was crazy how I was like 5 rows away from her! I love famous people in London because they're everywhere!!!

Anyway, here's what she looked like in Arcadia, for all you HP readers...

(little different, eh?)

So the experience of seeing harry potter, was overall, sorry to say, a little more fun than the movie itself, but we had a great time.

Worst part of the day was the fact that my weird sickness came back, harder than it's ever been back before, I cried literally all day because my eyes were so watery, by the end of the day my face was all red and puffy and i looked terrible. :( not fun. next day it was okay and then on tuesday i was fine. so weird. 

Waterloo underground station was closed after HP and that was annoying. this policeman asked me "where are you going?" and I was like "russell square" and he just said "wrong answer." was a total jerk and unhelpful. we ended up taking a taxi, it didnt end up being too expensive and the guy was nice and brought us right to Langton Close. 

--------

Okay I'm going to stop here. I talked to geoff and eugenie for a little bit while writing this and now have run out of time. Off to see La Cage Aux Folles tonight. Heard we're in the 2nd row. Not really sure I want to be that close to see every....detail. should be interesting though. Havent seen the show done professionally anyway (unless Mark IV is really professional???) i'll cover monday, tuesday, and today after the show tonight.  But I'll give out some news right now:

-We also got assigned our new scenes, I'm with Geoff again! crazy, we're the only two that are together again. Our scene is from A Streetcar Named Desire and I'll be playing Blanche, which is unlike any other character I've played before so should be a difficult/but definitely fun challenge! I'm VERY excited. :)

-I'll be singing Stars and the Moon from Songs for a New World at the Musical Mock Audition next week. I talked to Clum and he actually recommended it for me so I'm going to do it! We'll be critiqued by three famous people (haha), including Matt Ryan who has musical directed tons of stuff here, and started his career when he played Oliver as a child, the musical director of Mamma Mia! (london - can't recall his name right now, ill get back to you), and Bob West (who was the production coordinator for some little shows like Cats, Phantom, les Mis, Miss Saigain, etc, and does a lot of casting for shows, etc)

-Cameron, Ted, Kyle, and I are getting lunch with Clum tomorrow to talk about how to improve Hoof n Horn so that'll be fun.

okay, off to the show! more later 

bec

"Here's a preserved kidney. I ate the other half. Catch me when you can."

Neal wanted an opportunity to write in my Duke in London blog, since it is so full of the works of insightful and knowledgeable writers (teehee), and since I'm still a little terrified from this evening's tour, I'm going to go read a book so I can get my mind off things so I can sleep. Oh boy.

So over to you, Neal, Saturday July 18th

Much Love,

Becca

--------------

So, today was an awesome day. Bec made me wake up this morning at 7:30 for a surprise tour that she's been talking about for awhile. She got us tickets for a short cruise on the Thames! We went to where we were supposed to get on the boat, but the ticket window was closed and the pier was a bit "dodgy" as they say here. The boat ended up coming on time though and we had a great time. The ride lasted about 40 minutes and took us along the Thames from Parliament to the Tower of London. We had a great guide for the cruise, he seemed like he was having a blast giving the tour. Some notable buildings or attractions we passed by were the London Eye, the world's largest freestanding stone column, Sir Francis Drake's ship that sailed around the world (it was amazing seeing how tiny it actually was and thinking about a crew of 80 sailing on it), London Bridge, the Globe, and several other old buildings. 

We got off the boat at the Tower of London and went inside for the tour. As a typical American tourist, I pictured the Tower of London as a single tower. Not even close. We took a tour guided by a Yeoman Warden, who gave us a great summary of the history of the castle and pointed out several interesting parts of the castle. He started by telling us what the tower was used for; how it was most well known as a prison. So many people were executed there, or on a hill nearby, and it's amazing to think that the public came to these executions for entertainment. "Let's go watch someone get beheaded!" Sounds like a blast. The guide then showed us traitor's gate which provided a secret entrance through which prisoners were often brought into the castle. Next he took us to the chapel at the tower of London, and told us about Ann Boelyn, one of Henry VII's wives who was convicted of 27 or 28 crimes including treason and insulting King Henry, and was eventually beheaded inside the castle grounds. He also told us about the White Tower, the central, palace-like portion of the castle. The White Tower has a small bunch of ravens living in or around it, and apparently one of the kings claimed that when the ravens left the grounds, the tower would crumble and fall. Our guide pointed out that to make sure this didn't happen, several ravens were kept in cages. 

After our tour with the guide, Bec and I explored the castle on our own. We got to see the Crown Jewels, which were absolutely amazing. One of the scepters held the world's largest pure diamond, weighing in at over 500 karats. I thought the swords were the most interesting of the jewels, just because their design was so ornate and detailed. Bec really liked the giant golden bowls and plates that were really intricately carved. 

Once we'd seen the jewels, we went inside the White Tower to visit the special exhibit that was on display at the Tower of London. It was called "Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill" and was basically a collection of Henry VIII's clothing and armor. He had so many different types of armor, from jousting armor to full combat armor to ceremonial armor, the exhibit had it all. He was a very large man, so the armored suits were huge and very imposing. Apparently his chest measured 44 inches around so the armor was even bigger than that. The exhibit also displayed many different types of weaponry Henry used including his jousting lance, broadsword, and some of his guns. 

We got some fish and chips after seeing the Tower of London (My first fish and chips in London!). Unfortunately the meal was really gross. In hindsight, we should've know it wouldn't be too good because we got it at a little stand outside the tower, a perfect place for a tourist trap. Still hungry, we got some ice cream and took a nice walk along the Thames to St. Paul's Cathedral.

The cathedral was BEAUTIFUL! The architecture inside there is just amazing, and the mosaics that cover most of the ceiling are incredibly intricate. We decided to do an audio tour of the cathedral, which turned out to be really interesting, although rather long winded. We decided to see the Whispering Gallery first, a circular balcony inside the dome of the cathedral where apparently, you can whisper into the wall on one side of the circle and a person on the opposite side can hear you. Unfortunately, we tried this and couldn't figure it out. (Dr. and Mrs. Stone, we wished you were there so you could show us how it worked!) But just being up in the dome was amazing. Although it was a long climb up there (259 steps!) we got a great view of the paintings on the inside of the dome that had been put up when the cathedral was built. The site of St. Paul's had been the home of a cathedral since 600 AD, although it was renovated several times. Following the great fire of London, the cathedral burned down, and the current version of St. Paul's was built. We learned that the designer, Christopher Wren, had had a difficult time getting his design approved. The city wanted the cathedral to have a steeple, while Wren wanted a dome. He finally convinced the city to allow him to build a small dome and a small steeple, but in the process of building it, he used his artistic liberty and scrap the steeple, and built a larger dome in it's place. 

From the Whispering Gallery, we took an additional 119 stairs up to a higher level of the cathedral where we were able to go outside on another balcony around the upper dome, providing an amazing view of the city. After our long trip down, we continued the audio tour of the cathedral towards the altar. Interestingly, a great part of the altar was dedicated to Americans who had fought in the Battle of Britain. In fact, on the back wall the ornate decorations included several American birds including the bald eagle, as well as other common American symbols. We just both found it interesting that they used the cathedral to honor the Americans. We then went down in the crypts beneath the church and saw four or five tombs that were all that survived the fire that burned down the older cathedral. We also saw the tomb of Wren, the designer, and wondered if he and the others really wanted to be burried in a place crowded by tourists every day. We tried to get a couple of pictures of the main floor of the cathedral but the staff were very strict about no photography. 

After that, we went looking for a Cork and Bottle for dinner, but couldn't find it, so we ended up getting snacks and headed over to a new part of London that neither of us had been too for the Jack the Ripper tour. We got there early so we tried to find some more food, but after walking nearly half a mile in both directions from the tube station, we found that almost every single restaurant was closed. Why the were closed on a Saturday, I have no idea, but it was very frustrating. We ended up just sitting in a Burger King to wait for the tour to start. It was worth it though. The lady who gave our tour took us around the area and showed us the buildings or where the buildings had been where Jack the Ripper murdered his victims. According to our guide, Jack was the first recognized serial killer. He attacked prostitutes, mostly in their forties, and mutilated their bodies. He was never caught, and was given the name Jack the Ripper by a journalist who sent a letter to the chief of  police pretending that he (the journalist) was the murderer. It was a really creepy story, and it was amazing how many of the original buildings were still standing!

We had an awesome day today! I definitely learned a lot and I think Bec did too. Tomorrow, we're seeing Dorian Gray, Harry Potter, and some more museums!

Sorry I'm not as elaborate as Becca usually is but I just wanted to give this a shot. It makes me appreciate how hard she's been working on this!

No pictures today since most of them were on my camera and I forgot my cord to upload pictures to the computer, but once I get home I'll e-mail some to Bec so she can put them up. 

- Neal

If then true lovers have been ever crossed, it stands as an edict in destiny - Shakespeare

These past few days have been pretty intense. Not only have we been seeing some awesome theater, but our Shakespeare performances critiqued by William Houston and Paul Ready and observed by the new head of the Duke Theatre Studies Dept, as well as the rest of the group and Clum, BUT Neal got here Wednesday morning and since then we've been going non-stop.

Dorian Gray. 

-Choreographer Matthew Bourne started off doing choreo for musicals and whatnot and then started his own company, New Adventures, which young dancers from the Royal Ballet Comapny fed into. 

-Twelve years ago he did an adaptation of Swan Lake that has taken off pretty much everywhere. There was tons of Princess Diana allusions, as well as a controversial twist of having the swans be males. (lots of "Oh my goodness the lead male dancing with another lead male?"; this was funny at the Q&A session with Matthew Bourne because he was like "well, first of all, it's a male SWAN.")  [see the video of four little swans from Swan Lake in the previous post.]. His swan lake was apparently on Broadway for 6 months, too. 

-Other random fact: Anyone see Billy Elliott the movie?? At the end, when Billy has grown up and is a professional dancer, we watch him dance literally in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. the part is played by Adam Cooper who actually played the swan in his Swan Lake. talk about cool. 

-He's done tons of other adaptations, including Cinderella, the Nutcracker, Edward Scissorhands (looks really interesting!). He's definitely been trying to popularize dance, making it more of a modern thing that everyone can enjoy, not just dancer people. 

-His Dorian Gray, obviously is an adaptations of Oscar Wilde's. Taking a contemporary approach, however, the story deals with photography rather than art. 

-Quick update for those who don't remember Oscar Wilde's: 1890, Wilde was moving into a sex and drugs, etc phase, (five years later he would be imprisoned) and was completed devoted to aestheticism (beauty, artistic experience, etc) which led him to a more "living for pleasure" stance. Dorian is a wealthy young man and an artist who is in love him paints a portrait of him. Dorian starts to experience..literally everything, falls in love with a Shakespearean actress, but when she falls in love with him, she can't act as well anymore beacuse she has real emotions now, not acting, and then he pretty much shuns her because she's not a good actress anymore. (she kills herself, and he doesn't really mind it, no conscience.) Dorian never ages, but the portrait does (pretty much the inside of him. It shows him demented and ugly and going crazy from all the bad things in the world. He ends up killing the painter when the painter tries to see the portrait. he dies and everyone sees it, oh my

Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray

-First of all the theater was pretty cool, Sadler Wells. It was actually only a fifteen minute walk from Langton Close. The Old Vic theater was taken over by some lady who created the National Tehater of Great Britain company and was really trying to make more theater "for the masses" so everyone could see it. She took over Sadler Wells, which was in a really crummy area (at the time) and started a ballet company (which would become the Royal Ballet company), and an opera company (which would bcome the English National opera). Both companies moved out and in the mid90s, England had a national lottery and teh first money went to the arts. They made Sadler Wells a premiere dance theater, but they tore down the original theater and built it strictly for dance. it has 1800 seats today, but felt pretty small. Matthew Bourne's Company has been there for about 1/2 a year. 

-the show was a dance drama, Dorian accidentally slips into the photography and fashion world when he is a waiter at a high class party with a photography company. He captures a photographer's eyes, who pretty mcuh becomes obsessed with and makes him famous. One of the main products he models for is a male cologne called Immortal, which they show a poster of in act 1 and then later on in act 2 which shows him all demented and torn up and the IM is torn of immortal... He falls in love with everyone, goes crazy, sex, drugs, and alcohol (all the time). Falls in love with a dancer in Romeo and Juliet (a male, but supposed to be parallel the shakespearean actress in the book), and he eventually kills himself and Dorian doesn't really do anything. He kills the photographer when he comes back, etc etc. Dancing to rock and electronic music!

-the character dorian gray, in this show, was created for Richard Windsor, who played him. He's been playing lead roles in matthew bourne's shows since he was 19 and he's 27 now. 

-It was awesome!!!! Amazing dancing. and it was so cool to see a dance show that incorporated some ballet elements, but was mostly modern so it was very interesting to watch. Not to mention the guys were doing crazy acrobatic tricks and junk because they were so muscular! it was amazing

-Dorian has this doppelganger, or alter-ego, sort of evil twin that shows up and is really creepy. They had a really cool duet where they made all the same movements; it was neat to watch. The double turns out to be the calm, collected, and almost purer Dorian, whereas Dorian is slowly growing more crazy watching him follow through all of his same motions. then he kills the doppelganger and dies. heh. 

-SO GOOD. and after the show Matthew Bourne the choreographer held a Q&A session that was really cool. He was really down to earth, which i sorta was expecting a "Hey, I'm Mr. Choreographer. Bow down." (sorry to be stereotypical), but he was really interesting and direct with answering his questions. Coolest things I learned is that he never pre-choreographs anything before coming to rehearsal. I don't know what I'd do if I tired to do that for a hoof n Horn rehearsal. ha!

-Anyway, after telling Neal all about the show, he said he really wanted to go and it's closing this weekend, too, so we got cheap tickets for Sunday Matinee haha, but you'll hear more about him in a sec.

After the show and the Q&A session we came back and I talked to Neal through his new phone right before his second flight took off and then Cameron and I stayed up pretty late talking about how to make Hoof n Horn better. I don't think we really came up with much, but we're both thinking about it. He said he wants to get all the Hoof n Hornies together before the programs over with Clum and talk to him about what he thinks we could do to make it better. so that was intersting

Wednesday July 15th

I had to get up early so that I could wait for Neal outside Langton Close, since he didn't have a key and I didn't know if the front office people were gonna be there. I've been reading Q&A (lol, not the session with Matthew Bourne, but the book that the movie Slumdog Millionaire is based on); it's good so far. Neal got here by a really nice taxi driver! got him all checked in and said, take a nap, we have a long day ahead! and then I went downstairs to class. 

Troilus and Cressida

-Interesting fact: we're not entirely sure that Troilus and Cressida was ever actually performed during Shakespeare's time. 300 years later, the Old vic picked it up and it's been pretty popular since then, especially in war time (vietname, WWII). 

-It's another "problem play." There aren't any sympathetic characters really, no one's especially likeable, many are stupid. There's tons of characters and it is especially difficult to tell how Shakespeare wants us to feel about these characters. and there's two plays going on: the trojan war, and Troilus and Cressida. 

-It is generally agreed that shakespeare's plays seem so long to us because they were originally spoken much faster than we are even capable of today. back then, society was based on oral communication. That's how they got everything. It takes audiences much longer to comprehend words today. Also, there's some controversy over how much literal movement and action there was performed in his shows. Today, we typically do shakespeare over the top, lots of movement and very theatrical. Hence, we cut a lot today. 

Anyway, Neal got up and i made peanut butter and nutella toast sandwiches (yuuuummm) and then we were off to Shakespeare's Globe! after getting him an Oyster Card (tube card) for the week. 

Show was good. Well, I liked it. It was SO LONG though. Well acted, but i think everyone had a lot of issues with it. Which ended up being cool because in class the next day with Clum we discussed Production decisions and directorial choices and how they affect teh show and whether they work or not, and we all pretty much tore apart Troilus and Cressida. The show itself is actually only in its 2nd preview, so hopefully they'll change some of the things we discussed, ie having a little boy kill hector with a gun in a period performance??? errr....that was weird. I think Neal really struggled with those wooden benches, haha, but Clum got us seats together so that was nice. 

After that we peaced and went over to Trafalgar Square just to look around and then went to the National Gallery for like half an hour because they were closing (the show ran much longer than I thought it would!). Then we decided to go out to eat, and we went to the nicest restaurant I've been to since we went out to eat with Clum: ie we went to a 8-10 pound main meal restuarant. IT WAS AMAZING. We shared chips and queso and quesadillas and I think i was the happiest I've been in awhile simply because I haven't had real food in so long seems like. 

After that I took him over to Leicester Swaure for awhile just to look around at all the west end theaters and came up to the Garrick Theater, where A Little Night Music was at. I was like "Oh neal, it was SO Good." and then we saw a sign that said Closing July 25th, and i was like "mmm, what time is it?" Neal "7:18."  "show starts at 7:30 p.m. you know what, i'll just go ask" I went up to the box office and was liek 'do you have two seats together anywhere." and he said 'Yeah actually I do, in row E in Stalls center." !!!!!! (stalls is the floor here). Then I said "Do you have a student rate?" "Yes. Would you like them?" "Yes please." and we went and saw it!!! SO GOOD, i love that show. Still on eof my favorites so far on teh program. Neal loved it too, but i think he was dying of exhaustion but told me he was so glad we went. 

Came home, Geoff and I worked on our scene a couple times and then went to bed. 

Thursday July 16th

Class - discussion

-Geoff and I work scene work for an hour.

then neal and I went over to Harrod's with some kids to look around. it was fun. Harrod's has EVERYTHING! technology, book store, kids toy store, clothes, candy, chocolate, pets, shoes, cars, vacation planners. it's gigantic! and beautiful, too. Neal and I got 6 chocolates and three mini cupcakes for desert at night. :) It was Tyler's birthday and she wanted to celebrate at Laduree. So Tyler, Chelsea, John, Eugenie, Geoff, Rachel, Neal and I (and then later Taty, Robert, and Kristina), went to Laduree and had High Tea! Just croissants, macaroons, finger sandwiches and tea, but it was SOO much fun and I think everyone had a an amazing time. It was one of teh coolest things I've done so far, High Tea in London. Lovely. 

After that we headed out to the show (Apologia by Alexi Caye Campbell) because it was in Zone two. Turns out it's on top of this pub and called Bush Theater, which is apparently a really prestigious fringe (over a pub) theater. We walked in and were like "WHOA, there's no room in here." it was 100 seats arranged in three rows in a theater-in-the-round. and the stage was a kitchen table and kitchen on the back wall. We were pretty sitting in the kitchen. We WERE sitting in the kitchen. 

Apologia 

-pronounced Ap-oh-low-jah ( I think??), this is Campbell's 2nd play! His first was a really big sucess, so crazy to just write a play and then have it get taken off like that!

-Apologia -type of literature that people write to justify or explain their lives, it's done by some releigious writers to explain why they should go to heaven or well and it's kinda like self-defense, stream of consciousness writing

-the play itself is about a mother who is an art historian who was a big political protester int he 60s whatnot, and has just finished her "Memoirs" which is an autobiography of herself, but leaves on two major details: Her two sons.  The play centers around a family gathering for the mother's birthday and the two sons are angry and bitter about their mother failing to mention their existence in her entire life memoirs. At the same time, we find out through the play how difficult their childhood was and that she pretty much abandoned them anyway and that's why she couldnt talk about them in her book, she just couldnt. there are a couple other characters too, the mother's friend from teh 60s, one son's fiancee and the other's gf (ex by the end of the play)

-It was...amazing. i know my blogs are full of overused adjectives, but I run out of words when trying to explain how much I liked something. It was fantastic. The focus the intensity. by the end of the play I really felt like we as the audience had journeyed with them through all of that. They were so dedicated, and into and all really good actors (minus one girls attempt at an American accent, oh boy. We all talked about at intermission how we couldnt tell where seh was from because she was trying to combine every american accent - southern, Boston, New York, we were like, Who are you??) haha, but she was still great, hard part to play. 

-Neal loved it, too!

-afterwards we got to talk to the playwright and he signed all of our programs. We also talked to the lady who played the mother but she was kinda in a hurry. The playwright, Alexi Caye Campbell, was very nice, though Clum says he's being pretty show-offy about getting famous so fast, I thought he was really nice and really down to earth (I say those two words a lot now too huh)

After the show we came back and Geoff and I worked our scene for awhile and then I talked to Sarah. i miss her a lot. i wish I coulda been in Richmond last night.

Friday, July 17th

(this might be getting shorter and shorter...I'm exhausted)

-Geoffa nd I woke up early and rehearsed our scene

-Geoff and I performed our scene before everyone. it went really well. and I'm proud of him more than anything because for having never really done this before, he worked his butt off to get to the level he was at today. It was really nice to have a guy who was really dedicated on doing well too. Anyway, we did great. Will and Paul said my intensity and emotions were great, they could really tell how in it I was, and they said to consider taking more risks and to watch the end of each line so that I dont drop anything. Good criticisms. All the other scenes went really well, too. i was proud of our group. Special shout-outs to Chelsea's Spaniel impression, Ted's awesomeness, Alex's falling in love with Helena, and Taty's attitude. they were all great. I'm excited to start working on some contemporary scenes after the break though. Shakespeare, you are so difficult. I overheard the new Duke Theater dept lady telling Clum though that "I guess we're going to have to start doing some more Shakespeare..." ....oh boy. 

-Yay, excitement, break. It was a little bittersweet. We're halfway done and everyone was leaving to go to different places. Some to Amsterdam, Some to Barcelona, Some to Paris and some staying here. So it was sad. Not to mention, no shows for five days. :( yuck. Except Neal and I get to see Dorian Gray on Sunday!

-I made Neal lunch and then we headed over to the tourist-y area, and after a while of searching for the door, we found the entrance to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. We both loved it. It came with a free audio guide tour, and I think we both learned a lot. It was crazy to think they used some of those rooms during WWII right when they were being bombed, the rooms were so tiny and gross, but it was very interesting, and lovely to go to a museum that I would have done with my parents if they had been here. Cool history, educational stuff...Even if it costs 10 pounds, oh my. It was well worth it, too. 

-Then we went to the Tate Britain, which has artwork from 1500 to present. Some stuff was really interesting, but I think I like the National Gallery better. It was kinda in the middle of nowhere so I'm glad we took care of that so i don't have to go back, heh.

-I showed him the National Theater and then for dinner we went to a cheap italian chain I've been wanting to try, Strada, and shared bread and pizza, and that was yummy. It started raining and got really cold though. 

-We walked around this bookstore for awhile to kill time because it was FREEZING outside and then we finally went over and got our tickets for London Eye. and did the Eye at night!. Well, it's still evening light at 9:30 pm but it got a little darker as we did it, SOOOO pretty, and very nice. Our ...train, chair, ....thing, only had one other couple in it too so I was gald we didn't have to deal with any other people. i was pretty impressed with my ability to point things out, but I still couldn't figure out a couple things. We had a really nice time, despite how frigid we were. 

Overall, the past three days have been just awesome. And their sheer awesomeness has caused me to not be able to write for awhile, sorry about that. Looks like the next four days are going to be completely jam packed anyway.

Tomorrow, Boat Ride down the Thames (Shhhhhh! Neal still doesnt know yet!), and then we're doing St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, London Bridge, maybe Imperial war museum, dinner somewhere, and then we're doing the Jack the Ripper Tour tomorrow night! So excited, I think we'll both wear jeans and hoodies tomorrow though. 

Gotta get up early!

much love,

becca

p.s. Neal's in charge of pictures this weekend and forgot to bring his camera cord so I'm going to be seriously lacking on pictures for awhile. Here's one i took of him at Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the back!

Immortal.

Dorian Gray was amazing! 

ill talk more later about it, but I found a youtube on it. It's weird, it doesn't really show any of the amazing stuff they did, but it gives you a vibe anyway. Keep in mind it's an adaptation of Dorian Gray. Generally about a painting of Dorian, tonight's show was based on photography (fashion, sex, alcohol) of the present. and it worked amazingly.  After that is actually a youtube of Matthew Bourne's (choreographer) Swan Lake. ....It's a little different than you would expect. ....   ;)

Had a blast today, cant wait to see Troilus and Cressida tomorrow at the Globe with NEAL here!!

Much love,

Bec

Mad as a box of frogs! - Michelle Terry (Helena in All's Well)

I know, I know, I haven't written. I'm sorry! Hopefully this blog will make up for things though.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Today, was a get a ton of work done day for Becca. And I did! No procrastinating or messing aorund or anything! Got up, showered, did laundry, got Neal and I tickets to do something (more later haha), worked on papers for a bit, read over the story of Troilus and Cressida because I could barely understand it, read a little bit about A Winter's Tale, went to Waitrose (I'm really starting to like that grocery store, even though it doesn't even compare to Publix, I know where everything I need is), got a whole bunch of yummy breakfast and lunch food for the next couple weeks and for Neal, had to put some in my backpack because I couldnt carry it all, got a Starbucks (my one sidetrack), papers, worked on my scene with Geoff. and that was about it. A few kids went to Bath today, but since I'm going with Neal, I just hung around. But it was very productive so I was very pleased with myself.

Only interesting story is that the laundry machines here stink; that might just be because of Langton Close, but it still stunk. 2 pounds to wash, and then it SAYS 20 pence to dry. turns out 20 pence is only for twelve minutes! so, I had to go up and down stairs a million times to keep puttin gmoney in there to get 12 more minutes. Turns out, if you just put a pound in and push the settings button that you want five times, you get 60 minutes. thanks for the instructions laundry machines. that took awhile.

Monday July 13, 2009

Schoool: 

In class on Monday we first talked about Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and Dorian Gray to start prepping us for the beginning of this week's shows. 

Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme

This show, is probably the one show I know least about, and that's simply because it was about history I didn't really know. Written in 1984 by Frank McGuinness, Observe the Sons is about Ireland's perspective of World War I, specifically the area of Ulster., which is in northern Ireland, majority is Protestant, and still part of the UK. SO first off, we really needed to know some prior Irish history to lead up to WWI, and understand a little bit about Irish Drama as well, though it was written in 1984, it was still by an Irishman. 

-The Irish Republic founded after the war, broke off from Ireland, and the playwright was actually part of Ulster that went to the Republic. He actually did some adaptations of Ibsen and Chekhov works, but Observe the Sons was his first major success.

-The Sons of Ulster, aka Orange Men (William of Orange was their hero...hehe), were volunteers fighting with Britain in WWI

-They had no idea what they were really fighting for, but were willing to give up their lives for Britain. 

-The Somme was arguably the worst battle of WWI; on teh first day 28,000 people were killed and 57,000 were injured. By the finish of the battle, 1.5 million people had been severely injured or killed

-In part of the play they reenact the Battle of the Boyne, between King James II (who had been taken off the english throne and got some irish catholics to fight with him) and William of Orange. Orange won. We didn't see that part, but it was actually completely hilarious how they reenacted it: chicken-fight style. The men carrying the guys on their shoulders were their horses and it was so funny. Ended sadly though

-Observe the Sons is divided into neat little sections broken up; 

1) Monologue in the present with Piper, the craziest of the 8 men we observe on stage (literally), and we can see how he is haunted by waht happened, he's pretty much a living ghost; this monologue, in my opinion, is very powerful, but was poorly delivered.

2) Initiation: France 1916, barracks, 8 ulstermen meet, and the audience realizes how incompetent everything is, the guys have no idea what they're getting themselves into, theirs not enough supplies, we can see literal tensions, class and socioeconomic, age tensions, etc. Young Piper is their and an aristocrat, a failed sculptor (hahaha, this part of the show was really funny), says he married a whore and killed her (ahhh, sadly, this part was also hilarious, you can also always know when things are really funny because Alex Ellinport leans forward in his chair to laugh, haha). 

3) The men are back in Belfast on leave five months later. 4 pairs of friends have developed and we observed them in four different places in Belfast. We can see male bonding and companionship, from fighting to love.  This personally was my favorite scene because even though they were all in four different places on teh stage, the lighting was really cool and the scenes would jump back and forth to the different locations and lines would be intermixed with each other until they were all doing their scenes together on stage talking to teh other guy with them in a different location. Confusing to explain, but it was really cool and really intense. Lots of different things going on at the same time, which I always love in theater.

4) in the trenches right before the the battle of the Somme, they all talk and that's when they reenact the Battle of the Boyne. 

5) the Older Piper comes back on stage and says Ulster a bunch, and they chant, and young Piper knows everyone's going to die and the play ends with them all heading out to die except Piper. :(

Though plays about wars are generally not my thing, this show included the best all-around acting cast. except older piper. but the eight younger guys were all incredibly talented. Every single one of them was SO IN IT, you could sense it all the time, and they were great. all irish, too! And Will Houston (you'll hear about later), is also from that exact part of Ireland, so that was pretty cool. I liked it A LOT. I liked the theater a lot, too, even though the boys aren't happy if the seats aren't completely squishy and there's not enough leg room. I didn't notice, teehee. Anyway, all eight actors were amazing and I'm really glad that we're seeing all different types of theater, it's been really eye-opening.

Quotes I liked:

"Did you intend for us to continue to see ghosts?"

"They taught me to believe from the depths of their belief."

"I knew he would die because he was turning from earth into air."

"You have to take risks in this life" (peeling an apple metaphor)

"I'm sorry. I get carried away when I'm right" (hehe :)  )

"red hand, red sky"

"Without faith, how could a boy grow into a man?"

"We're all on the titanic. We're all going down."

"We're not making a sacrifice. We are the sacrifice."

"They made me think I was different enough to be unique, but my uniqueness only came from how different from them I really was." (this is a little paraphrased b/c it was long)

"We're gonna die for nothing."

"To hell with the truth as long as it rhymes"

"I love their lives."

------------

I'll talk about Dorian Gray after I've seen it. 

After discussion, MICHELLE TERRY! who played Helena in All's Well, came to talk to us and a bit of Q & A. It was SO Cool! She was so cute and sweet and I liked her a lot. She was very bubbly, and very modest and humble about being an actress and her hair was so pretty. :) Not only did we get to talk to her about All's Well and the rehearsal process, we also managed to get around to questions about her career and personal stories and etc. I had a really nice time. Wish I coulda gotten a picture or autograph, but it's okay, I'll remember (I hope!)  there's also something really cool she pointed out about Helena's soliloquies which I thought was interesting. Her first one is directly to the audience: "I have this dilemma, I'm in love with Bertram, who I can never have."  Her second one says to the audience " I think I have a solution." Her third says "This has gone terribly wrong, I shall never speak to you again" and then she never addresses the audience again! Crazy. Good show. Good Michelle Terry. :)

After class, I realized that no one else had been productive yesterday like I had been and everyone had written their papers (due on Monday) overnight so no one wanted to go anywhere or do anything but sleep...so I talked to mom for like three hours. that was pretty much my afternoon.

We had an interesting time trying to get the Observe the Sons. It was at a theater in Zone 2 so we left kinda early to get over there. As we got there, there was already a train there about to leave so we all ran to jump on it, alas, Geoff did not make it. So I tried to yell the station we were going to get off at. But I guess he didn't understand me. So Alex, Cam, kyle and I decided to be really ninja and came up with a plan. At the next station, we would get off and spread out and each take a car of teh train so that we could spread out and find him.  Next train, even with Alex yelling Geoff's name. No Geoff. So we got on and were sad our genius plan didnt work out and got to Swiss Cottage (the station we needed to get off at) and waited for like five trains and geoff never got off and it was like 6:45 ish so we had to go get dinner. Ended up going to another waitrose and I just got bread and hummus (which they spell Houmous here or something weird like that) got over to the theater. Geoff made it though! I was so sad we lost him. Anyway he said he thought I said West and there was a station called West Hampstead, which he thought he was being smart because the theater was called hampstead theater. haha. but it was a big fail. that was pretty exciting.

Show, which I wrote about above, and then came back and played Werewolf. I love that game. I also hate being the werewolf all by myself. it's hard.

This lovely morning. July 14, 2009

William Houston came to class today. Again, I said he's from Ulster in Ireland and is just a fabulous actor. He originally was like head macho man at Royal Shakespeare Company but played every single part he could play so is not doing some film stuff. Extremely talented. Amazing voice. It's like a good, theater, manly, shakespearean voice. Hard to explain. But a cool voice. Anyway he came to talk about his career for a little bit and then work with each of the groups on our Shakespeare scenes, which we're performing this Friday. Oh boy. Anyway, Geoffa nd I are always first because our scene is Midsummer Act 1 Scene 1 and we go in order. bleh. He ended up only talking about his career for maybe fifteen minutes and was like, Okay let's get started! I was like "ahhhh i just woke up!" anyway, everyone left, except for geoff and i and we set up, and did it one time through and he was pretty much like "ok good we got all the nervous jitters out. let's do it again" haha. For the next hour, Will turned our scene from crap to amazing. We changed EVERYTHING! the set, the blocking, the intonations of pretty much all of our lines, and tons and tons of body language. lots and lots. i think geoff and i really got to know each other, lol. anyway, it was SO COOL! He also taught me, personally, something really amazing about how to develop emotions that are really hard to get going with nothing to spark them. At the top of our scene, I immediately have to be upset, and I was having a hard time bringing that up right on the spot at the top of the scene. It's hard to explain, and kinda personal, but he really helped me figure out how to get there and for geoff to help too, especially cosnidering this scene is us together, it was awesome. I was completely speechless afterward I could barely think. it was just awesome.  he also worked with us on how to take pauses and lots of body language that shows up on stage of what exactly is going through our minds, besides just showing it in our faces. it was awesome. I will say this, Shakespeare is ridiculously difficult. ridiculously. i hope I make it alive out of this on friday. One thing's for sure. Geoff and I need to work on it constantly before friday. just to keep it going. so amazing. I'll never forget. it was so cool.

Again, today is weird because we have staggered schedules of when all teh groups are working with Will, so it's hard to get people who can go places. we'll see though.  and it might possibly be good to rest up before this next week which is jam packed every day with awesomeness!!! we're going to be so exhausted!!!

ie:  Neal gets here tomorrow at 9:30 am!!!!! so excited!!!!!

anyway, I'm going to go see what everyone else is doing. You'll hear about Dorian Gray later on.

Much Love,

Becca

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie. (All's Well)

(The rosetta stone at the british museum! much bigger than i thought)

(Us next to the Quidditch Pitch filmed in Christ Church College of Oxford: Geoff, me, KEVIN [our awesome tour guide!], Eugenie, Kristina, and John)

(Inside the Eagle and Child Pub at Oxford yummy fish and chips!)

(Part of Kevin's college, Trinity College at Oxford! SO pretty!)

------

I'm going to attempt to get through this, I haven't written in a couple days, but I'm exhausted from everything we've been up to lately, so I'll just do the best I can and then PEACE! Thus, this will be short

Yesterday, July 10, 2009. We all had to get up early and be at the National Theatre at 10:25. Keep in mind, it takes like an hour to get over there with all the traveling junk. Anyway, it was early! haha. 

The National Theatre tour was cool for a couple reasons, but not because it's pretty or old or anything, it's really relatively new actually. It was cool because it showed me that West End, high class, AHmazing, shows, are done in theaters, that are just like mine. The doors were beat up from time, there were bulletin boards everywhere about so-and-so's birthday bash somewhere, who's drinking what food to what event, schedules, offices, a shop just like OCT's (But on a much more HUGE scale), etc. So that made me happy, backstage isn't all sparkly and wonderfuly because you're performing in West End, it's just...theater.

Number 2, we got to see some really neat stuff and find out some cool backstage secrets about some of the plays we had seen / are going to see. it was cool. 

So here's what I learned.

-the National Theater was built to be a very welcoming community-oriented place. They wanted higher class and theater-going people to feel happy, as well as people who maybe aren't as interested in theater be able to come and enjoy themselves. Hence the things I've mentioned, three theaters, two restaurants, tons of bars, one coffee shop, a huge bookshop, free live entertainment eveyr night, outside and inside the lobby, a grassy area to hang out, and more. 

-There are three theaters, the Lyttleton, Cottesloe, and the Olivier (I have seen a show in each theater so far...I know of at least one more that we're seeing in the Lyttleton.)  Since they were on a repertoire system, there are generally at least 2 to 3 shows going on in each theater at a time. so they do 4-5 shows of one play, and then 4-5 shows of another play. So, you gotta be able to find at least one play you'd go see! ex: time and the Conways and Phedre in Lyttleton.

-1/3 of the budget for the National Theater comes from the arts council of the government....thank you very much!

-They first opened this theater in 1976, but originally they started as a National Theater Company of Actors who were at the Old Vic Theater. Their first director was Olivier, and he got the largest theater named after him!

-Though the Natl Theatre is relatively knew. England's been trying to have a national theater forever. the First attempt was in 1848. 

-they have around 1000 employees!!!!!

-the Lyttleton theater is the medium sized one, and it's the most conventional of theaters. there are 890 seats.

-the National Theatre was voted Most Comfortable Seats in Britain ...lol!

-SECRETS: Time and the Conways was done in the Lyttleton. Kay's papers that fly out of her hands are attached by a complicated series of wires that let them slide to the floor but stay together. Carol's scarf that suddenly becomes perfectly hard and flat is done quickly and unnoticably: she finds the scarf offstage and is handed the plastic one at the same time as we are watching Kay's papers fall to the ground. DANG. missed that. The 7 Mirrors of Kay getting skinnier as they go upstage making them appear smaller like going in a long hallway with lots of mirrors. Optical illusion!! The projections done at the end aren't really a hologram but something called a Victoria Pepperbox (don't quote me on that). it's a slanted, really thing piece of plastic that is held at exactly the right tension and then images are projected onto it that make it look like it's part of them. super cool

-The sets in the Lyttleton theater are on platforms with wheels, so when they need to switch to the other show in 5 hours, they simply lift up the stage, wheel it away into one room, wheel the other in from a side room, and lower the stage so the floor is even. sweet.

-the shop and backstage area connects all the theaters together

-a horse from War Horse was backstage! ALICE!, who is Joey's mom, was actually cut from the show because originally when the show was put together from teh children's book, it was four hours long. She was also cut because she appeared in the scene where Joey was a foal and they thought it would take away from teh baby puppet if they gave away what the big puppets looked like so early. smart move. 

-The War Horse rehearsal period was 3 months long. It definitely showed up in the work though haha. They are also always constantly making new horses, because the puppets wear out so easily. there was a lady working on another one while we were there.

-they have 2 rehearsal rooms, 1 of which is the size of the Olivier stage and the other the size of the Lyttleton, smart move. They don't actually move onto the stage until three days before the show! I can't even imagine not working with the stage until then.

-No Open auditions at the National Theatre (Dang it). You must be invited to come audition. they have to have your CV and headshot on file and had to have obviously seen you do something amazing somehwere else. You can also invite (Sometimes) auditioners to "come see you in this role at this place and time" etc.. and of course auditioners are always investigating shows to see.

-they have THREE floors of dressing rooms!!! and there is a courtyard in the middle fo them so every room can get some light and air, without being seen by people on teh street. too cool. 

-The Olivier is actually based on a Greek Amphitheater, but it's on the inside. I liked it a lot. They don't use mics for straight plays. there are 1160 seats in teh Olivier, but it doesn't feel 2x bigger than the lyttleton at all. 

-Interesting fact about the Olivier: it was designed so that the angle of seats is 118 degrees. coincidence? no, the human peripheral vision angle is 118 degrees. you can see everyone sitting in the theater (except hte people behind you of course) and the entire stage. no view restrictions in that theater!!!!

-The Queen has only come two times to the National. it's actually named the Royal National Theatre, but Royal has been dropped to make everyone feel more welcomed. durr

-The Olivier has tons of revolves below the stage, the stage and turn, parts can turn, raise and lower, it's crazy., but apparently they were so flaky they actually weren't used in a show until 1985 (opened in 1976), you do the math.

lots of fun, cute tour guide girl too.

then we sat outside on this big rock thing outside the National and Clum talked to us a little bit about All's Well again.

-Michelle Terry (the lead: Helena!) is coming to talk to us about All's Well on Monday and her career!

-we just discussed a little bit about how Helena's constancy and devotion is being tested through the entire show. and how obvious her superiority to Bertram is, despite the fact that she is lower in class; we can still see what an extraordinary woman she is.

-then we just atlked about marriage, and how it's a joining of different characteristics, females are devote and stable (in relation that is) and men want to run off to war (haha), and you can only get both through marriage. and since marriage at the time could be assigned, you have to hope that those people are responsible enough to make it a loving union., which Bertram is too blind to see because of  class

after "class" the gallon boys and i went to this market thing that was giving out free samples of AMAZING food. i felt bad, but it was so good, and then we didnt buy anything. except i bought two breadsticks for a pound :)  then we went back to waitrose because the boys wanted cheap lunch from there and then walked to the British Museum eating lunch. British Museum.....actually not my thing. there's tons of stuff on ancient history, ancient everything, (that may be right up your alley, boyfriend, [ancient greece and junk] but no me gusta)....lots of pots where the explanations are like "this perhaps was a pot for food" this "perhaps" was a utensil. etc etc etc, i dont think they have any idea what any of that junk was used for. maybe that pot was a toilet. coolest parts: the rosetta stone and the broken parts of the parthenon, that the parthenon wants back, but Britain won't let them have them. interesting...some guy just scraped them off the side of it!!!

showwww: All's Well at the Olivier.

The director, Marianne elliott (who also directed War Horse), took on a huge task of All's Well. I dont know how anyone tackles shakespeare in the first palce, but trying to do it in a modern sense that a modern contemporary audience can realte to has got to be extremely difficult. SO she, rather skillfully and mega-creatively, came up with the idea of doing the entire show in sort of a fairty-esque, dream-like quality, so you sorta of show the issues of "is this really true love??" etc. it's not really real. anyway, i liked it a lot. i think a lot of us questioned costume choices (they seemed to jump time periods), but i really liked a couple twists:

-When Helena runs off to help the King, she wears a red-hooded cape (little red riding.....)

-When she gets married she puts on sparkling silver shoes (the original wizard of....)

-She takes them off and leaves the shoes onstage at the end of act 1, before she runs away out of sadness (cinderell....)

-they had these really dream-like sections where everything moved in slow motion that were cool

-the rings were glow in the dark (anyone remember All's Well? the rings...are a big deal).

-They also did segments where you could see their silhouettes in a doorway and they sorta moved like wind-up music-box dolls, smoothly and then abruptly and stiffly, freezing and unfreezing, etc

-I LOVE how the actors around here can really take Shakespeare's words and show EXACTLY what they're tlaking about. They show hidden meanings, they crack sexual innuendos, they display the irony; everything, is just awesome, I LOVE how they can do that!

Then we came back and Geoff and I desperately started trying to get train tickets to Oxford...fail. The prices went up because they werent advanced anymore, and then the stupid internet wasn't even letting us. finally, Eugenie comes in my room and is like, well I'm taking a bus with my friend's roommate from Oxford, it takes a little longer, but it cheaper if you want to come with us!

SOOOO we got up super early today, went and met Kevin and jumped on a bus to Oxford. You know theyhave buses to Oxford every ten minutes, that seems a little excessive. anyway, took 1 hour and a half and I turned on Guster on my ipod, maybe listened to Come Downstairs... and then fell asleep for the rest of the time.

Kevin...is from malaysia and is attending Oxford. He's flatmate is Eugenie's friend from home who also goes to Oxford, but he's at home now. Kevin is on holiday too but decided to stay in London and get a job for teh summer with an investment bank company. he's doing economics and engineering. The coolest part about going around with Kevin, is that he actually goes to school at Oxford. It's not like we took some tour with 60 other people, found out some history but really nothing about what the college or student life is like. It was so cool to talk to him. and we compared America and england school systems pretty much all day. it was a lot of fun and really cool.

we got there and met up with Kristina, Rachel, and John who had taken the train and were off! He showed us one of the main libraries, Bodleian library, the museum (that was acutally closed today for renovation), the Bridge of Sighs (much smaller than I envisioned it) and pointed out various stuff on the street as we went. then we actually got to go inside his college because he has his student id card!

-there are 38 colleges at Oxford, except theyre not like the "colleges" within a university in the US. within every college, you can study whatever you want (provided that that college has that), it's not like you're in Trinity COllege of arts and sciences (you study..arts or sciences) or Pratt (you study engineering), every college has whatever you want to study. SO for exmple, his college, called Trinity College (sweet coincidence), there are actually only 4 engineers in his entire grade in the college. there are about 400 kids in his college, but the colleges vary in size. the richer they are, the more land they have (richest is St. Paul's College and 2nd is Christ Church college). 

-They have three meals a day they can go to, breakfast and lunch are self serve, dinner, they have waiters serve you. Friday nights is formal, but formal they have to wear black suits, white shirt, white bowtie, and their gowns (by gown, think Harry Potter school cloaks, JK Rowling didnt make this junk up!) "Scouts" (aka maids) empty your garbage and clean your communal bathroom every day. your communal bathroom is for boys and girls.

-They have to wear their entire formal wear to their Exams (he showed us the building where they take their exams). In addition to their formal wear they have to wear their gowns and CARRY a mortarboard, but not wear it. what they do with it during their exam, i have no idea, but i can hardly imagine taking exams with all those layers of clothes on!

-they dont get gpas or letter grades, but overall with their examinations, they get averaged exam scores As average is called 1st, second highest is Two-One (aka 2nd upper), and 2nd and so on. 3rd is second to last and then they have like "I passed." 

-They do classes really weird. I still dont get it. but it's something like lecture 2-3 times a week, but it's caleld tutorials and one-on-one with your professor, i mean there are only four engineers in his grade. something weird like that.

-Kevin's college was very pretty. they were all built at differnet times and have differnet styles and whatnot. His college is most famous for its lawns, which are gorgeous. they are also one of the fortunate colleges that allows the students to actually walk, lay and hang out on the lawns

-they have rival colleges within Oxford. not really for sports. but more for pranks and wahtnot. we heard stories of painting cows pink, and throwing turtles over balconies (so sad!)

-Christ Church is the 2nd richest college, and also very famous for it's ....church! It's also where a lot of  Harry Potter junk is filmed, including the Great Hall (the dining room for Hogwarts [the school]), and the Quidditch Pitch (the wizard sport field). it was so cool to see those spots, but looks nothinglike it does in the movies haha

-we went to lunch at a pub called the "Eagle and Child." this pub, first of all, was just cool because it was dark and pub-like. :) 2nd, CS lewis and JRR Tolkien used to come to the backroom of that pub all the time and drink.  I also got to have fish and chips with vinegar, salt and ketchup so I was very happy! :D

-we also went to this famous cookie store started at Oxford called Ben's Cookies and I almost died. SO GOOD. cookie with chocolate batter with melted chocolate on the inside with white chocolate and milk chocolate chips

-we walked around tons more and talked and then we sat in this alley place that was cool, one of Kevin's favorite hidden spots and just talked about school and whatnot and I tried to get him to do an American accent which was funny and we just talked. He had as many questions for us as we did for him

SO FUN. we got back and were so exhausted but ending up sitting in the hallway of our flat with Cameron and Taty, who both didnt go and told really sad stories. Eugenie has gone through some really hard stuff in the past like 3 months, it was so sad to hear about i teared up. I dont really wanna talk about it on the internet, but i wont forget. Made me feel very blessed while at the same time terrified of losing people I care about. :(  then we danced to single ladies and then went our separate ways. heh.

Tomorrow's list

-Geoff and I will perfect our scene

-I have to finish my papers.

-Waitrose for food for the next couple weeks.

-LAUNDRY. bleh

-musical theater junk

-etc. 

BLEH. so sleepy.

night

much love,

bec

Sero sed serio.

The Hatfield House, a 223 room mansion, seems to not be on the top of anyone's list to go-see when you think of London. Just a twenty-minute train from King's Cross and you're there: a HUGE piece of architecture, surrounded by tons a land. It's not the most important building in the world, but it did have a lot of power, and some interesting things in it. I'll tell you my favorites, anyway. Our tour guide was such a nice lady and she really liked us for some reason, and we just had a great time. 

Today, was probably the chilliest day here so far, and always a day that I chose to wear shorts. Bad idea. By the time we were leaving the tips of my fingers were completely white and i had purple fingernails. I looked weird. When we got back to bed I immediately got in my bed because I was still so cold. brr

The Earl of Salisbury actually still lives in one of the wings of the house with his wife today. We saw a picture of the heir to the house, born in 1970. I can't decide how much of a burden it would be to inherit such a house, because you'd instantly become in charge with its upkeeping and restoration, as well as tours and staff and whatnot. Anyway, it's such a great honor, that I don't think he should complain. His family traces all the way back 14 generations to Robert Cecil and beyond. So interesting how things get passed down. 

Anyway, here's some cool quirky stuff I learned. People made fun of me because I took notes during the tour, but I didn't want to forget anything!:

-The actualy original Hatfield House is off to the side of the main one and is only 1/4 of the original building.  After Henry VIII having it for awhile, Queen Elizabeth chilling there while her sister Mary killed Protestants[and actually found out at the hatfield house that she would be queen because her sister had died], and then James VI got it, eventually a guy named Robert Cecil got it. in 1607 (i think). ANyway, HE knocked down 3/4 of the hosue to build the NEW and improved Hatfield House (the one you see in the above picture.) Here's a pic of the remaining 1/4 of the original.

The new house (pictured at top) only took four years to build! (1608-1612). As our tour guide said "It took four years to build and has been falling down ever since" haha

-It's elizabethan architecture (E shaped without the center branch)

-60 servants were there at a time. 

-Every time some one new came to own the house, things changed. Things were painted over, things were gilded, things were taken and thrown out and brought back and etc. Funny thing, the first earl to get it changed a ton of stuff , but then was never able to live in it. 

-"sero sed serio" - title of this blog is the family motto in latin "late but in earnest" something about being perhaps a bit to late to be acceptable but always honest and nice. or something

-When Queen Elizabeth got painted, things were done to add to her likeness (no duh). One painting in the front room, has her in a dress covered in eyeballs and ears at age 67. She looks like she's 20 (hahah), she's holding rainbow without color. Rainbows mean peace, and it said "no rainbow without the sun" (ie Elizabeth is the sun). eyes and ears meant that she was all seeing and all knowing. There was a serpent holding a a heart and something else that represented wisdom and prudence. and there was stuff about her chastity, chivalry, etc etc etc.

Funny thing about her, she actually wouldn't name an heir until her deathbed, she wanted to always be queen. 

-The grand staircase was beautiful.  It was of english oak based on Italian great staircases. The railing posts originally were painted and the cherubs were gilded but now they just look like wood. they were really cool and covered in symbology. 

-There were quite a few hidden doors. :)

-THe Drawing Room today has 60 paintings, including another one of Elizabeth covered in symbols of her awesomeness: ie purity, peace (olive brance), sword (justice). We also talked at this point about how they would keep their mouths closed for paintings because their teeth were so bad they were almost black. Again her skin was lovely, and she had a wig on. heh.

-the drawing room was considered the heart of the house, even though it was on the side and overlooked the east gardens, and the earl of salisbury still chills in there with his wife. there were reading magazines on the coffee table next to the fireplace. 

-there used to be a door in the drawing room to the bedroom because it used to be like a gathering parlor or something. 

-The two big chambers on either side of the house were actually designed for like one to be the lady's side (queen) and the other side for the male (king). 

-in 1835 the west wing burnt down with the wife of James Cecil (1st marquess of salisbury). she had locked the bedroom door, she was 85 years old and was wellknown for being full of silly tricks, and for being mischievous etc. funny. After the fire they actually found some of the remains of her jewelry, only to find out they were fakes because she had been selling her real jewelry to pay off gambling debts (teehee). No one knows how the fire started, but lighting was with candles soooo.......    ANyway, apparently Charles Dickens was a reporter at the time and actually wrote about the fire and it's even mentioned in Oliver twist. :)

-The long gallery (long hallway in the middle), was for recreation and exercise and connecte dthe 2 aparments. in 1629 a billiard table was brought in. It doesnt really look like an exercise room.

-the winter dining room was originally a withdrawing room into the bedchamber but was converted in the 18th century (sometime). there are huge tapestries on the walls representing the four seasons, which were put in in sometime in the 19th century

-the library, from here you can see the old house, where elizabeth was brough when she was 3 months old, as well as the west gardens. In the middle is a Venetian mosaic of Robert Cecil. there are 10,000 books dating back to Cecil in there, but the important documents are kept somewhere else under moisture junk control

-apparently the 14 year old Elizabeth was accused of having an affair with Thomas Seymour (who was married to Katherine Parr!). Supposedly he tickled her and other inappropriate behavior (oooo). In the library in a glass case was a letter from Elizabeth that refutes the behavior, affair, and being pregnant in beautiful handwriting. there was also a second document from 15 years later in her hurried scribble, which looked a lot more like my handwriting today (hah)

-There was a gentleman's reading chair in there. Like sitting in a chair backwards, straddling it and then theres a tilted tray attached to the back for a book. Ladies, of course, were not permitted to use this chair.

-Other cool documents in glass cases in there: elizabeth writing an instruction in code to Scotland so the rebels wouldnt understand (they have decoded it today of course). A document written in latin by the 9 year old Edward (which looked like an adult's handwriting SO WEIRD). AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE (pay attention momma): the tiny portrait that was given to Henry VIII of Anne of Cleves, which showed a likeness to her (she looked like all the other flat faced, no shadowed pictures from the time haha, pretty). it was tiny and circular and I was so excited to see it, that's the picture he got! before he married her! Then she was brought there, he thought she was ugly, they remained married for 6 months unconsummated and next to the tiny picture was Henry VIII's letter divorcing her, putting the marriage aside, and making sure she would lose everything, in addition to losing her title as Queen. hehehe. 

-Queen Elizabeth wore gloves that had super long skinny fingers that were stuffed in teh tips. They were creepy looking

-there was a painting of two men, but one hated the other and had it painted over in 1840, and people cleaned it and found him, haha, I have the names all mixed up but it was funny to look at.

-There was a gift of a temple from teh Chinese Emperer to George III (those bloody americans). It was huge and carved out of ivory and they made t men carry it 21 miles to the Hatfield House. luckily they received a coach for the journey home

-They had their own private chapel which had pretty stained glass windows (which I learnd how to make at the Victoria and Albert Museum yesterday!) of bible stories. The chapel was almost lost in the fire that i mentioned earlier but remained. something about water tanks above acutally melted in teh fire and helped the situation a bit. The stained glass was actually taken down out of the windows during the civil war and put up in post restoration. 

-Underneath the long gallery (downstairs) was originally open air, but they enclosed it in the 1830s; you can still see the front door along the wall of the downstairs gallery. 

-The only earl they don't talk about and there's nothing about in the house is the 6th earl who was called "the wicked earl" because he abandoned his good wife, daughters and one son for his mistress, had lots of illegitimate children and eventually became a coachman. wicked bad earl.

Anyway, we learned tons, but those were my favorite parts. So quirky. I love how every single room in these buildings was built with a meaning. The walls are carved full of symbols and meanings, and family emblems, and latin, and history, and hints at what the people were like. it's SO COOL!

We got back, I got a nasty burrito on the corner. Took a short nap, worked a little more on what neal and I are gonna do the week he's here (5 days!), and then we were off again.

The theater tonight, the Young Vic theater, was in a different area than normal and the show had unreserved seating so we decided to try and get there early. we did and turns out the theater is like attached to a pub so we hung out for awhile, and I had a croissant. mmm. We got in the theater, and it was extremely cool. The front floor was actually tables and chairs, and then there were seats were behind that. We sat in the front row of the seats because it was a little higher up. Probably best seats we've had so far. So HA, being early was a good idea. The venue was definitely cool.

The play. 

Been So Long.

Clum couldn't come tonight, which was sad because he hadn't seen the show yet. He had only seen it in previews and he said it needed "tightening up." I wasn't sure what he was going to mean. Truthfully, I think I thought dancing.. in a hip-hop musical...no dancing. So, that was a let down (for me anyway). but after watching the show, maybe they have tightened it up a lot more, but truthfully it's really hard to tighten a show...that isn't good.

Don't get me wrong, it was hilarious. After listening to everyone talk about the show the entire way home as well as say it was their new favorite, yeah I get it, it was really funny. and the music, oh the music, was FABulous. the band was right onstage and very cool, and the backup singers were soulful, powerful, and fun. but the show...oh the show..

I'm trying to make sure it's not just because I have seen a TON of fabulous shows in teh past week and a half. i don't want to become a harsh theater critic (cough cough, thinking of a few), and say that everything I see just sucks. You are supposed to focus on the good things in a show, not the small details that maybe aren't the best thing ever, but really aren't that big of a deal. BUT, it's SO hard, especially when we're not talking about small details and you suddenly realized you've missed the bus that lead you straight to: "That show was better than 'A Little Night Music!!'" What the heck??????????????

-The story was shallow. mmno, sea level. ground 0. nothing happen, there was no change in teh character's personalities, ways of life, no revelations, no breaking point, nothing. No one bettered themselves or made a change even though lines like "people change, sometimes for the better" (how original) showed up in a song.

-exs: girl decides to return to jerk who just sleeps around. other girl doesnt get what she wants. guy suddenly doesnt want to kill the guy he intended to kill. other guy slightly develops a love for original girl but does nothing, says nothing, and continues to do nothing.

-some of the actors struggled big time with showing any sort of serious emotion.

-one of the actors ...didnt act.

-the lyrics. killed me. I really really really really tried to get past them the entire show, but every time another song started, I just had to roll my eyes when i heard lyrics like "It's been too long. since I said goodbye. when I think of her,...I start to cry." "It's so hard to be alone. no no no no no simone." "truth hurts more than you will ever know" (wait, hasn't someone already said that?) "i want a fella. i want a fella. make a girl scream and yell-a"   

................okay...good rhymes.

...I could go on. but I don't really need to. 

here's a couple quotes, I could stand. that, although unoriginal, were nice:

"It's been too long since I last saw her face."

"You and I are gonna set the sky alight."

"It's funny you could feel so lonely and never know."

"He kissed my entire history."

"She smiles this smile, and I melted to the floor."

"You know I'm lost here, but I'm here for you to find."

(okay, I'm sorry, I felt lame just typing those...)

Yes, it was ridiculously funny. really. Gil was my favorite. he was crazy and had great comedic facial expressions and was a lot of fun. simone's cousin was funny sometimes too. 

It just wasn't my style. "not to my taste" as a i said at first to neal. but truthfully, i dont think it has to do with taste. It's hard for me to say that Theater is simply for entertainment. I truly believe that all theater tells a story, develops really strong, believable people, raises questions, presents ideas, does something, at least....but this did nothing for me. True, here I may be used to really well-developed characters with a long history/life (ie, real human beings), and watching what they're going through presents new ideas, etc. and they sing songs that have witty lyrics that carry the story or plot further and the comedy is more ironic rather than blatant and stupid/perverted humor. (oo, becca, too harsh). Anyway, that's what I look for in theater. that has nothing to do with taste really. maybe all that is just what I value in theater. the art of the theater. the wonder of theater. the true meaning of theater. and i think i just missed all of that a lot tonight. because simply...

...All that's what I love. All that is why I do this. 

I'm sorry. I have to write about it somewhere.

All's Well That Ends Well tomorrow night at the National. Backstage tour of the entire theatre tomorrow morning!

With love,

Rebecca