Weekend Update - November 2nd

Woahhhhhh. It is hard to believe that we have plunged into November already. It doesn't feel like November though because we have had the best weather ever, with it being between about 50 and 60 degrees all the time: aka perfect sweater weather. I had a really busy week last week and this week, so that's why I've condensed two weeks into one post.

Last Week (aka the week of October 20th):

After our "Fall Break," (which wasn't really a break because we went to Paris and walked all over the whole city) it was a rough transition into being back in class. In addition, our Shakespeare teacher (and arguably our most intense teacher) was gone for the 2 weeks before Fall Break, and he's back! So we literally hit the ground sprinting as we got back into the monologues that we were working on with him.

Thursday:
We went to go see a production of Ibsen's The Wild Duck. I should actually call it an adaptation because it strayed heavily from Ibsen's original text... but I still thought that the production worked for what the director wanted to accomplish. The star of the show was an actual duck that was onstage. Even though I absolutely hate birds, the thing was pretty cute. The set was this giant glass box that the actors performed in and were not outside of until the end. Such art. Very wow. The show was a part of the Barbican theatre's international Ibsen season that has been bringing in companies from all around the world to do new productions of Ibsen plays (hence the production in German that we saw earlier in the year). Luckily this company was Australian so we could actually understand what was being said.

Friday:
Today I got to go on a day trip to Oxford! It was so nice to get out of London to see some of the countryside, and to spend some time in such a historic town. We got the afternoon to explore the city. We were not allowed into a lot of the places because it is a working university, you know, those Oxford people just can't be bothered with peasants like us. So we got to tour the historic Bodlein Library, which has millions and millions of books in it. We didn't get to see the books, but we got to see the building that they used to be in until there was just too many of them. In addition, we had some yummy food at The Eagle and The Child pub where famous authors like Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to frequent. Finally at night we went to go see a production of Othello at the Oxford Playhouse. It was an experimental production that was produced by a physical theatre company, so it was full of movement. Unfortunately the show didn't do it for me... but oh well, I didn't pay for the ticket.

The Radcliffe Camera

Backside of Oxford from Christ Church Meadow

The Divinity Room

Saturday:
After a long day of taking a trains and running around Oxford, David and I decided to get up and go see 3 plays today! Haha. So there is a series of 3 plays that are all related called The James Plays that premiered at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival earlier this year, and now they are in rep at the National Theatre. SO why take 3 separate days to go see all 3 when you can see them all in one day! On a standing room ticket! That is right. We stood through 3 shows from about noon until 10pm. We of course got breaks and could sit on the ground at intermission, but yeah it was a really long day BUT TOTALLY WORTH IT. These shows were truly an achievement of Rona Munro, the playwright. Probably one of the best/most memorable experiences that I will have had in London. These plays will be around for a long time, and I can easily see them still being relevant in 50, 100, and 200 years.

This week! (October 27th):

As usual this week flew by. I sound like a broken record I know, but the time literally just goes by so quickly when I am constantly so busy and immersed in something.

I was hoping that my workload would lighten up this week, but haha that's a joke, it just keeps going. Between having to memorize about 3 monologues, reading a few plays, getting started on 3 new scenes, etc, etc, etc, I thought I wasn't going to make it through to Friday (akakakaka Halloween). SO Halloween is a lot different over here. People dress up but it's not as big of a deal as it is back home. People definitely don't get as creative with their costumes (unfortunately same as I pulled together a Hogwarts student costume). But yes, the night after Halloween, we had a 2 and a half hour train to Stratford-Upon-Avon :-). So yes we spent all of yesterday exploring Shakespeare's birthplace, grave, and seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company perform. It was a good time, I wish we would have had more time to explore Stratford though, it was such a quiet little town that was packed with history in every nook and cranny. The Costa coffee shop that was in the town center was in a building that was probably about 200 years older than America, so that's how old were talking.

Interior of Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried

The grave of Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway

Shakespeare's birthplace

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

This amused me: Marlowe's Restaurant

That brings me to this morning! Which was the first time that I have not been woken up by an alarm to get up and go do something since before fall break. Today I went to the Royal Opera House to hear a lecture from the ballet mistress about the evolution of the ballet class, which was very interesting. We are headed into a very packed week (surprise surprise), seeing The Cherry Orchard, 2 performances at by the Royal Ballet, and seeing Kristen Scott Thomas in Electra. WOWZZZZZZZ LOLZ SO MUCH THEATRE SO LITTLE TIME. Over and out, y'all.