Guess what, friends? There's going to be blood.
Hold on, let me explain.
This week was a stressful one, for all of us. It was our very last week of classes, culminating in a day of auditions and casting into one of 3 shows. Our groups of before are split to turn into three new companies, right before we all take a break for a week to journey around Europe. Most of our work this week was cramming in those last-minute scenes for class, frantically coordinating what we were going to use for audition pieces and who we wanted to be our partners, and whipping together travel plans.
I can safely and accurately include myself in this fiasco, though I'm not as stressed as everyone else. Something I've learned very sharply about myself, especially this week, is that I am an absolute workaholic. I love to be busy, and I love to work, and honestly, that's what occupies a lot of my mind. Even when I think about what I like to do in my free time, it often involves accomplishing something- working on my book list, or a project I have to finish, etc. Besides, Alexa and I decided to do our scenes together a while back, and we were pretty solid on our choices: All for Love by John Dryden and As You Like It by Shakespeare. I was Octavia and Rosalind, respectfully.
I did get a few nice breaks from all the studying, though!
On Sunday, I went to a really nearby church with Annie and Elsie. I like it a lot, actually- it felt like my church that I'm used to back home, except everyone has an English accent! It felt really good to be in a church again, and to feel like I was at church. I like church. Then, afterwards, I went to have tea at Annie's flat and catch up with her and Elsie for a while. I love those girls. I'm so lucky that we get to all be in this amazing city, all at the same time!
....Yeah, actually. Other than that, this week has been pretty work-centered.
Monday was our last movement class with Jackie, and Tuesday was the end of Stage Combat. We had our last Stage Combat class at RADA, and everyone felt cool. It's a bit of a hallowed ground- RADA is one of London's best drama schools.
Wednesday was the end of High Comedy, and Thursday was emotional. First, we ended Voice with Adrianne, then we had our last Shakespeare class with Russ and I wanted to cry. To end the day, we had our last Modern Physical class with Mick. For that class, Mick had us all do impressions of each other and other people at BADA. It was great fun!
I was lucky enough to have the very last tutorial of this Fall session with Ian Thursday evening. I brought in two of my older monologues, a new Hamlet soliloquy (just for fun), and the Helena monologue from Midsummer Night's Dream that I had been struggling with for weeks and weeks. Honestly though, this tutorial may have been one of the highlights of my time at BADA so far. I don't remember exactly what Ian told me about the Helena monologue, but he said something that helped me so incredibly much, and I finally feel like I understood and could connect to the piece. Finally. It took me forever, but I feel so successful and proud that I did it well for once that nothing else mattered. Not even auditions or the severe lack of sleep I've been getting. I did it. I'm really proud of it too.
Speaking of auditions though, those were today. Maybe I should've been more nervous, but I felt prepared. I've worked hard, and I've learned a lot, and I felt ready to go. Alexa and I did both our scenes, and just had fun. It was an enjoyable audition! Plus, since we went fairly early, I had a few hours to take a bus back to the Landward, pack for midterm break, walk back to BADA, and print out everything I needed for my trip all before our final class of Drama Criticism with Christopher.
Right afterwards, we had a meeting where we found out what shows we are all in, and here's why we can expect blood in the future:
The company I was cast in is an all-female production of The Revenger's Tragedy. We'll be doing it like a dark comedy, but it's only women in a show that only has, normally, 3 woman characters, and I'm so excited. This will be a fun 6 weeks of rehearsal!!!
And now, I just got back from a BADA Halloween Party, and am up way too late in relation to what time my flight leaves tomorrow. I'll be flying to Paris first, but I won't be able to blog while I'm away for the week. Don't worry- I'll be journaling throughout the trip so that, when I get back, I can transcribe here on the internet everything I wrote and experienced during this adventure :) Hopefully it'll take my mind off of work for once?
Can't wait to tell you all about it!
Fight on, friends
Friday, October 30, 2015
Monday, October 26, 2015
Heart and Feeling- LD45-53, October 16-24, 2015
Honestly, I would be more sorry for forgetting to blog for 10 days, but I've been too busy and preoccupied with school and London and friends and things that blogging has been the last of my worries. Eventually though, you get to a point where too much has happened to let it slide for much longer.
I miss my friends and family back home! Today, I was thinking about my Mom, my sisters, my Dad, both my grandmas, both my grandpas, my AGD sisters, and a large portion of my high school friends, and thinking about how I'm actually missing all of them. Again, I haven't had much time to miss all of ya'll for a lot of the semester, but when I think of you, I miss you. I'm excited to see your faces and give you all big hugs. You guys mean a lot to me.
But, as I mentioned, there's been a lot that's happened! I'll give you the highlights:
We had our third Master Class the Friday after I last wrote. It was from a pair, Kelly Hunger and Michael Dobson, who run a theatre for autistic children in the area and in the United States that works at helping these children improve their speech, eye contact, and relational skills with each other using Shakespeare. It was fascinating, and definitely inspiring! Theatre can do so much!
That next day, I met with Annie and Charlie at Trafalgar Square, and FINALLY got to see The Orestia adaptation there! I honestly should have blogged that night. The Orestia... this show... Is so hard to accurately describe, but the closest I can come is that it blew the socks off my mind. It blew my mind out of my mind. It may have changed my life. I wish I had time to see it again, and if I can, I might.
The Orestia is the only surviving full trilogy of plays from the Ancient Greek Theatre competitions. It follows the royal family (I believe?) of the Athenians right before, during, and after the infamous Trojan War. I'm impressed I was able to tell you that, even though I've never read the original. Anyway, the one play is actually made up of three plays, which was the point. This adaptation was put into a more modern setting- the names were the same, and the situations, but the context was different. They were all just "going to war," not necessarily against anyone in particular (*cough* the Trojans *cough*).
By setting it how they did, though, and arranging it the way it was, they opened my mind to a huge array of topics- what is revenge? what is truth? why are we, as people, so afraid of the truth? what is justice? what does it mean to love someone unconditionally? I wish I could remember all of the things I was thinking about afterwards... but man. What a can of worms that opened. It was spectacular theatre- just amazing. It was so good. I wish I could describe how I took it accurately enough. Man.
Charlie was actually seeing it for the second time, so he wasn't as emotionally affected as me. Instead, he got the chance to look at how the show itself worked, and how the actors accomplished what they did, instead of what they accomplished. Annie wasn't as blown away as I was at all, but she had just finished reading the original trilogy of plays immediately before I met with her to see the show. So... We'll blame that?
That night, Annie went home, but Charlie and I met my flatmates and his at St. Martin's in the Fields for a performance of Mozart's Requiem. I philosophized the entire time. Dang Orestia....
That Sunday, I discovered Primark. It's a clothing store chain that I've seen a lot of places here, with pretty cheap clothes. I thought I was going to pass out from claustrophobia and being smothered by hot air after being there 30 minutes, but the clothes are cute, and cheap... so I guess it's worth it? I don't think I'll be going back unless I really need to.
Last Monday... Oh, last Monday.
Monday was the longest day of school I've had at BADA all semester. We had an extra High Comedy class added to our schedule at 9am. So, instead of having three classes, starting at 11, we had 4, starting at 9am. We got out of class, round 2 of High Comedy, at 6:15, at which point we had to rush to the theatre to see a production of "A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes," an adaptation of Moliere's Tartuffe. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we got there, but we saw the show anyway. Personally, this was a production I can admire for how it affected the audience, myself included, but I cannot recommend it nor say I liked it at all, because my particular reaction was one of a lot of disbelief and anger. That's all I'll say on the subject, for now.
Tuesday was normal, though it's the last time we got a full class with Philip for Stage Combat, which makes me extremely sad. I love Philip!
Wednesday, we went to another show after our classes! It's the last all-school production we went to see, so it was extra special- we went to the English National Opera to see "La Boheme," the opera that inspired Rent. This was actually the first time I'd ever been to an opera, so I was really pumped. Plus, the opera building itself was absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, the opera itself did not live up to expectations, nor the space it was staged in. It was modernized, with a lot of unnecessary decisions made by the directors and singers. Basically, it tried to be Rent, and forgot that Rent was based off of it, not vice versa. Plus, it was highly melodramatic, thanks to the translation into English from the Italian (I think?) original libretto. So that was disappointing, but I can say that I've been to an opera now!
Thursday night, I went to the pub with Alex, Alexa, and Charlie for Trivia Night, and we actually won!!! That was a fun surprise!
Friday was pretty normal- most of it was preparing for Saturday.
Ok. This past Saturday. It should have a blog post all it's own, again. My apologizes. But Saturday.
Brooke, Elsie, and I went to Oxford for the day. We originally went to see the city/university and, for Elsie and I, to visit our wonderful friend John, who's studying there. We accomplished these goals, and gladly, but the places we went to see and the activities we partook in turned the day into a literary pilgrimage.
First and foremost, Oxford is beautiful. Think of all the beautiful old buildings in London, and then condense them all down into a college town. Add some countryside around the edges, years and years and years of history and significance, and the prestige of Harvard, and there you have it.
It was very easy to get there by bus, and when we arrived, we spent some time in the Covered Market, nearby the bus station. Elsie got a hat, and Brooke and I got hot chocolate from a very new chocolate and gelato shop! The owner was extremely friendly, and talked to us for a while about his shop, how he makes all his hot chocolate and gelato, and his history. He was so fun to talk to! And the chocolate was fantastic.
John met us there, and took us on a walking tour around the meadow at Christchurch, one of the schools/colleges within Oxford. Autumn was the perfect time to do this- I'm so glad we went when we did. It was raining, but still gorgeous. I felt like I'd stepped into the world of a Robert Frost poem, a Jane Austin novel... the world of a literary mind. It's quaint and quiet, but with vast, gorgeous countryside. When you get to the right spot, you can see Christchurch in the misty distance, like an enchanted castle, begging you to enter and warning you to leave at the same time. Pure magic.
John took us by his room, then to lunch, and then to the biggest bookstore in Oxford. Or, as it will now forever be known in the memory and history of Rachel McIntyre, the best bookstore and my favorite bookstore in the history of the universe. It. is. huge. There are four layers of books, and every book you could ever want to find or read or buy. Immediately when you walk in are the works of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis's fiction writings, as well as biographies about them and their friends, the Inklings. Normally, when I walk into a bookstore, I'll beeline it to Tolkien's writings and explore the store from there. Thanks to Oxford's legacy as the birthplace of literature like this, I found it all right away and didn't know what to do with myself. To top it all off, I went downstairs and there, right in front of me, were original illustrations for the Narnia books, J.R.R. Tolkien's signature inside one of his books, and an original annotated map of Middle Earth. I wish I were British enough to keep my emotions in control, seeing all of this, but I teared up. I did. And then I bought books, which I probably shouldn't have from a practical perspective, but I do not care.
From there, John took us to the University Chapel, a bridge that's really famous, and then the Divinity school at the library there. This library, which I wish I could've seen in more detail, is entitled to a copy of every single book published in the UK. It's huge. The Divinity School, though, is where the infirmary scenes in the Harry Potter series were filmed! It's much smaller in real life, but the ceiling is amazing. Plus, there's a chair there made from the wood of Sir Francis Drake's ship. It's a chair that has gone all the way around the world. Woah.
John then left us girls back at Christchurch. He went back to his room to get some homework done, while we waited in a line to get inside and explore. SO worth it! We walked up the staircase where McGonagall greets Harry as a first year, in the films, and then into the Hall... aka the Great Hall. It's beautiful. There's so much to look at, all at once. I think the best way to describe it is that there's a reverence and respect innate in it. It's grand and proud, and I love it! And, of course, I feel like a real Ravenclaw, now that I've been through the Great Hall like a Hogwarts first year.
Then, we explored the Christchurch Cathedral. There's some beautiful stained glass that Elsie and I got to learn a lot about!
After being there for a while, we still were anxious to see another literary landmark that didn't seem to be accessible to visitors. So, we cornered an employee at Christchurch and asked her how to get there. Turns out, you can only find it if you're interested or know enough about it to ask! She led us there- through the cathedral, and into a secret door that leads out to the Christchurch courtyard. There, we could see the apartments where the Dean of the school and his family would stay. Between us and that was a long stone wall. However, in the middle of that wall is a little green door. Behind the door is a huge tree, at this time of year with red-orange leaves. Guess why it's significant! Go ahead, guess!
The Dean of the school around the turn of the 20th century, Liddell (last name, don't remember his first), had a young daughter named Alice. Since Alice would've grown up at Oxford, this little courtyard that we couldn't see was a primary playplace for her. Her cat would always be climbing up the tree, maybe staring down at her, and she was always either too big or too small to get through that little green door, so she would just peek through the peephole when she could. A particular professor at the university, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, took a liking to this little girl and befriended her. Her antics inspired two books he wrote, under a pen name: Lewis Carroll.
This is Alice in Wonderland, guys. This is where Carroll was inspired to write Alice in Wonderland, and this is where the real Alice lived and played.
It's so special... It was so special. And we got to see it.
After all of that, there was one more experience to put the icing on the cake. It was nearing dinnertime, so we rounded up John and headed to the place where many of my favorite stories began: The Eagle and Child.
It's just a pub, really, like any other ordinary everyday pub. Except this pub is famous, and in modern times, it's gotten to capitalize on that and flaunt it. No matter, it's still the same pub where Tolkien, Lewis, and the rest of the Inklings would regularly meet to discuss their writing, chat, and get a pint. They called it the Bird and the Baby, and they had a particular corner near the fireplace that was traditionally their spot.
We didn't get to sit in the same spot, but we saw it. And we ordered our dinner there. And we were there. And I felt quite full-circle. I walked in the footsteps of my favorite authors. I still can't fully wrap my head around that... We had a jolly good time, the four of us, and stayed there a good long while before it was time for Brooke, Elsie, and I to bid John goodbye and catch a bus back to London.
I feel so full-circle, but at the same time, there are so many books to read and lives to explore from the Inklings and others that studied and wrote at Oxford, and in England. This is a literary journey that's only beginning.
When we got back to Oxford, Elsie came over my flat for tea, and when she went home I collapsed into bed, grateful for an extra hour of sleep provided by the UK daylight savings.
I'm going to have to pick up from Sunday in my next blog. I think Oxford is a good place to end, for now.
Orestia, Oxford... sometimes, words aren't quite enough to capture the specific feelings I get from what I see and do and think. My heart is full.
I'll write more later. For now, I need to try to get to bed at a decent hour!
Fight on, friends.
I miss my friends and family back home! Today, I was thinking about my Mom, my sisters, my Dad, both my grandmas, both my grandpas, my AGD sisters, and a large portion of my high school friends, and thinking about how I'm actually missing all of them. Again, I haven't had much time to miss all of ya'll for a lot of the semester, but when I think of you, I miss you. I'm excited to see your faces and give you all big hugs. You guys mean a lot to me.
But, as I mentioned, there's been a lot that's happened! I'll give you the highlights:
We had our third Master Class the Friday after I last wrote. It was from a pair, Kelly Hunger and Michael Dobson, who run a theatre for autistic children in the area and in the United States that works at helping these children improve their speech, eye contact, and relational skills with each other using Shakespeare. It was fascinating, and definitely inspiring! Theatre can do so much!
That next day, I met with Annie and Charlie at Trafalgar Square, and FINALLY got to see The Orestia adaptation there! I honestly should have blogged that night. The Orestia... this show... Is so hard to accurately describe, but the closest I can come is that it blew the socks off my mind. It blew my mind out of my mind. It may have changed my life. I wish I had time to see it again, and if I can, I might.
 |
| Annie, Me, and Charlie, waiting for the show to start! |
By setting it how they did, though, and arranging it the way it was, they opened my mind to a huge array of topics- what is revenge? what is truth? why are we, as people, so afraid of the truth? what is justice? what does it mean to love someone unconditionally? I wish I could remember all of the things I was thinking about afterwards... but man. What a can of worms that opened. It was spectacular theatre- just amazing. It was so good. I wish I could describe how I took it accurately enough. Man.
Charlie was actually seeing it for the second time, so he wasn't as emotionally affected as me. Instead, he got the chance to look at how the show itself worked, and how the actors accomplished what they did, instead of what they accomplished. Annie wasn't as blown away as I was at all, but she had just finished reading the original trilogy of plays immediately before I met with her to see the show. So... We'll blame that?
That night, Annie went home, but Charlie and I met my flatmates and his at St. Martin's in the Fields for a performance of Mozart's Requiem. I philosophized the entire time. Dang Orestia....
That Sunday, I discovered Primark. It's a clothing store chain that I've seen a lot of places here, with pretty cheap clothes. I thought I was going to pass out from claustrophobia and being smothered by hot air after being there 30 minutes, but the clothes are cute, and cheap... so I guess it's worth it? I don't think I'll be going back unless I really need to.
Last Monday... Oh, last Monday.
Monday was the longest day of school I've had at BADA all semester. We had an extra High Comedy class added to our schedule at 9am. So, instead of having three classes, starting at 11, we had 4, starting at 9am. We got out of class, round 2 of High Comedy, at 6:15, at which point we had to rush to the theatre to see a production of "A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes," an adaptation of Moliere's Tartuffe. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we got there, but we saw the show anyway. Personally, this was a production I can admire for how it affected the audience, myself included, but I cannot recommend it nor say I liked it at all, because my particular reaction was one of a lot of disbelief and anger. That's all I'll say on the subject, for now.
Tuesday was normal, though it's the last time we got a full class with Philip for Stage Combat, which makes me extremely sad. I love Philip!
Wednesday, we went to another show after our classes! It's the last all-school production we went to see, so it was extra special- we went to the English National Opera to see "La Boheme," the opera that inspired Rent. This was actually the first time I'd ever been to an opera, so I was really pumped. Plus, the opera building itself was absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, the opera itself did not live up to expectations, nor the space it was staged in. It was modernized, with a lot of unnecessary decisions made by the directors and singers. Basically, it tried to be Rent, and forgot that Rent was based off of it, not vice versa. Plus, it was highly melodramatic, thanks to the translation into English from the Italian (I think?) original libretto. So that was disappointing, but I can say that I've been to an opera now!
 |
| Look how gorgeous the building is, though |
Thursday night, I went to the pub with Alex, Alexa, and Charlie for Trivia Night, and we actually won!!! That was a fun surprise!
Friday was pretty normal- most of it was preparing for Saturday.
Ok. This past Saturday. It should have a blog post all it's own, again. My apologizes. But Saturday.
Brooke, Elsie, and I went to Oxford for the day. We originally went to see the city/university and, for Elsie and I, to visit our wonderful friend John, who's studying there. We accomplished these goals, and gladly, but the places we went to see and the activities we partook in turned the day into a literary pilgrimage.
First and foremost, Oxford is beautiful. Think of all the beautiful old buildings in London, and then condense them all down into a college town. Add some countryside around the edges, years and years and years of history and significance, and the prestige of Harvard, and there you have it.
It was very easy to get there by bus, and when we arrived, we spent some time in the Covered Market, nearby the bus station. Elsie got a hat, and Brooke and I got hot chocolate from a very new chocolate and gelato shop! The owner was extremely friendly, and talked to us for a while about his shop, how he makes all his hot chocolate and gelato, and his history. He was so fun to talk to! And the chocolate was fantastic.
John met us there, and took us on a walking tour around the meadow at Christchurch, one of the schools/colleges within Oxford. Autumn was the perfect time to do this- I'm so glad we went when we did. It was raining, but still gorgeous. I felt like I'd stepped into the world of a Robert Frost poem, a Jane Austin novel... the world of a literary mind. It's quaint and quiet, but with vast, gorgeous countryside. When you get to the right spot, you can see Christchurch in the misty distance, like an enchanted castle, begging you to enter and warning you to leave at the same time. Pure magic.
 |
| Brooke, Elsie, and John, walking ahead of me. |
 |
| Beautiful |
 |
| Accurate Snapchat from Brooke |
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| BRB Crying |
 |
| Like... that's his signature... right there!!!!! |
John then left us girls back at Christchurch. He went back to his room to get some homework done, while we waited in a line to get inside and explore. SO worth it! We walked up the staircase where McGonagall greets Harry as a first year, in the films, and then into the Hall... aka the Great Hall. It's beautiful. There's so much to look at, all at once. I think the best way to describe it is that there's a reverence and respect innate in it. It's grand and proud, and I love it! And, of course, I feel like a real Ravenclaw, now that I've been through the Great Hall like a Hogwarts first year.
 |
| The Great Hall! |
After being there for a while, we still were anxious to see another literary landmark that didn't seem to be accessible to visitors. So, we cornered an employee at Christchurch and asked her how to get there. Turns out, you can only find it if you're interested or know enough about it to ask! She led us there- through the cathedral, and into a secret door that leads out to the Christchurch courtyard. There, we could see the apartments where the Dean of the school and his family would stay. Between us and that was a long stone wall. However, in the middle of that wall is a little green door. Behind the door is a huge tree, at this time of year with red-orange leaves. Guess why it's significant! Go ahead, guess!
The Dean of the school around the turn of the 20th century, Liddell (last name, don't remember his first), had a young daughter named Alice. Since Alice would've grown up at Oxford, this little courtyard that we couldn't see was a primary playplace for her. Her cat would always be climbing up the tree, maybe staring down at her, and she was always either too big or too small to get through that little green door, so she would just peek through the peephole when she could. A particular professor at the university, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, took a liking to this little girl and befriended her. Her antics inspired two books he wrote, under a pen name: Lewis Carroll.
 |
| Can you spot the door? |
It's so special... It was so special. And we got to see it.
After all of that, there was one more experience to put the icing on the cake. It was nearing dinnertime, so we rounded up John and headed to the place where many of my favorite stories began: The Eagle and Child.
It's just a pub, really, like any other ordinary everyday pub. Except this pub is famous, and in modern times, it's gotten to capitalize on that and flaunt it. No matter, it's still the same pub where Tolkien, Lewis, and the rest of the Inklings would regularly meet to discuss their writing, chat, and get a pint. They called it the Bird and the Baby, and they had a particular corner near the fireplace that was traditionally their spot.
 |
| The Inklings' Corner |
 |
| Thanks for reminding us ;) |
I feel so full-circle, but at the same time, there are so many books to read and lives to explore from the Inklings and others that studied and wrote at Oxford, and in England. This is a literary journey that's only beginning.
When we got back to Oxford, Elsie came over my flat for tea, and when she went home I collapsed into bed, grateful for an extra hour of sleep provided by the UK daylight savings.
I'm going to have to pick up from Sunday in my next blog. I think Oxford is a good place to end, for now.
Orestia, Oxford... sometimes, words aren't quite enough to capture the specific feelings I get from what I see and do and think. My heart is full.
 |
Fight on, friends.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Hamlet- LD38-44, October 10-15, 2015
In order to make myself feel like less of an abnormality, I like to think that all Shakespeare fans and followers show some favoritism on strong levels to at least one of the characters in one of the plays at some point or another in their lives. I mean, everyone has a character they love the most in novels, movies, and TV shows, so why not plays?
By loving and favoritism, I of course mean having a crush on a fictional character.
...Come on, I can't be alone.... right?
It is grossly apparent to everyone who's known me through this past month how much I adore Hamlet. I do, and my explanations why probably aren't even eloquent or sound. I can't help it. These past 44 days I've been in London, I have slowly fallen in love with Hamlet as I've gotten to better understand and know Shakespeare and his plays.
As a result, it's the first play I think of whenever anyone wants me to work on anything. I keep referring to the select speeches and quotes from the play that I know, I finally got to work on a scene from it in my Shakespeare class, and Ian is letting me work on a soliloquy for my next tutorial because, let's be honest, I'll probably never have a proper chance to actually play the Prince of Denmark. But man, I love him.
Ahem. Anyways. How was your week, Rachel?
Last weekend was lovely, actually. I wrote about Friday, but Saturday, I spent the day with Olivia, Alexa, Karli, and the boys on a "Culture Crawl." We started with the National Gallery, and I got to see some new paintings and artists in addition to the ones I saw last time. I've discovered something really cool about myself: Monet is my favorite painter, and my favorite time period of paintings is... I think it's called Impressionism and Post Impressionism? It's the time starting around 1870-1920/30. I like art!!!
After a quick lunch, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which was a first time for me. I actually enjoyed it more than the National Gallery. There's an awful lot to be learned about history there. Plus, each painting has an elaborate, sometimes very interesting story or place in history or both. I got to see the faces and portraits of a lot of figures I've read about or admired in history, like Aphra Behn, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelly, Queen Victoria, and Shakespeare, of course.
We had time after that, when we ended up walking down to Big Ben and Parliament, followed by Buckingham Palace. I did all that the weekend before, so I'm a bit disappointed in myself for jumping the gun when I could have seen all of these landmarks with friends for the first time instead of just seeing them all twice... At least I knew the way there?
We then went back to the Landward and enjoyed some birthday cake, because the whole day was an extension of Olivia's birthday, and the night ended many, many late hours later in the depths of deep, meaningful conversations. It was a really, really enjoyable evening, actually. One of my favorites since I've been here.
Sunday was a homework day, from start to finish. I don't remember how much I got done, but I do know I only left the flat once, to go to Waitrose.
Monday... feels like ages ago, to be honest. I had a tutorial with Ian that I totally bombed. I should've brought in my Midsummer Night's Dream monologue that I've been struggling with, in retrospect, but instead I tried to learn something new. Ugh. Stupid hindsight. I also went up for my scene in High Comedy, but that went well, and was assigned a scene from Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare class.
Which continues my discussion on crushes on fictional characters. Second to Hamlet, for me, is probably Benedick, from Much Ado. He's a boyish rouge, but quite charming. And very witty. And, of course, he doesn't die in the end. I like Much Ado very much, as a play.
Tuesdays are always nice. I didn't do much in Shakespeare, and I absolutely love Stage Combat, where we learned how to fall. As a consequence, I and my classmates are all still very, very sore. That night, we went to our next school-assigned show, Medea at the Almeidea Theatre. It's an adaptation of Medea, set in a more modern context. I'm not upset I went, but honestly, I feel very indifferent and overall unmoved by the production.
Yesterday was long, since we had four classes in a row and I was already exhausted from the previous days. The best part of the day was the end of it, where I came home, made myself a great dinner, blasted Disney songs, and then talked and hung out with the guys (who came for tea, of course) for a good long time before trying to get work done. I was feeling so utterly cheerful for the first time all day, then I ruined it trying to figure out my plans for our midterm break. I've got a great idea, but I haven't booked anything yet. A lot of the trip, if I want to stick to my plan, I'll be doing alone. I don't mind being alone, of course, but... for traveling around Europe like this, for a whole week, when I know other people will be too... it does feel a bit lonely. I may end up trashing the whole plan and just jumping on someone else's trip with them... but then I won't get to see half of what I want to... and that makes me almost equally sad. I still don't know what to do, but I was up way too late figuring all that out.
And finally, today.
I love my Thursday class schedule. My classes all went pretty well today- I was just exhausted all day. I really ought to get more sleep, since the coffee from the BADA canteen (cafeteria) doesn't last much longer than one class. Plus, I'm really stressed about the trips for the rest of the semester, our big auditions coming up in a few weeks, and, as always, the inevitable end of the semester which I wish I could delay for as long as physically possible.
The highlight of today, then, was going to the Odeon Cinema with my flatmates and getting to see the National Theatre Live screening of Hamlet, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.
Behold: My favorite Shakespeare play starring one of my favorite actors as my favorite Shakespeare character. Best. Thing. Ever.
The show itself was far from perfect, however, we here at Flat 7 still think it was a very good production. I know I loved it, and not just because of Mr. Cumberbatch. The production design was fantastic- especially the use of light and the set. The other actors didn't stand out as either incredible or awful, which is good I suppose. But, for the most part, it was the most fun for me to finally see Hamlet all the way through on a stage. Even though it was still technically on a screen, it was still a screening of a theatrical production, and it was Live, and not stopping at any point for anyone. And that, to me, is a huge treat.
I love Hamlet. Was that too subtle? I love Hamlet.
I love his mind- that noble mind that the characters around him so often talk about. I love his humanity and those imperfections and facets of his nature and how much of him there is to explore. He's got a perceptive, though dark, way of looking at the world that sees situations and people as few others can. He's the most real character that I know of. I mean, yes, he's not a man of action, and he could have avoided all the trouble he got himself into had he acted sooner, but in his situation? I probably would have done the same thing. The way he thinks, in his soliloquies, is real. It's relatable. It's the depths of human thought that you'd never want to admit you had run through your head at any point ever- especially that infamous "To be, or not to be." He's got moments of lightness; you can tell that before his father's death he was the brightest, wittiest, most pleasant courtier and prince in Denmark. He can see right through people. He's a planner, though he can't stick with his plans (which is a little too relatable for yours truly). And, lastly, he's not to blame. Really, he's not. If Claudius hadn't pulled a stunt of vaulting ambition, like his friend Macbeth did over in Scotland, Young Hamlet wouldn't have had to be in the position he was in. If Claudius wanted to respectfully commit murder to become king, he should've had the sense to kill both the King and the King's immediate heir- not just marry his sister-in-law.
I'm really pleased with how much theatre I've seen this past month and a half. It's more than I usually get to see, of professional theatre, that is. It's giving me a great sense of what I like, what I prefer, and what, to me, makes good theatre. I'm learning a lot about myself through these plays.
Remind me later to stay up to date with my blogging, though. And please, pray that I figure out what I'm doing when I go on my midterm break in a few weeks.
Fight on, friends.
By loving and favoritism, I of course mean having a crush on a fictional character.
...Come on, I can't be alone.... right?
It is grossly apparent to everyone who's known me through this past month how much I adore Hamlet. I do, and my explanations why probably aren't even eloquent or sound. I can't help it. These past 44 days I've been in London, I have slowly fallen in love with Hamlet as I've gotten to better understand and know Shakespeare and his plays.
As a result, it's the first play I think of whenever anyone wants me to work on anything. I keep referring to the select speeches and quotes from the play that I know, I finally got to work on a scene from it in my Shakespeare class, and Ian is letting me work on a soliloquy for my next tutorial because, let's be honest, I'll probably never have a proper chance to actually play the Prince of Denmark. But man, I love him.
Ahem. Anyways. How was your week, Rachel?
Last weekend was lovely, actually. I wrote about Friday, but Saturday, I spent the day with Olivia, Alexa, Karli, and the boys on a "Culture Crawl." We started with the National Gallery, and I got to see some new paintings and artists in addition to the ones I saw last time. I've discovered something really cool about myself: Monet is my favorite painter, and my favorite time period of paintings is... I think it's called Impressionism and Post Impressionism? It's the time starting around 1870-1920/30. I like art!!!
After a quick lunch, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which was a first time for me. I actually enjoyed it more than the National Gallery. There's an awful lot to be learned about history there. Plus, each painting has an elaborate, sometimes very interesting story or place in history or both. I got to see the faces and portraits of a lot of figures I've read about or admired in history, like Aphra Behn, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelly, Queen Victoria, and Shakespeare, of course.
We had time after that, when we ended up walking down to Big Ben and Parliament, followed by Buckingham Palace. I did all that the weekend before, so I'm a bit disappointed in myself for jumping the gun when I could have seen all of these landmarks with friends for the first time instead of just seeing them all twice... At least I knew the way there?
We then went back to the Landward and enjoyed some birthday cake, because the whole day was an extension of Olivia's birthday, and the night ended many, many late hours later in the depths of deep, meaningful conversations. It was a really, really enjoyable evening, actually. One of my favorites since I've been here.
 |
| We had Alex take the picture. He hates being in them. |
Monday... feels like ages ago, to be honest. I had a tutorial with Ian that I totally bombed. I should've brought in my Midsummer Night's Dream monologue that I've been struggling with, in retrospect, but instead I tried to learn something new. Ugh. Stupid hindsight. I also went up for my scene in High Comedy, but that went well, and was assigned a scene from Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare class.
Which continues my discussion on crushes on fictional characters. Second to Hamlet, for me, is probably Benedick, from Much Ado. He's a boyish rouge, but quite charming. And very witty. And, of course, he doesn't die in the end. I like Much Ado very much, as a play.
Tuesdays are always nice. I didn't do much in Shakespeare, and I absolutely love Stage Combat, where we learned how to fall. As a consequence, I and my classmates are all still very, very sore. That night, we went to our next school-assigned show, Medea at the Almeidea Theatre. It's an adaptation of Medea, set in a more modern context. I'm not upset I went, but honestly, I feel very indifferent and overall unmoved by the production.
Yesterday was long, since we had four classes in a row and I was already exhausted from the previous days. The best part of the day was the end of it, where I came home, made myself a great dinner, blasted Disney songs, and then talked and hung out with the guys (who came for tea, of course) for a good long time before trying to get work done. I was feeling so utterly cheerful for the first time all day, then I ruined it trying to figure out my plans for our midterm break. I've got a great idea, but I haven't booked anything yet. A lot of the trip, if I want to stick to my plan, I'll be doing alone. I don't mind being alone, of course, but... for traveling around Europe like this, for a whole week, when I know other people will be too... it does feel a bit lonely. I may end up trashing the whole plan and just jumping on someone else's trip with them... but then I won't get to see half of what I want to... and that makes me almost equally sad. I still don't know what to do, but I was up way too late figuring all that out.
And finally, today.
I love my Thursday class schedule. My classes all went pretty well today- I was just exhausted all day. I really ought to get more sleep, since the coffee from the BADA canteen (cafeteria) doesn't last much longer than one class. Plus, I'm really stressed about the trips for the rest of the semester, our big auditions coming up in a few weeks, and, as always, the inevitable end of the semester which I wish I could delay for as long as physically possible.
The highlight of today, then, was going to the Odeon Cinema with my flatmates and getting to see the National Theatre Live screening of Hamlet, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.
Behold: My favorite Shakespeare play starring one of my favorite actors as my favorite Shakespeare character. Best. Thing. Ever.
The show itself was far from perfect, however, we here at Flat 7 still think it was a very good production. I know I loved it, and not just because of Mr. Cumberbatch. The production design was fantastic- especially the use of light and the set. The other actors didn't stand out as either incredible or awful, which is good I suppose. But, for the most part, it was the most fun for me to finally see Hamlet all the way through on a stage. Even though it was still technically on a screen, it was still a screening of a theatrical production, and it was Live, and not stopping at any point for anyone. And that, to me, is a huge treat.
I love Hamlet. Was that too subtle? I love Hamlet.
I love his mind- that noble mind that the characters around him so often talk about. I love his humanity and those imperfections and facets of his nature and how much of him there is to explore. He's got a perceptive, though dark, way of looking at the world that sees situations and people as few others can. He's the most real character that I know of. I mean, yes, he's not a man of action, and he could have avoided all the trouble he got himself into had he acted sooner, but in his situation? I probably would have done the same thing. The way he thinks, in his soliloquies, is real. It's relatable. It's the depths of human thought that you'd never want to admit you had run through your head at any point ever- especially that infamous "To be, or not to be." He's got moments of lightness; you can tell that before his father's death he was the brightest, wittiest, most pleasant courtier and prince in Denmark. He can see right through people. He's a planner, though he can't stick with his plans (which is a little too relatable for yours truly). And, lastly, he's not to blame. Really, he's not. If Claudius hadn't pulled a stunt of vaulting ambition, like his friend Macbeth did over in Scotland, Young Hamlet wouldn't have had to be in the position he was in. If Claudius wanted to respectfully commit murder to become king, he should've had the sense to kill both the King and the King's immediate heir- not just marry his sister-in-law.
I'm really pleased with how much theatre I've seen this past month and a half. It's more than I usually get to see, of professional theatre, that is. It's giving me a great sense of what I like, what I prefer, and what, to me, makes good theatre. I'm learning a lot about myself through these plays.
Remind me later to stay up to date with my blogging, though. And please, pray that I figure out what I'm doing when I go on my midterm break in a few weeks.
Fight on, friends.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Earnest to Gypsy- LD33-37, October 5-9, 2015
Forgive me, friends, it's been a very rough week.
Immediately following my personal London crawl over the weekend, I realized that I had temporarily forgotten that I am still an actor in London, and not just a passer-by. Monday morning hit me square in the face with Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare class, absolutely failing at playing mafia in Movement, and dodging going up with my scene in High Comedy. We did, however, learn the names of the plays that we will be performing at the end of the semester! They are The Revenger's Tragedy, The Sea Voyage, and Undermilk Wood. Unfortunately, none of these plays are by Shakespeare, but working on any of them is looking to still be fun!
Immediately after classes on Monday, our group booked it down to the Charing Cross Station to get to our play of the week: The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville Theatre. This is the play that made me fall in love with Oscar Wilde's work and wit my freshman year of high school. I have loved his style ever since, but until now, I'd never seen a production of "Earnest" onstage before. That said, I knew I was bound to love it before I got there. It's such a fun, witty, clever play that you can read or see a hundred times and still be surprised by the ending. It's just fantastic. The production we saw featured David Suchet as Lady Bracknell- a unique choice, but a fun, fun opportunity for him as a well-known actor and for the public. The production was remarkably enjoyable, actually! I found it a great deal of fun, and was laughing at most all the right places. David Suchet was undoubtedly clever as Lady Bracknell, of course, but I also really enjoyed the performances of the actors playing Algernon and Jack. They had a very strong, clear relationship onstage that made them fun to watch. The ladies, Gwendolyn and Cecily, did fine, but tended towards caricaturing their roles around a few basic facts about them. Their voices were very difficult to get used to as well- they were high, shrill, frilly, and often hard to understand. Nevertheless, the tea scene in the garden was brilliant, as it should be.
Tuesday was, therefore, preceded with very little time for homework, again. On top of that, I was asked to present my monologue to my Shakespeare class- the monologue I had barely worked on, even though I knew the words, absolutely had no idea how to connect to, and was feeling really stuck over. I basically just made myself look stupid and felt bad about it the entire rest of the day. Even Philip and stage combat, two things I absolutely love, didn't quite shake the feeling.
Wednesday didn't help. I enjoyed the play we discussed in Theatre History, and when my scene went up for High Comedy we actually did surprisingly well. Modern Physical was fine, though I didn't really do very well (again), and by Voice I was so stressed it was hard to relax. I was able to calm down that night at dinner, luckily. It was Olivia's 21st birthday, so a large group of us went out to dinner and it turned out to be very, very fun!!! Happy Birthday to her!!!
All day though, I couldn't stop thinking about the monologue I had done the day before. I turned it over in my head over and over, went home and paraphrased it, repeated the lines to myself, tried to work on it, but just got completely stuck. All of this made me feel incredibly stupid, since the monologue is from a very well-known and simple character from another simple and well-known play: Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. By the end of my railings, whether out of frustration or actual epiphany, I decided I really dislike Helena. I do. I don't like her decisions as a character. I think she blows things out of proportion and is far too hung up over Demetrius and she just doesn't make sense to me.
So that's the frustration I had with me going into Thursday, where I had to say lines of this speech in Voice and Shakespeare. I expressed my opinion in both classes, instead of bursting out in tears of shame, embarrassment, and frustration, but then I felt even worse: I'm not supposed to be judging my character. My job, as an actor, is to find a way to connect to the character and bring them to life, not to judge who they are or have extreme opinions about them as people and the decisions they make. That's not my job in real life, so why should it be for this very real, fictional person? It was, again, humiliating. I don't actually remember what got me to calm down about this monologue besides talking with Russ about it, allowing him to tell me to let it rest for now, and suggesting I work on my favorite Shakespeare play/slowly becoming my favorite play in general, Hamlet.
Nevertheless, I don't want to stop working on Helena now. Yes, I got frustrated and stuck. Yes, I made a stupid pretentious fool out of myself in class. Yes, Helena sucks. But I feel like letting this piece drop is the same as giving up. I want to figure out how to make even this difficult piece of text, for me, work. I'm ashamed to say that it is a difficult piece, but that doesn't mean I don't want to figure it out. Hopefully, I can still do that this weekend.
The other thing that helped on Thursday was distraction and some alone time. I took myself out to tea in Camden Market before coming back to the Landward to my beautiful flatmates, furiously figuring out outlines for Theatre History papers. I joined the party.
We all ended up staying up much, much later than normal/recommended. Even now, I'm up much later than I'd like to be, but last night's lateness was ridiculous. But we all persevered, and the papers are now done. To be honest, the paper didn't stress me as much as the monologue did in the slightest. The paper made me groan with the anticipation of a tedious but necessary task. The monologue made me want to pass out. Plus, I really enjoyed my paper topic and the play I was writing about, which helped the process a lot. I wrote about a character named Bosola from John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi." 7.5/10, I recommend.
Thanks to last night's lateness, getting out of bed this morning was a bit of a struggle. Luckily, it was much easier to be awake and function as a human being going throughout my day. Actually, I didn't nearly as tired as I thought I would. I had coffee anyways after another successful dodging of scene presentation in High Comedy, and in Dramatic Cricticism we turned in our papers (some more frantically than others, but all in eventually) and had a chance to discuss the Henry V we saw at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Then, to add a cherry on top of the end of a long week, we had a master class from Pippa Nixon- a successful British actress. She came to talk to us and help us with audition technique, which I needed badly. All that she said was really, really helpful, actually, and I feel much more confident having the tools she gave us for going into auditions. I even got a chance to ask her about preparing for Disneyland auditions, though I approached her on this after class since it was such a specific topic.
The weather was beautiful again, the Landward was cozy, I had a blanket and Much Ado about Nothing and soup, and as Olivia took a nap, all was well. And then she woke up, and we decided to go see a show, and everything got better.
Olivia and I rushed Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre. It stars Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose and Lara Pulver as Louise. If you don't know those names, perhaps you know them as Doloros Umbridge in the Harry Potter films and Irene Adler (aka THE Woman) in Sherlock. Yes. I saw them both onstage.
I want to type about Gypsy. I want to write all about it, and how amazing it was as a story, and how incredible the actors were, and how the set was just fantastic. Honestly though, there are no words accurate enough to describe the awe and reverence I feel about the show or to describe the show itself well enough. Olivia and I stood up to give Imelda a standing ovation, and the rest of the cast an ovation, and then left the theatre in complete silence. There are simply no words. This is frustrating because I want to describe my feelings about the show but there are just too many.
It is indescribable. It is beyond compliment. This play was so. good. I'm still not emotionally or mentally recovered. It's hard to type this without wanting to merely stare into space and continue examining and soaking in those brain waves the show has left in my mind. It is beyond wonderful.
We went to find the stage door afterwards, which resulted in a fairly long wait for our two actors of interest to come out. It was worth it though. I fought to shake Lara Pulver's hand, since a) she was a stunning Louise and b) she is the primary character in my favorite episode of my favorite TV show. Olivia and I made some friends, also waiting by the stage door, and chatted with them until Imelda Staunton finally came outside. She was so sweet, and had a pen with her to sign programs (she signed mine!!!), and took care to take her time. I told her, when she got to me, that the show was brilliant and I was a big fan, and she thanked me very kindly and sweetly. I'd love to have a normal conversation with her and see more of what she's like as a person. I've seen her play, on screen and stage, very powerful, grounded, overbearing characters, and it would be fun to see how similar this character type is to her.
Long story short, Lara and Imelda. Oh my gosh.
We got back to the flat just in time to gush about the play to Alexa, and then the boys, who showed up for tea the second time this week. We all had pretty crazy days today, so it was nice to relax, recover from Gypsy, and catch up after we've all been working so hard. I love having the boys over for tea, and I'm glad they come often. It leaves a terrible mess of dishes in our sink, but they're very good company and we've had some great conversations, tonight included. We'll be spending more time together, the 3 boys and 3 of us from my flat, tomorrow and this weekend.
It's been a long journey this week. It's hard to remember, sometimes, that being an actor is hard. It's some of the hardest work I've had to do because in order for it to work, you have to work hard at it, and a lot of that work requires all the physical, emotional, and mental strength and recall and useage that you can muster. It's exhausting. This week was one where I doubted my decision to be an actor. I'm so grateful for pieces like The Importance of Being Earnest and Gypsy to remind me why it is I want to act, and why I'm doing what I'm doing. Sure, the performance requires a lot of me, but at the end of the day, it's not about me- It's about spreading and sharing some pretty incredible stories and ideas, my ideas, with the world. If at first you don't succeed, try try again.
I will continue to work on Helena though. Mark my words...
Fight on, friends.
Immediately following my personal London crawl over the weekend, I realized that I had temporarily forgotten that I am still an actor in London, and not just a passer-by. Monday morning hit me square in the face with Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare class, absolutely failing at playing mafia in Movement, and dodging going up with my scene in High Comedy. We did, however, learn the names of the plays that we will be performing at the end of the semester! They are The Revenger's Tragedy, The Sea Voyage, and Undermilk Wood. Unfortunately, none of these plays are by Shakespeare, but working on any of them is looking to still be fun!
Immediately after classes on Monday, our group booked it down to the Charing Cross Station to get to our play of the week: The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville Theatre. This is the play that made me fall in love with Oscar Wilde's work and wit my freshman year of high school. I have loved his style ever since, but until now, I'd never seen a production of "Earnest" onstage before. That said, I knew I was bound to love it before I got there. It's such a fun, witty, clever play that you can read or see a hundred times and still be surprised by the ending. It's just fantastic. The production we saw featured David Suchet as Lady Bracknell- a unique choice, but a fun, fun opportunity for him as a well-known actor and for the public. The production was remarkably enjoyable, actually! I found it a great deal of fun, and was laughing at most all the right places. David Suchet was undoubtedly clever as Lady Bracknell, of course, but I also really enjoyed the performances of the actors playing Algernon and Jack. They had a very strong, clear relationship onstage that made them fun to watch. The ladies, Gwendolyn and Cecily, did fine, but tended towards caricaturing their roles around a few basic facts about them. Their voices were very difficult to get used to as well- they were high, shrill, frilly, and often hard to understand. Nevertheless, the tea scene in the garden was brilliant, as it should be.
Tuesday was, therefore, preceded with very little time for homework, again. On top of that, I was asked to present my monologue to my Shakespeare class- the monologue I had barely worked on, even though I knew the words, absolutely had no idea how to connect to, and was feeling really stuck over. I basically just made myself look stupid and felt bad about it the entire rest of the day. Even Philip and stage combat, two things I absolutely love, didn't quite shake the feeling.
Wednesday didn't help. I enjoyed the play we discussed in Theatre History, and when my scene went up for High Comedy we actually did surprisingly well. Modern Physical was fine, though I didn't really do very well (again), and by Voice I was so stressed it was hard to relax. I was able to calm down that night at dinner, luckily. It was Olivia's 21st birthday, so a large group of us went out to dinner and it turned out to be very, very fun!!! Happy Birthday to her!!!
All day though, I couldn't stop thinking about the monologue I had done the day before. I turned it over in my head over and over, went home and paraphrased it, repeated the lines to myself, tried to work on it, but just got completely stuck. All of this made me feel incredibly stupid, since the monologue is from a very well-known and simple character from another simple and well-known play: Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. By the end of my railings, whether out of frustration or actual epiphany, I decided I really dislike Helena. I do. I don't like her decisions as a character. I think she blows things out of proportion and is far too hung up over Demetrius and she just doesn't make sense to me.
So that's the frustration I had with me going into Thursday, where I had to say lines of this speech in Voice and Shakespeare. I expressed my opinion in both classes, instead of bursting out in tears of shame, embarrassment, and frustration, but then I felt even worse: I'm not supposed to be judging my character. My job, as an actor, is to find a way to connect to the character and bring them to life, not to judge who they are or have extreme opinions about them as people and the decisions they make. That's not my job in real life, so why should it be for this very real, fictional person? It was, again, humiliating. I don't actually remember what got me to calm down about this monologue besides talking with Russ about it, allowing him to tell me to let it rest for now, and suggesting I work on my favorite Shakespeare play/slowly becoming my favorite play in general, Hamlet.
Nevertheless, I don't want to stop working on Helena now. Yes, I got frustrated and stuck. Yes, I made a stupid pretentious fool out of myself in class. Yes, Helena sucks. But I feel like letting this piece drop is the same as giving up. I want to figure out how to make even this difficult piece of text, for me, work. I'm ashamed to say that it is a difficult piece, but that doesn't mean I don't want to figure it out. Hopefully, I can still do that this weekend.
The other thing that helped on Thursday was distraction and some alone time. I took myself out to tea in Camden Market before coming back to the Landward to my beautiful flatmates, furiously figuring out outlines for Theatre History papers. I joined the party.
We all ended up staying up much, much later than normal/recommended. Even now, I'm up much later than I'd like to be, but last night's lateness was ridiculous. But we all persevered, and the papers are now done. To be honest, the paper didn't stress me as much as the monologue did in the slightest. The paper made me groan with the anticipation of a tedious but necessary task. The monologue made me want to pass out. Plus, I really enjoyed my paper topic and the play I was writing about, which helped the process a lot. I wrote about a character named Bosola from John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi." 7.5/10, I recommend.
Thanks to last night's lateness, getting out of bed this morning was a bit of a struggle. Luckily, it was much easier to be awake and function as a human being going throughout my day. Actually, I didn't nearly as tired as I thought I would. I had coffee anyways after another successful dodging of scene presentation in High Comedy, and in Dramatic Cricticism we turned in our papers (some more frantically than others, but all in eventually) and had a chance to discuss the Henry V we saw at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Then, to add a cherry on top of the end of a long week, we had a master class from Pippa Nixon- a successful British actress. She came to talk to us and help us with audition technique, which I needed badly. All that she said was really, really helpful, actually, and I feel much more confident having the tools she gave us for going into auditions. I even got a chance to ask her about preparing for Disneyland auditions, though I approached her on this after class since it was such a specific topic.
The weather was beautiful again, the Landward was cozy, I had a blanket and Much Ado about Nothing and soup, and as Olivia took a nap, all was well. And then she woke up, and we decided to go see a show, and everything got better.
Olivia and I rushed Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre. It stars Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose and Lara Pulver as Louise. If you don't know those names, perhaps you know them as Doloros Umbridge in the Harry Potter films and Irene Adler (aka THE Woman) in Sherlock. Yes. I saw them both onstage.
I want to type about Gypsy. I want to write all about it, and how amazing it was as a story, and how incredible the actors were, and how the set was just fantastic. Honestly though, there are no words accurate enough to describe the awe and reverence I feel about the show or to describe the show itself well enough. Olivia and I stood up to give Imelda a standing ovation, and the rest of the cast an ovation, and then left the theatre in complete silence. There are simply no words. This is frustrating because I want to describe my feelings about the show but there are just too many.
It is indescribable. It is beyond compliment. This play was so. good. I'm still not emotionally or mentally recovered. It's hard to type this without wanting to merely stare into space and continue examining and soaking in those brain waves the show has left in my mind. It is beyond wonderful.
We went to find the stage door afterwards, which resulted in a fairly long wait for our two actors of interest to come out. It was worth it though. I fought to shake Lara Pulver's hand, since a) she was a stunning Louise and b) she is the primary character in my favorite episode of my favorite TV show. Olivia and I made some friends, also waiting by the stage door, and chatted with them until Imelda Staunton finally came outside. She was so sweet, and had a pen with her to sign programs (she signed mine!!!), and took care to take her time. I told her, when she got to me, that the show was brilliant and I was a big fan, and she thanked me very kindly and sweetly. I'd love to have a normal conversation with her and see more of what she's like as a person. I've seen her play, on screen and stage, very powerful, grounded, overbearing characters, and it would be fun to see how similar this character type is to her.
Long story short, Lara and Imelda. Oh my gosh.
We got back to the flat just in time to gush about the play to Alexa, and then the boys, who showed up for tea the second time this week. We all had pretty crazy days today, so it was nice to relax, recover from Gypsy, and catch up after we've all been working so hard. I love having the boys over for tea, and I'm glad they come often. It leaves a terrible mess of dishes in our sink, but they're very good company and we've had some great conversations, tonight included. We'll be spending more time together, the 3 boys and 3 of us from my flat, tomorrow and this weekend.
It's been a long journey this week. It's hard to remember, sometimes, that being an actor is hard. It's some of the hardest work I've had to do because in order for it to work, you have to work hard at it, and a lot of that work requires all the physical, emotional, and mental strength and recall and useage that you can muster. It's exhausting. This week was one where I doubted my decision to be an actor. I'm so grateful for pieces like The Importance of Being Earnest and Gypsy to remind me why it is I want to act, and why I'm doing what I'm doing. Sure, the performance requires a lot of me, but at the end of the day, it's not about me- It's about spreading and sharing some pretty incredible stories and ideas, my ideas, with the world. If at first you don't succeed, try try again.
I will continue to work on Helena though. Mark my words...
Fight on, friends.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
My Self-Guided London Tour- LD31-32, October 3-4, 2015
Finally, I am a cultured "Londoner."
In lieu of big plans for the weekend, I decided to finally give myself the full, self-guided, London tour.
Future visitors, take note.
Saturday, though I was behind schedule, I eventually got up, put a light bag together, and took the Bakerloo line from Edgeware Road to Lamden North station. From Lamden North, besides having a pretty cool small view of the London Eye, I found the 159 bus headed the direction that wasn't Marble Arch and took it for a few stops.
Along the way on those stops, I saw what I think may have been London City Hall. I don't quite remember, but it was grandiose and cool.
If I had taken that bus all the way up to Oxford Circus, I would have driven past most of the other major landmarks and seen nearly everything London considers iconic in a manner of minutes. However, I'm me, and I like to explore, so I got off the bus at the Westminster Abbey stop.
I get off the bus, do a 180 turn, and BOOM. There's Big Ben, smack in front of me, in full, from bottom to top. Attached to the Houses of Parliament.
Now, normally, this is where you get your friends to take cool pictures of you in front of all the landmarks. Unfortunately, my friends weren't with me, since they were doing what normal students do on the weekends and were sleeping in.
Forgive me, friends, but this tourist trip is also a series of selfies.
The wonderful thing about this little tourist square is that it holds most of the major buildings for the English government: Parliament/Ben, the Supreme Court building, the building I can't remember the name of, and also Westminster Abbey, which is actually where coronations and important things happen.
I decided not to get back on the bus, since I could take more time if I walked everywhere. I walked a very short while along the riverbank, so I could get this picture:
(Yes, I'm a dork)
Going back out to the main street, you go by Downing Street and the famous 10 Downing street address. It's much more elaborate than I expected, actually. There's a huge gate, and it's heavily guarded by London Police.
Continuing along the road brings you to the Palace Guard and Calvary Headquarters. I didn't realize at the time how close I was to Buckingham Palace, but knowing that now makes a whole lot more sense.
I didn't catch the Buckingham Palace changing of the guard, because I was watching the tail end of it here at the Horse Guard.
Across the street is Whitehall, a building with a beautiful, grand banqueting hall and the very same courtyard where Charles I was executed (if you know your British history). This banqueting hall is likely the first place some Shakespeare plays like 12th Night were performed, and where court masques (elaborate forms of performance just for the court people) were performed. The building was made by one of the most famous architects of Shakespeare's time, Inigo Jones.
Unfortunately, a lot of renovation is happening to the building, so I didn't really see all of it, including the infamous courtyard, but I did go inside the banqueting hall.
It was around 11:45 at this time. I had until 12:45, and I really wasn't sure what to do next. So, I hung out in Trafalgar Square for a short while, where they were holding a garish meeting for the NFL. This is out of place in London, where American football should not exist, and I heartily disapproved. So I went inside a Waterstones bookstore instead and lamented at all the books I couldn't buy because money is a thing that exists and is limited. Also, I do not have all the time in the world to read all the beautiful fabulous books I could ever wish for *sigh*...
Instead, I went to Buckingham Palace.
The Mall walk to the Palace really builds up the place. You walk right along the edge of St. James Park, which is the nicest, most lovely, manicured park I've seen in London yet, until you get to the palace at the edge of the road. And then, it's white and gold and white and gold and the red of the tiny little guards but mostly white and gold and tourists.
By this time, I was over my time limit and really had to get a move on.
To get to the Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert Museums from Buckingham Palace, take the St. James park station to South Kensington. Or, if your mother is coming to visit and is staying at the Holiday Inn, take another station after that to Gloucester.
Mom decided to be super, super sweet and pick up a trip to London so she could see me for a day/afternoon! In order to see her, I put the rest of my culture crawl on hold for the day and went to her hotel instead. She looks lovely, as always. We walked up through Hyde Park together to get to my flat, which she was anxious to see, and then walked back down along the edge of the park to check out Harrods, upon my grandmother's recommendation.
Harrods is... both underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time. I am NOT used to seeing top brands everywhere, all in the same place- even in Los Angeles. In LA, they're at least surrounded by things I can actually afford, and are all in different stores. But here... Nope. Harrods is the definition of extravagent spending and poshness. It was overwhelming because of how much of a maze it was- 6 floors and a basement with beautifully decorated stairways and escalators and rooms upon rooms following one after the other of the absolute top designer clothes and shoes and whatever else you can possibly think of all in one roof with prices I was too scared to check. It was underwhelming because it wasn't what I expected. I expected to be able to actually go shopping here, as though it was a mall similar to the ones in the States. Instead, I was hit with this dazzling pound sign of glory. However, the second floor has a bookshop, a chocolate shop, a few rooms completely dedicated to Christmas, and a gifts section. It is my favorite floor, and the only one I could see myself actually buying things in.
Thus disappointed, we went back to my Mom's hotel room for dinner, chilling, and a very early bedtime by my standards.
We got up early this morning, got breakfast, and then it was time for Mom to go already. Sadness :( It's always fun to see my Mom, and especially now. I've been away from home for longer stretches of time, since I've been away at school, but never for this long while I'm this far away. I haven't actually missed home as a place, and I haven't missed LA as a place either. What I miss are the people there- I've missed my family, and friends, and spending time with them, etc. But even then, I have Annie and Elsie a hop skip and jump away, for when I miss high school friends, and it's hard to miss college friends when you're living with your sorority sister, sorority Big sister, and one of the sweetest people to exist at USC. So, it was just my family missing, and seeing my Mom got to fill in that gap for me a little bit. Also, it was fun to receive my Dad's jealous texts- he wished he could be here too.
I left Mom fairly quickly because I made a sudden decision to continue my London touring from yesterday, but to take it up a notch. I wanted to see St. Paul's Cathedral, but it's Sunday, which means I had a chance of actually attending a service there. I succeeded.
The Anglican Church is basically the same as the Catholic Church. Henry VIII only created it and split from Catholicism so he could divorce one of his wives. That said, it was a lot like going to Catholic mass, but in a HUGE, huge space. For me, it was awe-inspiring to be worshiping in such a large area. For non-religious people, I still recommend attending a service. It's an awesome chance to see the traditions of these cathedrals, and hear the organs, and sit right underneath that huge, iconic dome.
There's a school called Middle Temple that I was hoping to go to after the service. We've been hearing a lot about it in my Theatre History and Dramatic Criticism classes as places where playwrights went to finish their education. Along the way, I walked down this familiar street for any Sweeney Todd fans:
For the record, I still want to find Drury Lane and get a muffin sometime while I'm here.
Also on the way, I ran across the Twinnings Tea shop!!! It's very small, and very narrow, but it's full of tea and it looks like heaven.
Anyway, I did eventually find Middle Temple, but it was very closed off to the public. At least I saw the outside of it.
The original plan, from here, was to take the Tube to Hyde Park and finally see Kensington Gardens and Palace. However, I'm a moron, and this is when I discovered I couldn't find my Oyster Photocard and went into 200% panic mode.
I grabbed lunch to try to calm myself down, but then retraced my steps all the way up to the cathedral to no avail. Dejected, disappointed, and a failure, I bought a normal blue Oyster card and shuffled myself back up to the Landward to sulk.
I didn't get much time for this. Alexa and I chilled for a while, then the boys invited us to tea at their place. They were wonderful hosts, but then Kees, a classmate of ours, came over to rehearse some scenes so naturally we had to host him at our flat. I had dinner, did some more homework (while I could concentrate... some Pinterest happened too), and here we are.
It's been a full weekend, but I'm actually disappointed by how much I didn't do, even after I did so much. Some of my friends saw shows, for example, that sounded amazing. Also, I missed out on Kensington Gardens, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the British Library, and exploring museums, all of which I still want to do around the city. Also, I forgot that a big part of my homework is memorizing lines and running monologues. If I have to do my monologue in class tomorrow... well, God save me as well as the Queen.
It's going to be a full, work-heavy week. Yikes.
Fight on, friends.
In lieu of big plans for the weekend, I decided to finally give myself the full, self-guided, London tour.
Future visitors, take note.
Saturday, though I was behind schedule, I eventually got up, put a light bag together, and took the Bakerloo line from Edgeware Road to Lamden North station. From Lamden North, besides having a pretty cool small view of the London Eye, I found the 159 bus headed the direction that wasn't Marble Arch and took it for a few stops.
Along the way on those stops, I saw what I think may have been London City Hall. I don't quite remember, but it was grandiose and cool.
If I had taken that bus all the way up to Oxford Circus, I would have driven past most of the other major landmarks and seen nearly everything London considers iconic in a manner of minutes. However, I'm me, and I like to explore, so I got off the bus at the Westminster Abbey stop.
I get off the bus, do a 180 turn, and BOOM. There's Big Ben, smack in front of me, in full, from bottom to top. Attached to the Houses of Parliament.
 |
| Like a boss. |
Forgive me, friends, but this tourist trip is also a series of selfies.
 |
| Ben and I. |
 | |
| I knew what this building was at the time but while writing this blog | I cannot for the life of me remember it's name... |
 |
| Some perfect views |
The wonderful thing about this little tourist square is that it holds most of the major buildings for the English government: Parliament/Ben, the Supreme Court building, the building I can't remember the name of, and also Westminster Abbey, which is actually where coronations and important things happen.
 |
| In retrospect, I should've paid to go inside. |
 |
| The picture everyone wants. |
 |
| Darn lighting. |
 |
| London's and Rachel's Eyes. |
Going back out to the main street, you go by Downing Street and the famous 10 Downing street address. It's much more elaborate than I expected, actually. There's a huge gate, and it's heavily guarded by London Police.
 |
| Sheesh, guys. |
I didn't catch the Buckingham Palace changing of the guard, because I was watching the tail end of it here at the Horse Guard.
Across the street is Whitehall, a building with a beautiful, grand banqueting hall and the very same courtyard where Charles I was executed (if you know your British history). This banqueting hall is likely the first place some Shakespeare plays like 12th Night were performed, and where court masques (elaborate forms of performance just for the court people) were performed. The building was made by one of the most famous architects of Shakespeare's time, Inigo Jones.
Unfortunately, a lot of renovation is happening to the building, so I didn't really see all of it, including the infamous courtyard, but I did go inside the banqueting hall.
 |
| This is the CEILING. PART of it. Woah. |
Instead, I went to Buckingham Palace.
The Mall walk to the Palace really builds up the place. You walk right along the edge of St. James Park, which is the nicest, most lovely, manicured park I've seen in London yet, until you get to the palace at the edge of the road. And then, it's white and gold and white and gold and the red of the tiny little guards but mostly white and gold and tourists.
 |
| There she lives |
 |
| The monument in front is for Victoria, of course. Like everything else here. |
 |
| Changing of the guard is at 11:30. Missed it but oh well. |
 |
| God save the Queen. |
To get to the Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert Museums from Buckingham Palace, take the St. James park station to South Kensington. Or, if your mother is coming to visit and is staying at the Holiday Inn, take another station after that to Gloucester.
Mom decided to be super, super sweet and pick up a trip to London so she could see me for a day/afternoon! In order to see her, I put the rest of my culture crawl on hold for the day and went to her hotel instead. She looks lovely, as always. We walked up through Hyde Park together to get to my flat, which she was anxious to see, and then walked back down along the edge of the park to check out Harrods, upon my grandmother's recommendation.
Harrods is... both underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time. I am NOT used to seeing top brands everywhere, all in the same place- even in Los Angeles. In LA, they're at least surrounded by things I can actually afford, and are all in different stores. But here... Nope. Harrods is the definition of extravagent spending and poshness. It was overwhelming because of how much of a maze it was- 6 floors and a basement with beautifully decorated stairways and escalators and rooms upon rooms following one after the other of the absolute top designer clothes and shoes and whatever else you can possibly think of all in one roof with prices I was too scared to check. It was underwhelming because it wasn't what I expected. I expected to be able to actually go shopping here, as though it was a mall similar to the ones in the States. Instead, I was hit with this dazzling pound sign of glory. However, the second floor has a bookshop, a chocolate shop, a few rooms completely dedicated to Christmas, and a gifts section. It is my favorite floor, and the only one I could see myself actually buying things in.
Thus disappointed, we went back to my Mom's hotel room for dinner, chilling, and a very early bedtime by my standards.
We got up early this morning, got breakfast, and then it was time for Mom to go already. Sadness :( It's always fun to see my Mom, and especially now. I've been away from home for longer stretches of time, since I've been away at school, but never for this long while I'm this far away. I haven't actually missed home as a place, and I haven't missed LA as a place either. What I miss are the people there- I've missed my family, and friends, and spending time with them, etc. But even then, I have Annie and Elsie a hop skip and jump away, for when I miss high school friends, and it's hard to miss college friends when you're living with your sorority sister, sorority Big sister, and one of the sweetest people to exist at USC. So, it was just my family missing, and seeing my Mom got to fill in that gap for me a little bit. Also, it was fun to receive my Dad's jealous texts- he wished he could be here too.
I left Mom fairly quickly because I made a sudden decision to continue my London touring from yesterday, but to take it up a notch. I wanted to see St. Paul's Cathedral, but it's Sunday, which means I had a chance of actually attending a service there. I succeeded.
The Anglican Church is basically the same as the Catholic Church. Henry VIII only created it and split from Catholicism so he could divorce one of his wives. That said, it was a lot like going to Catholic mass, but in a HUGE, huge space. For me, it was awe-inspiring to be worshiping in such a large area. For non-religious people, I still recommend attending a service. It's an awesome chance to see the traditions of these cathedrals, and hear the organs, and sit right underneath that huge, iconic dome.
 |
| From the front |
 |
| Couldn't find the Demon Barber though... |
Also on the way, I ran across the Twinnings Tea shop!!! It's very small, and very narrow, but it's full of tea and it looks like heaven.
Anyway, I did eventually find Middle Temple, but it was very closed off to the public. At least I saw the outside of it.
The original plan, from here, was to take the Tube to Hyde Park and finally see Kensington Gardens and Palace. However, I'm a moron, and this is when I discovered I couldn't find my Oyster Photocard and went into 200% panic mode.
I grabbed lunch to try to calm myself down, but then retraced my steps all the way up to the cathedral to no avail. Dejected, disappointed, and a failure, I bought a normal blue Oyster card and shuffled myself back up to the Landward to sulk.
I didn't get much time for this. Alexa and I chilled for a while, then the boys invited us to tea at their place. They were wonderful hosts, but then Kees, a classmate of ours, came over to rehearse some scenes so naturally we had to host him at our flat. I had dinner, did some more homework (while I could concentrate... some Pinterest happened too), and here we are.
It's been a full weekend, but I'm actually disappointed by how much I didn't do, even after I did so much. Some of my friends saw shows, for example, that sounded amazing. Also, I missed out on Kensington Gardens, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the British Library, and exploring museums, all of which I still want to do around the city. Also, I forgot that a big part of my homework is memorizing lines and running monologues. If I have to do my monologue in class tomorrow... well, God save me as well as the Queen.
It's going to be a full, work-heavy week. Yikes.
Fight on, friends.
Friday, October 2, 2015
1 Month Check-in- LD29-30, October 1-2, 2015
Happy October!
As of today, I have been in London for a full month. This is the longest time I've ever been out of my own country.
So, do I still love London as much as I did when I first moved over here? Has the weather gotten to me yet? Am I sick of Shakespeare?
I do still love London. I love it a whole lot. It's easier, now that I've been here for a while, to see the problems that underlie this city and country. But nowhere is perfect, and so I'm still happy to take London's flaws with all it's beauty and culture and richness.
Weather? Not yet. Actually, the weather has been beautiful, especially this past week. It's meant to rain tomorrow, but I don't really mind. I say bring it on- I have my umbrella and we've had an awful lot of sunshine lately anyways.
Am I sick of Billy Shakes? ...A little bit, I admit. You know that you've been reading a lot of Shakespeare and older plays when you can read through King Lear and understand a pretty fair portion of all of the story without the annotations that most editions come with. Word.
Yesterday and today haven't been all that new, to be honest. I've been stressed, there's a lot of work to do, and it's harder to get through a day of classes- I'm a whole lot more tired, all day, and acting takes a whole lot of energy. We're getting there.
Oh yeah, I read King Lear tonight. That play has a whole lot of feelings... Wow. It's an intense tragedy. Some say, apparently, that this is Shakespeare's finest tragedy. I would argue that you can legitimately make that argument if your version of a tragedy is judged by the amount of mean, ill-spirited, evil people and the cruelest ways to drive someone to insanity or death.
We went out to a pub, and everyone was pretty happy chatting with each other, but I didn't feel much like talking. Most of us BADA students have gotten a Shakespeare app on our phones, myself included, that includes all of Shakespeare's works. So, I sat at the pub, wearing Alex's hat and enjoying a ginger ale while I read the play. We were still there when I finished... At least I was surrounded by friends as I sat there gaping at the intensity that is King Lear.
All that aside, it's time for the weekend. It's a welcome one.
Fight on, friends.
As of today, I have been in London for a full month. This is the longest time I've ever been out of my own country.
So, do I still love London as much as I did when I first moved over here? Has the weather gotten to me yet? Am I sick of Shakespeare?
I do still love London. I love it a whole lot. It's easier, now that I've been here for a while, to see the problems that underlie this city and country. But nowhere is perfect, and so I'm still happy to take London's flaws with all it's beauty and culture and richness.
Weather? Not yet. Actually, the weather has been beautiful, especially this past week. It's meant to rain tomorrow, but I don't really mind. I say bring it on- I have my umbrella and we've had an awful lot of sunshine lately anyways.
Am I sick of Billy Shakes? ...A little bit, I admit. You know that you've been reading a lot of Shakespeare and older plays when you can read through King Lear and understand a pretty fair portion of all of the story without the annotations that most editions come with. Word.
Yesterday and today haven't been all that new, to be honest. I've been stressed, there's a lot of work to do, and it's harder to get through a day of classes- I'm a whole lot more tired, all day, and acting takes a whole lot of energy. We're getting there.
Oh yeah, I read King Lear tonight. That play has a whole lot of feelings... Wow. It's an intense tragedy. Some say, apparently, that this is Shakespeare's finest tragedy. I would argue that you can legitimately make that argument if your version of a tragedy is judged by the amount of mean, ill-spirited, evil people and the cruelest ways to drive someone to insanity or death.
We went out to a pub, and everyone was pretty happy chatting with each other, but I didn't feel much like talking. Most of us BADA students have gotten a Shakespeare app on our phones, myself included, that includes all of Shakespeare's works. So, I sat at the pub, wearing Alex's hat and enjoying a ginger ale while I read the play. We were still there when I finished... At least I was surrounded by friends as I sat there gaping at the intensity that is King Lear.
All that aside, it's time for the weekend. It's a welcome one.
Fight on, friends.
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