8 Plays and a Movie

Saturday! Saturday was a long, wonderful day. It started at 5:15 when I crawled out of bed, taking my bedding with me, and walked to the tube stop where Cali, Kate, and I caught the first tube to Noel Coward Theatre where we got in line to buy tickets to Peter and Alice. For every performance they offer a limited number of sitting and standing tickets available day of (because otherwise it's sold out). People start lining up at 5:30, and we were among the first 10 or so. Let me tell you, bringing my bedding was the best decision I ever made. Yes, I looked homeless for like 6 hours (especially because I was in sweats and a sweatshirt, was wearing no makeup, and hadn't showered yet. Super attractive), but I wrapped myself up is a warm cocoon and took a 2 hour nap... in the middle of the sidewalk. It was wonderful. When I woke up I went across the street to McDonalds to eat and found out that in England they don't do anything besides breakfast sandwiches until 10:30... dumb. So I went to Eat. instead. I included my dietary information not because it's of any interest to you all, but because going to Eat. was on my London bucket list. I can now cross it off. Finally at 10:30 the doors opened (the doorman was so nice) and we got tickets! They were in the very back row, but we got to sit down. We headed back to the flat to shower and get ready for the day and all decided that after spending 6 hours looking... like we did... we wanted to dress up a bit for the matinee performance.

We clean up nice.

Peter and Alice was absolutely sensational. The only was I can describe it is "beautiful". There just really aren't words to express the emotions expressed in the performance. It was absolutely gorgeous. I can't stop raving about it to everyone. The acting was great and the story was magical. It was only 90 minutes long, but there was so much heart packed into such a small time frame. The story is about the girl who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland (played by Judi Dench) and the boy who was the inspiration for Peter Pan, who met at a Lewis Carroll exhibit. The play is an interpretation of what they might have said to each other when they met. Creative, honest, heartbreaking, beautiful. I was so impressed by it that after the show we went to a bookstore and I bought a copy of the script. It's truly one that I will be able to read and reread and be able to take something new from it each time. On our way home our tube passed through the Sloane Square station, which is where the man who was the "real life Peter Pan" threw himself in front of a train. It was particularly depressing after watching the play, but it reminded me of how well the performance was able to move me. Simple incredible.

After the play we went home and took a nap. That evening our class went to a performance of King Lear, which in reality was just called Lear because the role of Lear was played by a woman. I had mixed feelings about the performance. I loved the lighting and sound effects and the metaphors that were created in the atmosphere.

I felt like I was watching Macbeth...

The actors could have done with some more training. They had many great ideas that weren't fully developed or weren't able to be developed due to the inability of the actors. It was an interesting performance though. The theatre was super far away and it was really complicated to get to. On the way there we saw a bookstore where every book was 1 pound. I will definitely be going back there. I also had a dumb American moment on the way to the play. We stopped at a market for some food and I bought a bottle of orange juice. I didn't look at it very closely and started drinking it. It tasted weird, but I was thirsty. I gave some to my roommate who also thought it tasted weird, very potent. Eventually someone informed me that what I was drinking was, in fact, orange juice squash... which in American terms is concentrated orange juice. It's meant to be mixed 1/4 part juice to 3/4 parts water. I was then asked, "Didn't you read the instructions?" ... I'm sorry, I don't typically look for instructions when I drink juice. I was slightly worried that I was going to die, but after drinking my weight in water I calmed down some. We accidentally took the wrong train on the way home so we had to get off and switch, which was annoying since we were all so tired, but we finally got home and crashed.

For all you folks keeping track at home you'll notice we saw 8 plays in 6 days. We called this week "8 plays and a movie"... because we also watched a movie.

Mousetrap
Matilda
Chorus Line
The Tempest
Singing in the Rain
Billy Elliot
Peter and Alice
Lear

Nevermore

Friday was the day I had been looking forward to all week. Our class went to visit the Tower of London!

It was so cool. I love that these buildings have so much history. It's a reminder that the US as we know it is still such a new country. So much has happened behind the walls of these rooms: kings have taken refuge, prisoners have been tortured, two princes may have died, wars have been fought, and countless other monumental moments. The tower (which is more of a castle than a single tower) was great. My favorite part was the Bloody Tower which is famous for 2 reasons. The first is that Sir Raleigh was held there. The second, and this is the one I knew about, is the story of the two princes. Legend has it (every story needs to start like this) that "the two brothers were the only sons of Edward IV alive at the time of their father's death. Then 12 and 9 years old, they were lodged in theTower of London by the man appointed to look after them, the Lord Protector, Duke of Gloucester. This was supposed to be in preparation for Edward's (the elder brother) coronation as king. After Richard took the throne for himself, it is assumed that they were murdered. This may have occurred some time around 1483, but apart from their disappearance, the only evidence is circumstantial" (stolen from Wikipedia). Cool story, no? The Bloody Tower is said to be haunted by their spirits... *ghoulish sounds* It was very interesting and educational and awesome.

Bloody Tower

My other favorite part of the tower, which doesn't have much to do with the tower, was the presence of the evil ravens. They were demonic and sought to gouge our eyes and devour our souls... But I also felt bad for them because their wings were clipped. The presence of ravens did add to the creepy atmosphere though. And it was fun to watch them attack people...

It actually bit me.

"Nevermore"

We also saw the Crown Jewels, which were shiny and gorgeous and amazing. I couldn't take any pictures inside though.

This is the building in which they are kept.

After we viewed the Crown Jewels (which are in a vault) we saw the changing of the guards:

and then walked under the Tower Bridge... which is my favorite bridge ever! For no particular reason other than it looks really awesome.

Then we walked in the moat, which no longer has water, and then headed out.

A catapult inside the moat

Here's a few more pictures from the tower:

A window in the dungeon

Beefeaters!

View from the king's room

....idk

I liked the contrast between old and new

Cali and I decided to see Billy Elliot that night. It beat out Next to Normal a few years ago so we were expecting to enjoy it quite a lot. I'm still confused as to why it won. I really wanted to like it, and with a few adjustments I probably would have. And that's not to say it wasn't good, it just wasn't great. Even with musicals like Matilda and Chorus Line I walked away with the songs stuck in my head (against my will), but I can't remember a single lyric or tune from Billy Elliot. The boy who played Billy was a great dancer, but the choreography didn't show that off. Based on the nature of the plot I was expecting him to be a dancing prodigy, which wasn't the case. I liked the themes of the story though, and the kids were all talented. There were some really cool ideas, especially with one dance where the protestors and police are fighting and the kids are having their dance lesson in the middle of it. That was great and very impactful. There were a lot of moments like that and with some adjustments I felt like it could have been a great play. I did cry like 3 times though, so that says something about it. We were in the second row for this play as well, which wasn't at all a bad view.

Singing and Acting in the Rain

Last, last Thursday (bear with me as I catch up) our class got the opportunity to tour the Globe Theatre.

It was really great, and our tour guide was so funny. And he really knew his Shakespeare. The most interesting thing I took away was that different social classes sat in different parts of the theatre, and Shakespeare, knowing this, wrote specific lines to be spoken directly to those areas. The main lines relating to he basic plot would be spoken to the uneducated groundlings while the more flowery passages were presented to the upperclass sitting on the sides of the balcony because they would appreciate the diction. It was also why many passages were repeated, so he could say important passages to each group. There's some Shakespearian knowledge for you. We also got to look at the Globe museum, which was cool. Even today they still hand-sew all their costumes, which can cost thousands of pounds. They had some costumes on display from past performances.

I also learned that it was an American chap who first presented the idea of rebuilding the Globe theatre with as close of a restoration of the original as they could. The British government wasn't too fond of an American trying to call the shots so money had to be raised without government help and even today there is no government subsidiation. It's a wonderful theatre. They're also building an indoor Elizabethan theatre next door to the Globe that will be internally lit by candlelight. It opens next year and I wish I cold be here to see a show in it! After the tour our class was dismissed for a few hours. Borough street was only about a block away so Cali and I went there for lunch. She tried the magic grilled cheese sandwich for the first time. We also bought more honeycomb and tried some Turkish delight. The sweets here are so good. It's dangerous. Borough street is pretty small so we left after just a bit and got in line for The Tempest, which we were watching at the Globe. We got to be groundlings, which was so, so cool. We stood in the yard area, and since Cali and I were one of the first people in line we got to be right up against the stage. Seriously. I rested my arms and head on the stage for most of the performances. The performance was wonderful! The actors interacted with the audience (particularly the groundlings) a lot. Caliban spit on and burped in the faces of some of my classmates and spilled water all over part of the audience. It was a lot of fun and the acting was phenomenal. There were a few famous names in the cast, particularly these two:

 Namely...

Colin Morgan and Roger Allam

Or, if you only know them by their character names...

Merlin

and Javert (from the original London cast)

While we were watching the show it started raining, which was fitting since it was The Tempest. It didn't rain too hard, and we were all prepared with raincoats (umbrellas weren't allowed), so the rain just added to the stormy atmosphere.

We're a little damp...

That night Cali and I went to Singing in the Rain. It was a very fun show. I loved it.

The acting was somewhat robotic (mostly in the first act) and there were some very pitchy moments, and yet despite all that I enjoyed it a lot. Probably because there were so many wonderful tap dance numbers. I love tap! The movie is still better (hard impossible to beat Gene Kelly), but I enjoyed watching the dream sequence in a stage production.

Gotta dance!

And there was rain! The best part of the show was when he is actually singing and dancing in the rain, and he starting kicking water into the audience. We were sitting in the second row and (I swear!) he made eye contact with us before kicking water into our faces. He was enjoying himself way too much.

Devious...

So, so much fun though. If it wasn't closing so soon I might have tried to see it a second time.

Can you tell I loved it?

There's A Reason They're In The Chorus

Wednesday after class Cali and I went and grabbed a couple day-of tickets to "Chorus Line". The only seats they had available were in the front row, which was interesting, but more about that in a minute. Next door to the theatre was a hole in the wall Chinese food place that actually had pretty great food... Except we have suspicions that they ripped Cali off. Shame on them. A short tube ride later we ended up in front of Primark... which is all I'd hoped it'd be and more. It's basically a cheaper version of Forever 21. We had fun wandering around there for a bit, then went back to the flats where I caught a quick nap before the show. Chorus Line was... interesting? It was basically Breakfast Club for dancers... and VERY 70s. It had it's redeeming moments though. There was some great dancing and some fun numbers. Lots of talking and exposition, which isn't really my style of show, but I'm glad I got to see it. Sitting in the front row wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I feel like it's a show that really only dancers/actors can fully appreciate since it deals primarily with the struggles that relate specifically to those who have to audition to find a living. The theatre it was performed in was absolutely gorgeous. My favorite theatre I've been in so far this trip. I didn't take any pictures on Wednesday (because I suck), but here are some pics from the internet:

The best part of the show was the curtain call...

While waiting for the bus to get back to the flat we ran into a few other classmates who had just come from Byron's, a burger joint where you can get an American-style milk shake (if you ask for a malt). They raved about the "life changing milkshakes" and pointed out a Byron's that was right across the street from the bus stop... so naturally we went there. I am happy to announce that the milkshakes were indeed stellar.

It's raining right now... as always. I love it. It's rained every night this week. The street outside our window creates a sort of wind tunnel and the wind comes through so fast it sounds like thunder. It's my favorite thing.

When I Grow Up... I Want To Be Michael Caine

This week has been full of history. Tuesday our class took a trip to the Museum of London, which was fun. They had an entire exhibit dedicated to Michael Caine.

Love him. 

Some of my favorite displays were: ancient royal family crests engraven in stone, a story from Canterbury Tales also carved into stone, the exhibit of Victorian Life, and a lot of the more modern WWII displays. There was a lot to see. From there we went to Harrod's, which was really... something. It's essentially a luxury department store. Everything from Armoni for kids to diamond-encrusted silverware. It was cool to look around. We ended up buying some desserts there, which were wonderful.

Desserts... and sushi.

My donut was covered in edible glitter... which may or may not have been why I bought it. 

There was also a Harry Potter section in the store, which we enjoyed to its full extent.

Wizard Chess

Some other photos for you:

My brother would have loved the lego section

There were no places to sit inside the store and after walking around for ages and being unsuccessful in locating the second half of our group, we headed back to the flats. The other members of our original group were already there so we all rejoined and celebrated my roommate, Alexandra's birthday with dinner at Waggamammas, which is a great Japanese-inspired food joint. We had some trouble finding it and had to stop and ask directions from a very helpful lad in a local gym. Yes, we went into a gym to ask for directions. And yes, I called him a lad. We finally found it and it was well worth the wait.

Apparently it was the day for getting lost because we also struggled to find the theatre after dinner. We ended up wandering around for awhile and finally asked a taxi driver for directions. We got to the theatre about 2 minutes before curtain. We saw "Matilda"... which was definitely fun. It was very much a children's show, so the humor was geared toward a younger audience, but there were still times when I laughed out loud. It had some truly great moments. Plus the budget was huge so they pulled out all the stops. Seriously. Like, all of them. Lasers, and desks rising from the floor. It was a fun show. And there were some seriously talented kids in the cast. The girl who played Matilda and one of the boys (who had a fantastic solo where he sang a ton of runs and was basically a mini Whitney Huston) were particularly noteworthy. It was definitely not a show I probably would have sought out myself, so I'm glad my class had the opportunity to go.

The stage

Super talented kid

My favorite scene, "When I Grow Up"