Students' Last Night in London!!!!

Well on our last night in London (Sunday) we decided to get together and meet at the Crypt at St. Martin's where we began our semester for some bread and butter pudding and hot custard. When we arrived, it was closed! Ferme as they say in French. I looked around to see if Jonathan Kennedy was nearby. As some of you know, whenever I travel or go anywhere with Jonathan everything and every place we go is usually closed. It is his curse. But he was nowhere to be found. So we decided to just walk around and take in the city for one last time. Here are some of the things we did and saw. Curtis, Ali, Bern, and Caitlin were going to leave the next day and Joe was leaving on Tuesday. I went to Roger's funeral the next day which had a very nice service and a Roger style party afterwards. We will miss him! I leave this coming Monday for Rhode Island. Spending the last few days packing things up, last minute Christmas shopping, last minute meetings, and putting things into storage for next year. Enjoy the photos!

How many SMU students can we pack into two British phonebooths!

The Fun Fair in Leicester Square.

Merry-go-round...a chicken?

Charlie Chaplin and Curtis

Ali getting help with the bumper car...he stayed with her the whole ride!

Curtis going in for the kill....

Bern knowing that she is going to get hit by Caitlin, Joe, and Curtis...Ali is still being pushed around.

Curtis and Bern...and Ali

We wandered towards Piccadilly Circus and saw the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Machine at Ripley's Believe It or Not.

The Machine

A close up of The Machine




A very tall Carmine Maranda...Ali's loved this....not!

Lights on Regent Street...where we went window shopping!

Ali and Caitlin getting a Christmas coffee at Starbucks

Bern, Miss Fair Trade Coffee, is not happy about it!

Continuing down Regent Street

Hamleys Toy Store

An elf saying Hello to us!

The group in front of Hamleys

We then wandered down Carnaby Street

Hanging snowmen all the way down the street

The group...

Shakespeare's Head Pub

The head hanging out the window

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!!!

Dublin: Week Two

Curtis and Joe rehearsing a scene from Philadelphia Here I Come

Once we returned from Galway things started picking up with the acting classes with Martin and Patrick and the literature class with Denis. The students toured City Hall Monday morning and the Guinness Brewery in the late afternoon. One of the amazing aspects of the brewery is the all glass 360 degree Sky Bar on the top floor where you get a free Guinness. The view of Dublin is spectacular!! Bill cooked us all a fantastic barbeque chicken dinner that evening.

On Tuesday we went to The Book of Kells; however, the original book is temporarily not being displayed and there is a replica in its place. We enjoyed the library on the second floor where Harry Potter was filmed. After Martin's acting class we went to the Project Theatre to see The Walworth Farce, a very funny, yet, intense play. Actually, it was pretty disturbing but incredible.

Wednesday evening after acting class with Patrick, the students cooked dinner for Patrick. It was a Waiting for Godot theme complete with handmade menus. Each of the four courses related somehow to the play. And, of course, the last course, Irish Coffee, never appeared. We are still waiting for it!

On Thursday we were supposed to see Patrick's play, Iscariot, but Charlie, the actor, was filming a movie which got extended and he could not make it. Instead we had lunch at Brewley's Cafe and saw a production of David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries which was hilarious! The soup and brown bread was also great. On Thursday evening Bill and I cooked a pre-final (showcase) breakfast at 10:30pm. Bill made french toast and I cooked fried eggs, toast, and Red Ryder homefries!!!

The rest of the time was spent rehearsing for the showcase which was held at 5:15 on Friday. It was attended by the first year Gaiety students. The SMU students performed 14 scenes for an hour performance. Super job!!!!! After Patrick, Amy, and Martin took us to the Irish Film Center for a reception. Great way to end our time in Dublin.

On Saturday Patrick and I had an Irish breakfast while the students took in Dublin for the last time. Then we were off to the airport and back to London. Bill and Dani leave today(Sunday) for the States. Curtis, Ali, Bern, and Caitlin leave tomorrow and Joe leaves on Tuesday. Tomorrow I will attend Roger's funeral and fly back to the States on the 22nd.

The tour begins

What is it like to be inside a pint of Guinness?

Curt and Bern in front of the waterfall...

Ali and Caitlin also in front of the waterfall....

Students on the top floor of the Sky Bar

One of the great views of Dublin from the Sky Bar.

What is on the tip of your nose Ali?

Santa on Grafton Street in Dublin taking a "break"!!!!

Where we saw Oedipus Loves You and The Walworth Farce.

Ali, Bern, and Joe outside The Project Arts Center

The menu....

Welcoming Patrick!!!

Patrick and I loved the meal and gave it a "thumbs up"!

They had him thinking this was his meal....so Godot....

After Caitlin's five layer mexican dip and Dani'scream cheese dip with chips. The main course was chicken stuffed with spinach and feta, twice baked potatoes, and carrots in brown sugar....Dani's contribution. We finished with Bern's chocolate molten cake and Ali's chocolate pecan pie....yummy!!!! Again, the Irish coffee never showed up!

Enjoying the main course.

Patrick admiring the chocolate cake and pecan pie...He, of course, had both!

Caitlin and Ali playing Greensleeves on their "tin whistles". Ask them to play for you when they return to SMU.

Rehearsing before the showcase.

Ali waiting to make her entrance.

Rehearsing Philadelphia Here I Come.

Caitlin and Bern in a scene from Dancing at Lughnasa.

Dani in a scene from Dancing at Lughnasa.

Dani, Caitlin, Bern, and Ali in a scene from Dancing at Lughnasa.

End of the Lughnasa scene. Caitlin and Ali.

Martin giving notes before the showcase.

Part of the Dancing at Lughnasa scene

Showcase celebration at the Irish Film Center.


We have had a great semester and I am looking forward to next year!!!! Also things are looking really good for 8 students from Rose Bruford coming to Saint Mary's in the fall to study with us for a year.

Ireland: Week One at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin

Well the day we left for Dublin was not a good day for me as some of you know. But by the time we arrived after our flight was delayed for an hour everything was fine. We arrived at our hostel, Barnacles in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. It is literally a 30 second walk to the Gaiety School of Acting where the students study. It has been a pretty intense week for the students. We have done a great deal in one week. We Wspent the first weekend getting familiar with Dublin and the neighborhood. On Monday morning our sessions with the Gaiety began. It started out with a welcoming reception hosted by Amy and Patrick Sutton. Then the students went on an tour of the city of Dublin led by Marie Fitzpatrick who has been doing this since we started at the Gaiety. The students returned to the school where they had their first acting class with Patrick who is doing Brian Friel and Samuel Beckett with them. Bill begain his internship in arts administration where he has tackled several projects. After that the students had their first seminar with Denis O'Brien on Irish dramatic literature. After dinner which we are all taking turns cooking, we went to The Abbey Theatre, Ireland's National Theatre to see The Reisistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertold Brecht. It was a very enjoyable show. On Tuesday, in addition to the seminar and acting we went to the National Museum of Ireland (Archaeology) which had some very interesting exhibits. That night we went to The Gate Theatre to see an adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop. We did not enjoy this show at all. It was still in preview. We all liked the set. On Wednesday the students went to Christchurch and had acting again with Patrick. That evening we went to see a very unique production of Oedipus Loves You. Very different but good. On Thursday Denis did another seminar and Patrick another acting class. That afternoon we went to St. Michan's church where they have a crypt with mummified bodies that you can actually touch! It is good luck to rub the long finger of "the crusader" in the back of the vault. Some of us did and others didn't go near it. The tour guide was a strange little man who really scared the hell out of us! Creepy! We then went to see a Panto - Cinderella. You cannot describe what this is like. There is nothing in America like it. Tons of kids screaming, flashing lights throughout the audience, songs stolen from other musicals(Phantom, Mama Mia, High School Musical) plus other pop songs. You will have to ask the students to explain when they return. All I know is that some little urchin sprayed me with silly string while I was sleeping during the performance! On Friday the students were introduced to Martin Maguire, the acting teacher who works on scenes and monologues from O'Casey and Synge. We then hopped the bus to Galway. You can read about that adventure below this blog.



When in Galway I came upon an ice rink which I found strange because I never pictured the Irish ice skating. I tried to download a video I took but it would not download. It is evidence to prove my theory correct. I will show it to you back at school if I cannot download it. I will continue to keep trying.





Barnacles hostel in Dublin




Curtis, Dani, Joe, Bern, Ali, Caitlin, and Bill in front of "the" Temple Bar at the end of our street.




Sign at the entrance of the Gaiety





Info on the Gaiety School




Students walking to class. Gaiety is the white building straight ahead






A peek into one of the classrooms.




Meeting outside the school to go on a field trip.





Posing....




Dani posing with attitude!

St. Michan's

Waiting for the church to open at noon.

The plays we have seen or will see in Dublin.

Ireland: Weekend in Galway

After the first acting class with Martin Maguire, we boarded a bus at 3 pm and headed to Galway. The students used the time on the four hour bus trip to memorize lines for their scenes and monologues. I corrected exams. We arrived into a brand new bus station in Galway and made our way to our hostel. Another Barnicles. We immediately checked in and went to dinner across the street from the hostel and had a traditional Irish meal. Comfort food that hit the spot. We then walked around and explored the area. The next day Bill and I went back to the restaurant for a traditional Irish Breakfast (fried egg, bacon, sausage, potatoes, tomato, baked beans, blood pudding, toast, and great brown bread). We spent the day shopping at the open market, eating lunch at McDonagh's fish restaurant (fish and chips), shopping at O'Maille's for Irish sweaters, hats, gloves, etc, going to Galway Bay and playing on the beach, shopping everywhere, watching the Irish try to ice skate in a temporary indoor rink (see video in previous blog entry), more shopping, watching the X Factor in the hostel, then going to a great local pub, Woodquay, that I discovered on my first visit here years ago and has no tourists. There were a couple of local musicians that just sat at a table and played, a cozy fireplace keeping the place warm, and a great old man who befriended us and who we could not understand a word he was saying. He proceeded to serenad us with a few Irish ballads throughout the evening. Just a nice relaxing evening. On Sunday we did more shopping at the open market and other stores. The street was pretty dead in the morning but picked up by noon. We got the 3 pm bus back to Dublin. Again lines were being memorized and papers were being corrected on the ride back. We arrived at 7 pm and proceded to the hostel. We then began our search for food. We ended up at the Bad Ass Cafe in Temple Bar and had pizza. Then back to the hostel to prepare for the second week of classes at the Gaiety.

Walking to Barnicles in Galway

Our hostel.

Mrs. Murphy we made it to Mc Donagh's for fish and chips. I is right next to the hostel.

Eating at the restaurant across from the hostel.

Gary's Irish stew! Really yummy.....comfort food.



The open market on Saturdays and Sundays.

Two turkeys.

Three turkeys!

Fish and chips anyone?

Caitlin's place!

Best sweater shop in Galway and we bought and bought and bought.....

Dani's sweater coat took 12 weeks to hand knit....

Close up of the knit....if anybody cares to examine.....

Window shopping.

The river separating Galway center from Salthill area and the Bay.

Oh, well.

Group shot on the safe bridge not the unsafe one!

Walking back from Galway Bay and from watching the ice skating.

Swan watching.

Just a few of the swans....

Nice wellies Ali....Nice sweater Bern....

Galway Bay

Bern in her new Irish sweater walking the beach.

Having fun? or Ali is too lazy to walk....?

Curtis at the Bay.

Bill taking pictures of the crew on the beach.

Galway sunset.

Ali in front of the fireplace at the Woodquay pub.

You will have to ask about these characters when they return to Winona!

One of the musicians and the old man who sang Irish ballads to us.

Why is Curtis smiling? Because he can't understand a word this guy is saying! Neither can Caitlin or Joe and Curtis knows it.....

Bern and Ali keeping warm.

Enjoy the music from the pub....

Barnicles' street Sunday morning! Quite the contrast from Friday night when we arrived.



We head back to Dublin.....we had a great getaway weekend in Galway! Now back to work....

Bus to Dublin.

Waiting to leave.

Searching for food in Dublin.

Bad Ass Cafe....Temple Bar

Pizzas at the Bad Ass Cafe....

Rest In Peace Roger

Our dear friend, teacher, designer, and mentor, Roger Frith, passed away yesterday morning at 9:00 am. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Joyce, and daughter, Louise. Below is the last photo I took of Roger. I know your light will be shining down on all of us.



Roger and Jonathan on opening night of Radium Girls.

Lots of blogs and news posted below...

Well this will be the last blog from London. I have posted four blogs for your reading pleasure with tons of photos. This one covers a variety of things. The next is Thanksgiving in Britain. Then some sad news about Roger Frith. The final one is our private tour of the National Theatre that we took today. Eight of us leave for Dublin on Saturday. Tim and Mary leave at 4am for Paris and then Rome. Peter and Shannon take off for Paris, Germany, Austria, and Rome. Tommy is headed back to the states as is Amber and Michelle. The acting class also did some awesome scenes from the play, Us and Them about how the British see Americans and how the American view the British....very funny stuff. Tim, Michelle, Caitlin, and Ali did great British dialects. and Curtis, Dani, Bern, Peter, and Joe handled the New York dialects very well....

I had a great meal at The Ivy last week! I finally got there. Had dinner with Jonathan, his wife, Alise, and his mother Carol that many of you met this summer in Winona.

We have seen some awesome theatre this week. August: Osage County at the National. Noises Off and Edward Scissorhands, the ballet at the New Wimbleldon Theatre. We saw Marat/Sade tonight and on Tuesday, Bern, Ali, Jonathan and I went to see Sondheim's A Little Night Music which was directed by Trevor Nunn at the Chocolate Factory. Getting great reviews.

Bill went to Normandy and made it back on Sunday to have Thanksgiving dinner. Dani and Amber went to Rome.

Amber throwing a coin in the Treve Fountain...hoping for what Amber???

Dani, what's up with the sling?

The Pope....

I will be posting more blogs from Ireland....Stay tuned!

Thanksgiving in Britian

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We celebrated Thanksgiving last Sunday with a great dinner, Macy's Day Parade (from last year), and good company. Went shopping on Saturday and got two large frozen turkeys that we were praying would thaw out by Sunday afternoon. Everyone contributed something to the dinner. I prepared the turkeys and greek salad. Bern made a sweet apple based stuffing that was awesome! Curtis attempted to make jello. Put it in the freezer and finally by Wednesday it was ready to be eaten. Corn, gravy, savory stuffing, pecan pie, green bean hot dish (Ali), Michelle made a truffle dessert, hot rolls, cranberry sauce, cold pistashio salad that Caitlin made, and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. Plus tons more. It was a good start to a busy week.




Two turkeys thawing in the bath tub.




Don't ask!!!



Sweet potatoes before they are baked with brandy and brown sugar.




Curtis' frozen jello...I never did get to taste it three days later.




Of course, Greek Salad

Taking Bern's stuffing out of the turkey.

Turkey out of the oven with the savory stuffing.

Joe provided us with the Macy's Day Parade from last year.

More parade!

Peter and Tommy set the table.

center pieces...and candles. We went all out!

Our Turkey Hand wall....

What we were thankful for....

the group

Enjoying the meal

The tables and chairs from Radium Girls came in handy...

Sad News about Roger Frith

We are saddened to hear that Roger Frith, our lighting designer in London, is in a coma and will not come out of it. Below I have attached an email from his wife, Joyce, explaining what happened after his 11 hour surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his mouth. All of our students have become close to Roger so I wanted everyone to get the same news. In tribute to Roger we all went to his favorite hang out, Wibbas Downs, the Weatherspoon's pub, in Wimbledon after we saw the ballet, Edward Scissorhands. We toasted Roger and thought of all the good times we had with him this semester. Tim and Shannon also worked with Roger on other shows he was working on. I will keep everyone informed as far as any further developments.

Here is Joyce's email:

Forgive me if I have already sent this information but I am getting rather muddled as to whom I have spoken and when.
I think most of you know that Rog came through an 11 hour operation for mouth cancer on Monday 17th Nov really well. Sadly, he had a massive relapse on Thursday 20th. He got a large blood clot in his throat which closed his airways. He stopped breathing and his heart stopped. They brought him round but at great cost. The brain was starved of oxygen for too long and he is now in a coma and has no brain function. My beautiful husband is lying in intensive care unable to respond to anything at all. All we are doing now is waiting. They have taken him off all life support machines and are keeping him as comfortable as possible. They are looking after him so well - they even gave him shave so he looked nice. I think they are intending to send him to the ward when they have a private room available so that we have privacy and dignity.
It is all too awful to talk about - I felt I had to tell you all to warn you of the inevitable consequences. Louise and I are surviving somehow or the other and everybody has been wonderful. Please do not send me any more flowers but do write if you wish. I can just about cope now with email and cards but I am not brilliant on the phone. If you feel you know somebody who is not on this list should be informed then please pass on the message for me.
My love to you all - Joycie x



At Weatherspoons...Roger's favorite hang out

Please keep Roger and Joyce in your prayers.

Backstage Tour of the National Theatre

We had a private tour of the backstage of the National Theatre. Tim Blazdell, a design associate, tooks us around. We got to go on the set of Oedipus and August: Osage County. This was a great way to end our time in London. The tour and Tim were amazing!



Banners at the back of the National Theatre.



All of us on the stage of August: Osage County, the production from Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. An amazing show and great set!






The Lyttelton Theatre taken from the stage of August: Osage County

Tim Blazdell giving us a tour of the paint shop.

On the set of Oedipus in the Olivier Theatre. It starred Ralph Fiennes.

Soldier costumes for War Horse.

One of the overworked horse puppets.

Taking a photo at the rear of Joey, the main character horse puppet. Why this end guys?

Joey's leg.

Joey...head up against the wall. Wish it was the other way around.

The goose puppet hanging upside down in storage.

Part of the set for The Walworth Farce in the Cottesloe Theatre. We didn't see the show at the National but will be seeing this production next week in Dublin. It is going on tour.

The group with Tim Blazdell in the Cottesloe Theatre

Part of the outdoor photo exhibit at the National.


After the tour we went to see Marat/Sade at the Pleasance Theatre performed by the Mountview Acting School. The picture below pretty much sums up how we are all feeling at the end of the semester and exam week.

The End!!!! A good time was had by all!!!!