SCOTLAND ADVENTURES

We spent a long weekend in Scotland. We left on Thursday afternoon after the Art in London class and returned the following Monday at around midnight. We all spent Thursday night in Edinburgh. The students stayed at Brodie's Hostel on the Royal Mile. After Thursday the students were free to do what they wanted in Scotland. Sam, Rachel, Krista, Taryn, and Matt did the Mac Backpackers tour up to the Isle of Skye. Andy and Steve went to Inverness and bicycled to Loch Ness and then went to Aberdeen. Ben, Dave, Lindsay, Bob and I stayed in Edinburgh for the weekend. Bob went to St. Andrew's for part of the day on Friday. Ben left Edinburgh on Saturday so he could go to a car show and go to the live show of Top Gear which is one of our favorite TV shows which focuses on cars and is a lot of fun with a lot of humor.

After we checked into our hostel and hotel (my hotel I should say), we grabbed some dinner at a great pub/restaurant on the Royal Mile. Some of the students and myself ordered haggis which was excellent. Those students that tasted it agreed. Later that night at around 10pm a group of us went on a ghost tour of Edinburgh which took us underneath the city into many haunted vaults. These vaults have been featured on a number of TV shows that deal with ghosts and hauntings. Very fun and creepy at the same time. Enjoy the photos below!

Andy and Gary "enjoying each other's company". In other words he drove me nuts for 6 hours!

Andy and Matt on the train to Edinburgh. We took it from Kings Cross Station Platform 9 3/4

Rachel and Sam

Steve

Krista and Taryn

Lindsay and Steve

Andy at Edinburgh Castle

Andy and Steve climbed up to Arthur's Seat as did Bob the day before. Here is the view!

Pub where we had dinner the first night!

Got Scottish Milk?

Ghost Tour we went on!

Is it a ghost? Or a bad picture?

????? Just appeared on my camera.

As did this.

Hallway leading to a few vaults.

The Mac Backpackers group!

Andy swimming in Loch Ness with Nessie. Steve joined him and then they rode their bikes back to Inverness!

Loch Ness

Matt and Sam also braved the cold water and went swimming in Loch Ness. Here with their tour guide.

The Highlands.

Taryn, Krista, and Rachel after they dipped their faces in the "fairy waters". They should now have eternal youth. Is that a wrinkle I see Krista????

Isle of Skye.

Matt playing in the Fairy waters!!!!

Ben posing in the new outfit he purchased. I got him to buy jeans!!!! Major breakthrough.

One of the closes off the Royal Mile.

A bit of Americana on the Royal Mile.

Night shot of the Edinburgh Castle

The Witchery, a landmark restaurant outside the Castle. I think the cast of SMU's The Crucible were seen in the area.

The Royal Mile.

Edinburgh Castle

Another Bagpiper playing a farewell tune!

The Top Gear Show Ben attended at Earl's Court!

That's all folks! A good time was had by all.

Various Things We Have All Been Up To...Random

Happy Holloween Everyone! It is Holloween Night and I have been sitting at home watching X Factor which is London's version of American Idol but much better. All the students went to a Halloween Party being given by one of the Rose Bruford students. We will post the photos in the next blog. Since the last blog we all have been doing various things, so this blog is an account of some of what we have been up to....It will cover some classes, trips students have taken, plays we have seen, and various other activities. Enjoy!





















End of Vanities









We miss Jo....we all plan on getting together soon!









Here are the Rose Bruford students that I teach attending Vanities and took part in the post performance discussion

Ben and Linsay in the booth

Ben and Sam putting gel away at strike.

Henry the Hoover.

My Class on Small Town America at Rose Bruford

I teach the first year students of the American Theatre Arts course a class on small town America. For the past three weeks they had to act and direct in scenes that were performed every Friday. I managed to attend two Fridays and Sam and Lindsay attended the last Friday. Some of the scenes that were done were from the following plays: Bent, Raisin in the Sun, Doubt, Hello from Bertha by Tennessee Williams, The Crucible, A Lie of the Mind, Butterfly Kiss, and The Colored Museum just to name a few. We have discussed and performed scenes from The Crucible and Our Town in my class. This week we are reading God's Country by Steven Dietz about white supremist groups in the USA.

Tom, Mahala, and Vanessa

Elle and Matt

Vanessa, Hannah, Iggy, ???, and Danielle

Bryony and Hannah

Cassie and Laura

Esti and Billy

Rohan

Bryony, Becca, Hannah, Laura

Celebrating the completion of the directing scenes. Hannah, Sam, Matt.

Charlie, Hannah, and Bryony

Elle and Billy



Plays We Have Attended

La Cage aux Folles was a play a few of us attended as mentioned in a previous blog. Below John Borrowman is signing autographs at the stage door after the show. He can be seen in Torchwood for those of you who follow that series on TV.

I was fortunate to attend the opening night premiere of the ballet, Sleeping Beauty, at the Royal Opera House performed by the Royal Ballet. It was an excellent performance and has received great reviews. The lead dance is an American named Sarah Lamb.

Last Wednesday night we went to the Old Vic which is run by Kevin Spacey to see Inherit the Wind which co-starred Kevin Spacey. It was a wonderful production and Spacey was very good. Some students stayed after the show to see if he would show up in the bar on the bottom floor of the Old Vic which he usually does; however, he did not show up.

We also had the opportunity to attend a play entitled The Author by Tim Crouch that he was commissioned to write for the Royal Court Theatre. As par the course for the Royal Court it was a pretty edgy play that took place in the audience and in which the playwright was in the cast of four. We got to speak to some of the actors after the performance.

Lindsay with Tim Crouch, the playwright

Steve and Adrian, one of the actors, who picked Steve out of the audience to be part of the show.

Adrian's autograph that Andy got for Steve....ask Steve to see the front of the card!!!


A Few Sights Around London

The Art in London class went to the National Gallery last week with Lucy Wilkenson the professor.

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The National Gallery

The view from Trafalga Square

Taryn, Sam, and Lindsay having lunch outside the National Gallery

Andy and Taryn....

Musicians in Covent Garden

Gina Figliulo at the Cabinet War Rooms. Gina visited her brother, Matt last week and the week before Matt's sister Jackie came over for a visit. Steve' parents also visited Steve and came to see Vanities and then took Steve to Ireland for the weekend. Krista's parents also came and visited and attended the show Friday and Saturday. She and her parents attended some plays, went to the tower of London and other sites.

Matt observing one of the war rooms....

Matt and Gina went to Abbey Road

and left some graffiti

Kensington Palace


Princess Di's dresses

Palace Gardens

Royal Albert Hall


Stonehenge

Matt, Gina, Taryn, and Rachel took a day trip out to Stonehenge. First to photo's are Rachel's...Great colors!

Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, York, and Oxford

Rachel and Taryn went to Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, Cotswolds, York, and then went to Oxford with Andy.

Cotswolds with rainbow

Oxford - Turf Tavern

roast pig in the tavern

Andy after being in the tavern!

Oxford-Christ Church

Rachel....

Staircase used in Harry Potter

Great Hall that inspired the Great Hall in Harry Potter


Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's Birthplace

Warwick Castle

York...one of the great medevil cities

Taryn doing an ancient Roman dance

Rachel TRYING to do an ancient Roman dance!

Random Shots....

Me attempting to eat a long hot dog in the movie theatre....it wasn't very good either....

Andy in the classroom with his favorite cup.

Sam before....

Sam after...

Krista and Lindsay discover a new way to defrost the freezer.

Steve attempting to look like me but failing miserably....

The End.

Review of Vanities

Review of Vanities

"Fabulous Not to be Missed"by Grant Smythson on 17/10/09
It just goes to show that a small venue can be home to a fabulous production. Such is the case for "Vanities" showing for one more night [Saturday, October 17, 2009] at Tara Studio.

The acting is superb and the interplay among the three characters is spot-on. All three actresses deliver strong and delightful performances.

The directing, innovative staging, and overall ambience is well-incorporated, making for a balanced, entertaining, and professional production. If one has the opportunity, one should try to catch the final performance

Event Venues & Times
finished

Tara Arts 356 Garratt Lane, London, SW18 4ES

The "get in" into TARA STUDIO

A week ago Monday we moved into Tara Studio. We loaded in (or we had a "get in" as the British would say) the set and lights. With the help of Matt, Steve, Andy, Bob, and Dave, Ben, Lindsay, Sam and Krista and I were able to put all the furniture together, paint, hang lights, and set up the space. Thanks to all of you. Ben's lighting design was fantastic and Lindsay did a terrific job stage managing. Sam, Krista and Jo were excellent in their roles. See the photos in the next blog that I posted at the same time I did this one.




Tara Studio, Earlsfield

















Front window of Tara.

















Putting the vanities, tables, and benches together
















Krista put a vanity together all by herself. Impressive!

Sam giving Matt directions. Wrong directions but giving him directions!

Lindsay starting the embroidery...

Steve did an excellent job painting. His summer employment came in handy. Bob giving him a helping hand.

Andy thinks he is Picasso. Poor Elvis!

David is impressed with Andy's artwork. I wonder if Lucy, the Art in London professor would approve? I the Tate Modern ready for this new artist??

Continue on and see the Production Photos in the blog posted before this one!

Production Photos of Vanities

Ben, Sam, Krista, Lindsay, and Jo
The Cast and Crew of Vanities

Well, we closed Vanities tonight at Tara Arts after a successful run this week. The cast and crew did a fantastic job on the show and the audiences loved it! We had a great discussion after Friday evenings show with the audience which was mostly made up of my students from Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. After beginning rehearsals September 8th and working very hard, it is nice to have the show finished so we can begin to see more shows and sites in London. All the hard work paid off. I would also like to thank Jo McCarthy who played the role of Kathy. Jo is a 2007 graduate of Rose Bruford American Theatre Arts Program. She spent a year studying in Texas as part of the program and had the opportunity to study playwriting with Jack Hefner, the playwright of Vanities. We will miss working with her! Enjoy the photos of the production.

Sam, Krista, and Jo and the Tiger!


Peter Snell (Gary) and Jo


















Tom Conry (Ted) and Sam

Pre-Show:

Act One:

Act Two:

Act Three:

Cheers to a job well-done!!!!