A Semester in London: Great Week in London and Surrounding Areas...

This is a long blog with lots of photos. I wanted to get caught up with what we have been doing.

Last week we saw Ivanov with Kenneth Branagh. The translation by Tom Stoppard was very good. The class had mixed reviews on the production. Sets were great!

Here are some photos I did not included last entry:

Waiting in line at the Globe to enter the theatre.

Students waiting for Merry Wives of Winsor at the Globe to begin.

Boat races on the Thames during the Thames Festival (Italians?)

Tim, Mary, Michelle, and Caitlin at the Globe

Classroom - Bern looks enthused~!

Ali, Joe, Caitlin, and Tommy at Blackfriars in Oxford

Peter thinks he is a student at Oxford!!! Wishful thinking Pete!

Rehearsals at the Drill Hall end tomorrow! That will be the end of lugging props and costumes across London. We move down to the Wimbledon Theatre on Monday and are ready to settle in. Roger Frith, our lighting designer, came to Wednesday's rehearsal. Rented a saxaphone for Tommy and scene change music is going to be great. Monday will be move in day. We have to put all the furniture together that we bought from IKEA and hang lights...hopefully, I can get to stage the show Monday night in the theatre. Actors and crew are doing a fantastic job! Below are some photos from rehearsal at the Drill Hall.

Bern and Bill rehearsing a Wiley/Berry scene

Tim Stage Managing

Michelle doing line notes!

Yesterday(Friday) we went to Canterbury one of my favorite, magical places in the world. Students had a really great tour guide, an Italian who has lived in England for 30 years, Andre Russo. Will try to get him again next year. The Cathedral is as magnificent as ever. So much History. It was a rainy day however. Rain held off while the students were on tour. Canterbury photos are below:

Students on tour in Canterbury

View of Cathedral through the Gate

The tour continues.

Students waiting to enter the Cathedral to get out of the cold and rain.

Tonight we attended a performance of Now or Later by Christopher Shinn at the Royal Court Theatre. The play takes place in a hotel room the night of the election of the President of the United States. The Democratic candidate is likely to win. At the same time a series of photos of the president-elect's son, who is gay, appear on the internet with him wearing a costume dressed as Mohammed. Every one of the advisors and his mother try to get him to apologize, but he refused. It finally comes down to a showdown between father and son. This was an excellent play with incredible acting. Their American dialects were excellent. We had front row seats. It starred Eddie Redmayne a wonderful young actor who is currently on television in the mini-series Tess of the D'Urbervilles. He was also in The Good Sheperd and The Other Boleyn Girl among others. The students got to speak to him before and after the show.

Students outside the Royal Court Theatre

Students and myself in front of the marquee for Now or Later

Ali, Bern and Caitlin with Eddie Redmayne after the show.

Bill getting Matthew Marsh's autograph. He played the President elect. Last year we saw him in Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet.

Bill and Bern with Domhnall Gleeson who plays Matt. He was in Great Expectations that we saw at the Gate Theatre last year in Dublin when students were studying at the Gaiety School of Acting.

My classes at Rose Bruford are going great. We have been working on The Crucible and Our Town. Both classes of students are doing well. Our SMU students have been working diligently on learning a variety of British accents for the play Us and Them that they are working on in class with Tony James. Here is a photo of my afternoon group.

Rose Bruford students.

I want to end this long blog with a new tidbit I learned while drinking coffee(Me drinking coffee, go figure!)

Jonathan Kennedy, one of my closest friends in London, and the person who is handling all of our publicity were having coffee and dessert at a cafe in Neal's Yard in Covent Garden when I look up and saw a plaque on the wall of an upstairs flat. Monty Python lived there. It was the first time I realized that Monte Python was an actual person. He was a film maker....who knew?