CAMDEN TOWN, DINNER, AND PLAYS!

Hi everyone!  Update on Suzanne...she is still in the hospital in Edinburgh but doing much better. Her fever and dizziness are gone.  Hopefully, we get her back in London soon then back to Minnesota.  Everyone has been wonderful helping out and sending their best wishes for a speedy recovery.  

Before we went to Scotland Suzann and I took some of the students to Camden Town which is one of my favorite parts of London.  Lots of shops, stalls, food, etc.  It is the bohemian part of London where the hippy and punk movement started and where is big in the music scene.  Our alums in Koo Koo Kangaroo performed there a couple of years ago and and it is where Amy Winehouse started.

Courtney's sister is travelling around Europe and stopped in London so we took her with us!!!

I took the students to one of my favorite shops that sells leather coats for 10 pounds.  Some of them bought coats, and I tried to get Jake to buy this fur coat.  It fit him perfectly...Only 15 pounds.  He didn't go for it!

Darren and I resting!

 Cyberdog is a very unique store that sells weird clothes mostly day-glo and I know no one who would wear them .

Except for Gigi...she could wear it all!!!

Statue of Amy Winehouse who died of an overdose. Her father put the statue here in the middle of Camden Market.

Beach chairs right in the middle of the giant stairway where people can take a break from shopping.  It is right above Cereal Killer a cafe that sells bowls of overpriced cereal.  One can buy two boxes for what they charge for a bowl!  But it is a popular place.

The canal.  One can take a canal boat up to Little Venice.

The day after our show I took the cast and visitors to The Archduke for a cast dinner compliments of Brother William.  A nice way to celebrate a fantastic show.

 Dessert, or pudding as the Brits say, is always the best!

The last few plays we attended have all been about diversity and have dealt with minority issues.  Even though they were from different periods they are really relevant to what is going on here in Britain and the United States.  Tara Arts produced Paradise of the Assassins a story written in the 1200's that dealt with recruiting young muslims and turning them into assassins.  Same way they are recruited today ironically. With propaganda and brainwashing.

The Royal Court is one of my favorite theatres that develops new playwrights, does edgy plays, and comments on many of the issues prevalent in our society.  We saw Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts 1, 2 and 3 which takes place during the Civil War.  Susan Lori Parks is going to write six more parts to this.

We went back to Tara this past Thursday to see an all-black version of Hamlet.  In fact it is the first all-black version of this play ever done in London.  Excellent!  We saw the matinee compliments of Jonathan Kennedy who treated all of us to the production  Many thanks!

That night we went from Hamlet to the Donmar Warehouse to see One Night in Miami which was incredible.  It takes place in a motel room in Miami the night Cassius Clay wins the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston.  Clay, activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke, and football player/actor Jim Brown meet in Malcolm's motel room to "celebrate".  Really apt to what is going on back home today!

Darius Thompson who is a former student of mine from Rose Bruford gave us free tickets to see Mark Ravenhill's edgy play, Shopping and F____ing, at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. 20 yrs ago I saw the original production of this play produced by The Royal Court Theatre and performed at the Ambassadors Theatre when the Royal Court was being renovated.   It was still provoking but seemed more relevant in the 90's.  I remember being the first one in line to get two of the four standing room tickets that were going on sale at 5 pm. I was in line for about three hours and entertained myself by listening to people coming up to the box office to ask for tickets to the play but not saying the last word.  Everything but!  I wanted to write a play about that. hahaha  We will discuss it in class this Monday!  Can't wait!

Oops!  I forgot to post these in the last blog on Scotland.  Here is one of my favorite people in Edinburgh.  She is always walking around and reads Tarot cards!!!  The face piercings are scary!

The group before they boarded the train back to London last week.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!