All the students arrived safely on August 25th where I met them at a coffee shop next to the Edgware Road Tube Station. They all came in from Heathrow Airport. Peyton arrived a week before after travelling with his dad and brother to France and Ireland. Mike arrived on the 21st. Both stayed in hostels until we could move into the flats on the 25th. I arrived August 14th and stayed in one flat for 10 days and then moved into my usual flat on the 26th.
Parker and Stefan were picked up at the airport by Harry Peacock, Gigi's boyfriend, who kindly dropped them off at the flats so I did not take a picture of them arriving. After we made sure everyone had their Oyster Cards (subway or tube passes), I took them on a walking tour of the neighborhood. Pointed out Marble Arch Tube stop, Primark, Church Street open farmers market, and our rehearsal space at The Cockpit Theatre. I left them to shop for groceries and went to my flat to pack up my things so I could move the next day.
Saturday morning I moved into my regular flat while Peyton took the students to Hammersmith to buy phones and sim cards. I met them at Costa Coffee, and we walked to our classroom site. Then got on the Tube at Hammersmith and stopped at Sloane Square to buy copies of the play, Road, at the Royal Court Theatre. Scripts there are 3 pounds as opposed to 8.99 pounds. Then we got back on the tube to Westminster.
When we came out of the tube I told the students to look up and this is what we saw. Two days before they arrived the bells of Big Ben stopped ringing. They will not ring for 4 years while they are doing construction work on the building. Unfortunately, the scaffolding started going up!
We stopped for our annual picture in front of Big Ben and Parliament. This is the spot where the car ran into pedestrians. All the bridges now have barriers on the street side which were never there before. We continued walking over Westminster Bridge and took another photo with the London Eye (Ferris Wheel) in the background.
When we got to County Hall we walked into the Marriott Courtyard to make a video introducing ourselves to the new freshmen back at school. Here we are leaving the courtyard, and we then went down the stairs to walk along the South Bank passed the London Eye, Aquarium, Shrek Adventure, and The London Dungeon.
Stefan played Shrek in Winona two years ago!
We walked to the National Theatre to buy more plays at the National Theatre Bookstore that we needed for the Page to Stage Class. We were met there by Walker Robeson a Saint Mary's Alum who just arrived from Moscow where he studied theatre for a few weeks. Walker is an MFA student at East 15, a theatre school in East London. He literally just got off the train!
A great sculpture behind the Crypt that I thought Mike (Our English major) should sit at and partake in a conversation with Oscar.
The Crypt is one of my favorite places to hide in Central London and get away from the hustle and bustle of the City. It is across the street from the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. They also have great food. Wednesday is Jazz Night and upstairs in the church they do Candlelight classical concerts. Very relaxing.
We began class on Tuesday and that night went to see Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe Theatre. Much Ado was the Shakespeare play Saint Mary's did last Spring. This production was set in Mexico after the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Here is a picture of the Globe taken from the Southwark Bridge.
The Shard
Saint Paul's Cathedral across the river from the Globe. It was designed by Christopher Wren.
We got in line for our standing room positions in the pit at 5:00pm for a 7:30 show. We do this so we are first in line so when the theatre doors open, we are the first in line and can rush the stage so we have something to lean on!!! Worth the wait. Students were told to bring something to read, food, etc.
Here is the set for Much Ado...It was a box car.
This is Emma Rice's last season with the Globe as Artistic Director. She was let go because she used stage lighting as seen below for all her shows. Also sound. Even though she is going, she is continuing to use this. The Board of Directors disapprove!!!!
As I mentioned we had our read-through at the student flats on Monday. Then Wed and Thurs we had rehearsal at The Cockpit. We have the first three scenes block and did all of our initial tablework (Discussing and analyzing the play and the research Becca and the cast did on it). Tomorrow is our next rehearsal. Actually, today. It is almost 4 am here.
The Art in London Class went to Tate Britain Museum on Wednesday and Global Issues met on Thursday. It will be an interesting class with all the changes going on politically in Britain and Europe.
Stefan went to the coffee shop at Baron's Court in honor of Bailey and Jake and ordered a Hazelnut Latte!!!!
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was an interesting production. Lots of nudity in it. Brick and Maggie were both naked in this modern take on the Tennessee Williams' play. It also had modern, formal, glitzy costumes (dresses). l don't know if I liked that. Also, all of actor who played Brick's tattoos were showing with his real name and comedy and tragedy masks on him,etc. It took me out of the moment. He couldn't cover them up because he was naked and showering a few times in the play and the make up would wash off. A good reason actor's should not get tattoos!!!!! Some of us went to go see a production of Much Ado About Nothing put on by the Sh*t Faced Shakespeare Company where one actor gets drunk before the performance and then has two or three more drinks throughout the show per audience members request. Mike not only got to chose when the actor (actress who played Hero in this production) got another drink, but he was also chosen to play Margaret, the servant, in the production. They put a dress and hat on him and got him on stage a couple of times. The sex scene in the window where he kept yelling Daddy, Daddy as "She" was making love was hysterical. Peyton and I saw this when he arrived with a different actor and character being drunk. I saw them last year when they did Mid-Summer Nights Dream. This group was in Minneapolis this past summer.
Peyton and Stefan went to Lego Land in Leicester Square and met up with Bill....
We also met Tasha Nelson and Julie Fredricksen who visited London. They not only saw Aladdin but scored tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Mike and Stefan also got tickets for the Harry Potter play. They saw Part 1 on Thursday and Part 2 Saturday evening. Others went to see Wicked and An American in Paris.
On Friday we had our first day-trip to Cambridge. I will post that blog in a couple of days! Lots of photos, too!
Ending this blog with a couple of random pictures!
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!!!!
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