Our First Week in London

BIG BEN

Cheers!

Welcome to this year's London blog. I will be blogging and posting photos throughout the semester. If you subscribe to the blog you will be notified when I post something. The students arrived on Saturday Sept 5th. Most flew from Minneapolis and a couple came from Chicago. I met them at the flats on Auriol Road around 2 pm. They settled into their rooms and then I took them grocery shopping and on a walking tour of the neighborhood. In an attempt to keep them awake I then took them into Central London, and we toured the theatre district and had dinner at Pollo and great, cheap Italian restaurant.


Rachel, Taryn, Lindsay, and Sam at the Minneapolis airport



Taryn, Lindsay, Sam, and Ben outside the flats



Sitting in the living room of the guys flat waiting to start a short meeting




Sam and Krista at the Baron's Court Tube stop near the student flats.

The boys attempting to do grocery shopping. Andy looks so confused!

On the neighborhood walking tour we found tennis courts in a park where Andy, Steve, and Dave have played tennis a number of times this week.

The theatre majors are producing a play, Vanities, at Tara Arts studio October 13 -17. We began rehearsals this week at The Drill Hall rehearsal studios. In addition to Sam and Krista performing, Jo McCarthy a 2007 graduate of Rose Bruford American Theatre Arts program has joined the cast. She had the opportunity to study playwrighting with Jack Heifner, the playwright who wrote Vanities. It has been exciting working with Jo. Lindsay is stage managing ane Ben is designing the lights for the production. Some of the non-majors will also be helping out with the production. We got all of act one blocked and will be starting on act 2 this afternoon.

Krista and Jo during a read through of Vanities

Sam and Krista blocking act one.

Sam and Krista at the readthrough and tablework rehearsal.

Gary, Krista, and Sam returning home after rehearsal with the leftovers from Pizza Express.

Classes began on Monday. Mondays the students have Theatre in London and Page to Stage. On Tuesdays we all go out to Rose Bruford College in Sidcup for a Global Issues class in the morning and an Acting the British Approach class in the afternoon. This is one of our chances to meet British students. Some of them will be attending Saint Mary's next year. I teach two classes on Tuesday to Rose Bruford students. Also on Tuesday afternoons some of the students will return to London for their International Management class. Wednesday morning is Contemporary British Writers. Thursday morning is Art in London and in the afternoon it is British Politics. Friday is set aside for our day trips. This week we went to Cambridge. It was a wonderful day. The weather was beautiful, we had an excellent tour guide, Catherine Sharp, and we went punting. We had a tour of Cambridge in the morning, had lunch, and then went punting before heading back to London. See photos below....at the end of the blog are two videos of us punting!

On Monday night we went to the Globe Theatre to see Shakespeare's As You Like It. We got there early so we could get right up front and lean on the stage seeing that we were groundlings and had to stand for 3 hours. It was worth it!!!! Great performance.

The Globe Theatre

Dave, Gary, and Ben waiting for the show to begin.

Steve, Matt, Lindsay, Sam, and Taryn, the Groundlings!

On Tuesdays we take a train out to Sidcup for classes at Rose Bruford. It is about a half hour train ride each way.

Waiting at the train station in Sidcup to return to London

Gary letting Steve know that the train is coming!!!! Yeah, right!



The following are photos from the Cambridge trip.

Steve doing his "homework" on the coach at 8:30 am on the way to Cambridge.

Punt boats

More boats!

Andy getting instructions on how to punt!

The girls taking a punting tour down the Cam River.

Andy taking the boys down the river...will they survive?

Dave, Robert, and I also took a tour....

The Cam River!

A number of us had lunch at The Eagle...the most famous pub in Cambridge.

Pink Floyd played at The Anchor when they first started out!

Catherine giving us an hour and a half tour of Cambridge on Friday morning.

Outside of King's College. We took a tour of the inside as well. Magnificent!

Andy paying attention as usual!!!!


After returning to London from Cambridge some of us went to go see Avenue Q in the West End.

On Saturday the Page to Stage class attended Mother Courage and Her Children at the National Theatre. The play was translated by Tony Kushner and starred Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter's Aunt in the films). Our guest was David Mowbray, my former student from Rose Bruford. The show was fantastic and very, very Brechtian.

Sam, Dave, Krista and I went to see Avenue Q. Lots of laughs!

This weekend was also the Thames Festival on the South Bank. As part of the festivities the National Theatre was sponsoring some outdoor performances in the outside courtyard of the theatre.

Krista, Sam, Dave Mowbray after the performance. Fireworks in the background.

Lindsay,Ben, Krista, Sam and Dave Mowbray on the Terrace after the show. London Eye in the background.

Mother Courage and all her children!!!1

Rachel says don't be afraid to comment on the blog....Looking forward to your responses!!!!

Click on the two short videos below to watch us punting....

Ben is stirring the boat below. The bridge blocks him....oh, well.

The British Invasion...

Rose Bruford Students Arriving at MSP Airport to study at Saint Mary's this year.


It is midnight in London and I am sitting in my flat getting ready for the arrival of the 11 Saint Mary's students who will be studying in London this semester. They will arrive around 12:15 at Heathrow Airport. Subscribe to this blog and I will keep you up to date on everything we are doing this semester. Meanwhile back at Saint Mary's 7 students from Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, England arrived in Winona on August 17th to spend the whole year studying theatre at SMU. I had the priviledge of teaching these students last fall at Rose Bruford. They are in a three year course which studies American Theatre. They spend their second year at an American university. The other half of their group is at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. After their arrival I had the opportunity to orient them to Winona and surrounding areas. Enjoy the photos below and share in some of the fun experiences we had. They went through new student orientation and have been cast in three of the four shows at Saint Mary's this fall and are throroughly enjoying themselves.




Waiting for Kelly to get out of customs!!! Don't ask!




Jen, Claire, me, and Laura-Leigh waiting for Kelly!


We spent Wednesday after their arrival on Don Nelson and Mary Kaye Perrin's boat on the Mississippi River. It started out with nice weather, then it rained, then hailed, and when we returned back to school, we had to go to a shelter because of tornado warnings! Welcome to the mid-West!



Jen, Kelly, Laura, Charlotte, and Claire on the top deck




Shereen, Kelly, and Laurence enjoying the view of the bluffs and the river.

Don, our Captain!

One of the many barges going down the Mississippi River

Stopping for lunch on a sand bar....then the rain began as we finished eating.

Laurence, Kelly, and Shereen braving the rain and hail. The rest of us were inside staying dry.

Laura holding the boat against the wall of the Lock and Dam before being able to pass through.

Our lives were also in Charlotte's hands!!!

Laurence doing what he does best waiting for the Lock to open so we can pass through

Mary Kaye, Jen, Charlotte

The British version of the Titanic!!!

We then spent Thursday in Lansboro, Minnesota, a small town with a professional theatre company. We spent the day shopping, eating dinner, and going to see Neil Simon's The Odd Couple at the Commonweal Theatre. We were joined by Judy Myers, Curtis Kempton, Tim Schmall, and Peter Snell. It was a pleasant day in a small town! Ah, rural America!

Curits and Laura in the lobby of the Commonweal Theatre

Shereen walking the streets of Lansboro....shopping!

Laura and Claire....more shopping!

The theatre.

The group after the talk back with the cast of the play.

The End!

Hope you all follow our adventures in London this semester! Tomorrow is move-in day and me trying to keep all the students awake until bedtime to get them on a London schedule!!!! Safe journey everyone!

July in London 2009: Getting Ready for the Fall Semester

Well it is midnight on July 17th the beginning of my next to last day in London. I arrived July 2nd and have been spending these past two weeks getting things ready for the Fall Semester. I spent most of the first week moving into my flat which is in Stockwell. It is a great flat and neat location. The first night I went to a fantastic Tapas restaurant around the corner. One of my neighbors is Joanne Lumley from Ab Fab. I haven't seen her yet, but I hear she shops in the Sainsbury's (local supermarket) all the time. Last week I met with Steve Dykes and 5 of the 7 Rose Bruford students who will be studying at St. Mary's this year for dinner at Pizza Express behind the National Film Institute. We had a great time together. They are all very excited about attending St. Mary's this year. I also have seen a few plays: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard at the Duke of York Theatre for free. Jonathan scored us tickets. I was very tired and jet lagged but made it through the production. Got to see the red carpet for the premiere of Harry Potter and managed to see most of the cast. Just happened to walk upon it not knowing it was going on. Waiting for Godot has to be one of the highlights of this trip. It is starring Sir Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, and Simon Callow. Incredible acting! It was what theatre is all about. McKellan was especially wonderful. I also saw the musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert based on the Australian film. Very fun and campy! Last night I went to see The Black Album at the National Theatre. It is about the rise of Islamic radicalism in the 80's in London. Both funny and intense. Already booked tickets for our students to see it in the Fall. It is co-produced with Tara Arts where we are performing Vanities in October. We are being advertised in the National Theatre's programs in the Olivier and Littleton Theatres. Tonight I went to see Jerusalem starring Mark Rylance, former artistic director of the Globe Theatre and one of my favorite actors and MacKenzie Crooks from The Office (London version). It wasn't anything that I expected. I was expecting Gaza Strip conflict and it was about a guy living in the woods in an RV....Pretty funny and tragic. Great cast. Highly recommend it. Wish it was playing in the Fall. Hope they extend the run. Tomorrow night, my last night in London, I am going to see a new musical called Too Close to the Sun which is being lit by my friend and landlord Mike Robertson. It is about the last two days of Hemingway's life. Looking forward to it. I am also going to try to see Harry Potter in the morning. Have spent the rest of the week dealing with BT getting a phone line, O2 getting broadband, booking all of our day trips and buses and booking plays for the month of September! Students have some good shows to look forward to. More later! Cheers! Enjoy the pictures below.







Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the Duke of York Theatre







Exhibit I went to at the National Portrait Galleryf




Still a few phone booths left in London






All the trees along the South Bank covered in red with white dots







Claire, Jen, Kelly from Rose Bruford who will be studying at SMU this year!!!