Wednesday, May 12

VOICE
Class was filled with little exercises. I can't remember them all, but here are some:

- We did movements while saying various consonant sounds.
- We did movements while saying various vowel sounds.
- We broke up the text of The Silver Swan so that each person in the circle would say only one line of it.
- We started taking the lines of text out of order.
- We used movements to shape how we said the words.



PLAYWRITING

We showed the scenes we'd been working on using the text from The Cherry Orchard. Remember, the only thing that we were supposed to keep in mind with the text was that one person wanted to propose to the other, and the other wanted the person to propose to them. We had some very different takes on it...

- Big Show & Newbie seemed to be splitting up. He was helping her take pictures of objects so that she could sell them on Craigslist. Sometimes, he stopped to take pictures of her.
- Iceman had just paid All-The-Way for sex and was doing cocaine. He took off his wedding ring to suggest he was going to leave his wife, but then suddenly left. (D-Train directed)
- Two-Shots-Up and Wifey were lesbian bank robbers. Two-Shots-Up decided she was going to give up the lifestyle. She couldn't find the loot that she had taken from the last heist. Then it turned out that Wifey had stolen it from her. (Killer directed)
- At the very end of the scene, you discovered that O.D. was the apostle John, and Thrill was Jesus. (Angela directed).

At the end, of each scene, we made notes of what was theatrically successful, and what was less so.

Here is my list of Things That Work:
- the use of a significant object to tell a story.
- routine (and the significance of stopping a routine)
- repetition
- moving forward
- mystery and suspense
- simplicity
- tell a clear story
- urgency
- twist
- slow reveal, to help the audience understand what is being told
- contrast
- intensity
- focus
- use the space
- once the space has been identified, exits and entrances can surprise
- "putting a clock on the scene"
- forget about symbolism (it gets in the way of humanity)
- reversals
- simple, clear physicality helps tell the story
- don't be too subtle
- point of view
- specificity
- costuming
- "what just happened?"
- rhythm

I also made a note to watch the movie "Reservoir Dogs".

The minimum requirements of things necessary to produce theatre are:
- space
- an actor
- a story
- an audience

When you get lost in your story telling, stop doing superfluous whatnot and remember those four basics.


Our homework is to be able to come into the space and begin to tell a story. We have to have thought of the following:
- a character to be (who can be inspired by someone from our own lives, or from pictures in magazines, or from stories we've heard)
- an object that is in some way significant to the character
- three people in the character's life
- three places in the character's life
- a reason that the character has two speak
- the first two minutes of the character's story (which we can have written down, or we can improvise)




EVERYTHING ELSE
There's a really lovely program in place in London called "A Night Less Ordinary". People aged 25 and under can get theatre tickets for free to shows from participating theatres. As my class is young, that means that 8 of us (me, Killer, All-The-Way, D-Train, Two-Shots-Up, Wifey, O.D., & Thrill) are eligible (I'm the eldest of those 8, and I turn 26 in October).

So the Barbican had its first preview of a Scottish production of Peter Pan, and some of us decided to go. Iceman wanted to come along (but is 27 and doesn't qualify for the program, so I split the cost of his ticket with him). Wifey, Two-Shots-Up, and D-Train came as well.

The best part of the production: Tinkerbell was a ball of fire. Literally. A flying ball of fire. She landed on things. People held her. She died and came back to life. It was a very cool bit of spectacle. There was some beautiful music in the production. And a lot of things that I didn't fully understand (Tigerlily was a pair of half-wolves/half-women). But I'm glad we went. And you can't beat free theatre.

Tuesday, May 11

VOICE
We did some breath work lying down, and started working with belly breathing. We've been studying Rib Swing breathing at our home campus. But actually, I don't think this is all that different. When we started with rib swing, we talked about filling from the stomach first. I didn't really adjust much, but Charmian said I was doing well.

At one point on the ground, she asked us to do some visualization involving the most comforting place in the world to us, as a way to aid in our release.

We stood in a circle and did some body releasing things. And we had an exercise where we connected with partners across a circle.

At the end of class, we each did a bit of Shakespeare so that Charmian could see where we are, and try to identify what we need help with. We all did things that we'd worked on with Acting Professoressa, but different things. Some people used sonnets, some used monologues, and some used parts of the scenes we'd worked on. I think I did something shorter than anyone else, but I thought it was enough for diagnostic purposes. It was part of my scene as Diana from All's Well That Ends Well (and D-Train kindly got up with me as a silent scene partner, which actually helped me to be a lot more calm and less nervous than I would've been otherwise).

Here's what I did:

"'Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth,
But the plain single vow that is vow'd true.
That which is not Holy, that we swear not by,
But take the High'st to witness: then pray you, tell me,
If I should swear by Jove's great attributes
I loved you dearly, would you believe my oaths
When I did love you ill? This has no holding,
To swear by him whom we protest to love,
That I will work against him. Therefore, your oaths
Are words and poor conditions, but unseal'd,
At least in my opinion."




OTHER STUFF
I went with Iceman, Two-Shots-Up, and D-Train to a show called Psy. And it rocked my world. WHOA.

An 11-member ensemble (just like my class!) are all characters with various types of mental illness (paranoia, insomnia schizophrenia, intermittent explosive disorder, multiple personality disorder, amnesia, sex addiction, agoraphobia, mania, hypochondria, & obsessive compulsive disorder) who are in group therapy. It's more of a show about acrobatics and circus skills than a traditional play, but the performers used their skills to tell a story. The circus work demonstrates their suffering, and with a couple of them, helps them to work through their problems. And it was gorgeous. Loved, loved, loved.

After the show, we went and met the performers. They were super-nice. And then we went out dancing with them. Let me tell you, there is no better group of people to go out dancing with than people with circus skills. They are so much fun!!! We mostly hung out with "Intermittent Explosive Disorder" (who is an American/Ukrainian), "Sex Addiction", "Amnesia", and "Schizophrenia" (who are all French). I don't remember the last time I had that much fun!

Monday, May 10

VOICE
From 10am-12pm, we had our first class with Charmian (who is our Voice instructor here... I asked permission to use her name, and she granted it). She's lovely! She asked us each how we feel about our voices, and what we're working on with them. I told her I feel good about my voice. I asked her to keep an ear out for me falling back into the two old problems that I've worked to correct: forward placement and crisp consonants. I'm doing well with both, but one never knows. And it's always nice to have an outside ear focusing on your issues.

Our homework for her class:
- brush up a Shakespeare monologue to do for class tomorrow (for diagnostic purposes)
- read a bunch of quotes by Patsy Rodenburg and Cicely Berry that she typed up, and find one that speaks to us
- begin memorizing a poem she gave us


Here's the poem:

THE SILVER SWAN (Anon. c. 1600)

The silver swan who living had no note,
When death approached unlocked her silent throat,
Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
Thus sung her first and last and sung no more:
Farewell all joys, O death come close mine eyes,
More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.



PLAYWRITING
We started class with what Mark (our instructor) referred to as "Ball Games".

The first involved us playing a game that I used to play informally when I was younger... Basically, the group can't let the ball touch the floor, so everyone is batting it towards each other. We began how many times we could hit it without it dropping. I think we got up to 48 (but the low-hanging ceiling kept messing up our attempts).

The next game involved one person being the "star" and the rest being the "supporting cast". The Star stood in the center with everyone else in a circle around. The Star batted the ball to a circle person, who batted it back, and then the Star hit it to the person next to them, who then batted it back... and so on, until the Star had completed the circle. It moves quickly, which makes it a bit tricky. We were actually quite good at it right off the bat. Mark seemed impressed.

I really liked the game after that. Instead of batting the ball, the Star could throw and catch the ball to people in the outside ring, and in whatever order they chose. The throwing and catching had to stay in the same rhythm throughout. After the Star threw the ball to someone else, anyone in the circle who wanted to could yell "GO!", the person who had just been the Star would then run out of the way to join the circle. The person who yelled "GO!" would then run to replace the Star and try to catch the ball that was being thrown to the center without the rhythm changing. We got quite good at that one, too, often with the Star changing after every throw.

We then played a variation on Tag. The game was sort of in slow motion, as no one was allowed to run. The person who was "It" had to extend their arm fully to tag someone else. But if an arm was being extended, the person in danger of being tagged could yell the name of anyone else playing, and then THAT person would suddenly become "It". This was, therefore, insane. Everyone started with "two lives". Ways you would lose a life included:
- getting tagged before saying a name
- saying a name when you were not about to be tagged
- saying an improper name (like your own name, the name of the person who was already "It", or someone who was already out of the game... or something random like George. Or a weird amalgamation of more than one person's name as though you couldn't make a decision fast enough).

Once you lost both lives, you then became a part of a wall that gradually crept in to reduce the space for the remaining players. I was not particularly good at the game, so I was a wall member a lot. But it was fun to play, and also fun to watch.

Mark discussed with us the theatrical benefits of each of the games after playing them. (Things like teamwork, focus, competition, drive, kinesthetic awareness, etc.)



Then he recited the text of a scene that he wanted us to each write down.

Woman: That's funny. I can't find it anywhere.
Man: What are you looking for?
Woman: I packed it myself. I just can't remember where.
Man: Where will you go now, (name)?
Woman: Me? To Margaret's. I promised to go there and look after the house. Be a housekeeper or something.
Man: At Marble Arch? That's twenty miles from here. Well, life in this house seems to be over.
Woman: Unless it's in the trunk. Yes, life in this house is over.
Man: And me, I'm off to (place) in a little while, taking the same train. But I'm leaving Mark here. I've hired him.
Woman: Have you?
Man: Last year at this time, it was already snowing. But now it's quiet and sunny. But there's a frost. It's three degrees outside.
Woman: I haven't looked at the thermometer. In any case, ours is broken.
(someone calls for the Man)
Man: Coming!
(Man exits. Woman weeps.)

Any of the 1st-years reading that scene would immediately recognize it. It's adapted from a scene in the final act of The Cherry Orchard, which they worked on earlier this semester. Mark changed some of the names and locations for us.

Mark then put us into groups of 2-3 people, and told us to adapt the scene further. He said to go to extremes with it, and see what it could yield with a little play-time. The only thing that he asked us to keep in tact from the original given circumstances is that the Man wants to propose to the Woman, and the Woman wants the Man to propose to her.

I'm in a group with O.D. & Thrill. We decided that Thrill would take Man's lines, O.D. would take Woman's lines, and I would be the director. We had some really creative ideas about where to take the scene, including:
- astronauts on the moon
- soldiers in a trench
- paraplegics in a hospital
- superheroes
- people disarming a bomb
- underwater divers

It was fun. I won't tell you what we came up with just yet (we're presenting it to our class on Wednesday), but I think it's pretty entertaining.


THEATRE
At night, the entire abroad program (undergrads and all) were taken to see the musical Oliver!. I was in a production of it in 8th grade. I played one of the drunk adults in the bar who sings "Oom Pah Pah". I also had a bit role as "The Bookseller". The role only has one line, but the director told me I could feel free to improvise a couple more. I remember being told in one rehearsal, "Angela, that's great, but if you add in any more lines, we're going to have to renamed the show, The Bookseller!"

Anyway. The set was super-cool. And there were SO MANY PEOPLE in that show. I counted at least 46 children. And they were expertly wrangled, so props to the production team for that. The choreography was great. And it's always nice to see a good spectacle (and believe me, it was a spectacle). But as for the actual performances? They just made me realize how spoiled we are in Florida to be able to work with such great people.

Sunday, May 9

Bright and early, I went on a coach tour ("coach" means "bus"). Wifey, Newbie, Two-Shots-Up, O.D., Thrill, Big Show, and I got on the same bus. All-The-Way and Killer ended up on a different bus. We went all around London, with some colorful and comedic commentary from our Blue Badge guide, Brian. Our driver was a man whose name sounded like "Sookie" (rhymes with "rookie").

Things we learned:
- There are sometimes plaques on buildings to commemorate the buildings' connections with historic famous people.
- London's population is officially 7.5 million people. But you don't have to register in any way to live in London... Therefore, the (unofficial) population is realistically more like 10-11 million.
- There are 33 boroughs and two cities in London (the City of London and the City on Westminster)
- Apparently "Summer's been canceled this year." (It was warm in April before we got here, and right now it's grey and chilly.)
- "MPs" are "Members of Parliament" (Important for us to know, as the election was the day we got here.
- Because of the hung parliament (i.e. none of the three major political parties has the 51% in parliament needed to push agendas through), the Pound has just gone down in comparison to the Dollar. (Right before we left, L1.00 = $1.56... On the day we got here, L1.00 = $1.53... And now L1.00 = 1.47)
- The Australia House was used as Gringott's Bank in the Harry Potter movies
- When the Brits talk about defeating Napoleon at Waterloo, it is appropriate to join in on saying "hurrah".
- Sometimes good deals come about for the London Eye, so look for them and go then. (He also joked that at dawn, the Eye is powered by a giant hamster called "Fluffy")
- "Big Ben" is the name of the bell inside the clock. The tower is called "The Famous Clock Tower".
- There are giant lions in the center of town that tourists often get their pictures taken on. The locals think it's hilarious to watch the tourists accidentally sliding off the lions.
- The word "tips" came about because the owner of a shop in London put a jar on the counter that said "To Improve Promptitude of Service".


Things we saw included:
- Aldwych street
- Australia House
- Royal Courts of Justice
- Temple Church (which was in The Da Vinci Code)
- St. Paul's (and the statue of Poor Queen Anne, who bore 19 children who all died before the age of 12 and became a drunk. It inspired a poem: Brandy Nan, Brandy Nan/Left in the lurch/Her face to the gin-shop/Her back to the church.)
-Fleet Street
- changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace
- Millennium footbridge
- the Globe
- the Tate Modern
- the Tower Bridge
- the Tower of London
- the London Dungeon (which Brian called "Madame Tussaud's on steroids")
- The Famous Clock Tower (which contains a bell called "Big Ben"... but apparently the tower is not called Big Ben)
- Westminster Abbey

I can't even remember the rest right now.

I ate some vegetables from Sainsbury's (the closest grocery store) for lunch. Wifey and I hit up Wagamama's (an asian noodle chain in town known for its cheap ramen dishes). I got a baked cheesecake with passionfruit glaze that was AWESOME. Wifey got chicken ramen, duck dumplings, and coconut ice cream.

After that, I uploaded 190 photos to my computer and facebook. At some point, I'll try to put some on here, but it takes FOREVER to get things to upload on most websites (like this one, for example... but for some reason facebook is faster).

Then Wifey and I went to Shepherd's Bush to see a concert (we bought tickets for it when we were in the USA). We didn't really care about the headliner (Owl City); we went for the second opening act: A Fine Frenzy. After some ticket complications (long story short: never buy concert tickets from international sellers on eBay), we got into the show. We stood pretty close in the stalls (i.e. the Orchestra/mosh pit area).

After A Fine Frenzy (which is really just a woman named Alison Sukol and her backing band) was done playing, I suggested that Wifey and I leave (since we didn't care about Owl City anyway, and all the teenage Owl City fans there were quite annoying) and try to meet Alison.

We talked to many people, and jumped through some hoops before we found a way to send a message to Alison through a security guy. Wifey wrote her a poem:

"Dear Alison,
We loved your show.
We're from the States.
Out the stage door
Your fans await.

Love, [Wifey] and Angela"

And then... ALISON CAME OUT AND MET US!!! She was sweet, and lovely, and wonderful. We got our picture taken with her, and were incredibly successful at not seeming like insane fans. We said goodbye to her, and as soon as we rounded the corner, we started jumping up and down and screaming. SO COOL.

Wifey and I got a late dinner at Bar Italia off of Soho Square. I got a really fantastic panini, and she got a great pizza.

Two-Shots-Up told us about a great show she saw called Psy. It's only running for one more week, so I'm going to try to see it Tuesday or Thursday if I can.

Classes start tomorrow. I can't wait!

:)

~A~

Saturday, May 8

Two-Shots-Up, Iceman, Wifey, Newbie, and I went to see the matinee of Mrs. Warren's Profession at The Comedy Theatre. (Student Rush tickets for-the-win!) It was seriously great. I liked it far more than most Shaw I've experienced in my life (I'm not generally a Shaw fan). Unfortunately, my jet-lag-warped circadian rhythm made me suddenly sleepy in the final act... But I still enjoyed it.

I grabbed a quick lunch before the show (tomato, mozzarella, and avocado salad), and a quick desert after it (something called "Sticky Toffee Sponge", which was pretty good).

After that, Wifey and I went out wandering. I brought her to Neal Street, which is part of an area of pedestrian streets called "7 Dials", and from there we went into the Covent Gardens area. Then we headed back up to New Oxford Street to pick up Newbie, and then continued our wandering. They ended up getting some books at Foyle's (which appears to be London's equivalent of Barnes & Noble). Wifey and I also got great gelato at a place called "Scoop".

During the day, I passed:
- three men dressed like Waldo (from Where's Waldo?) who were talking about finding "number four". (Wifey said, "I found you!" Sadly, they didn't respond.)
- a group of people singing and playing instruments, carrying a sign that said "Hare Krishna"
- a bunch of men in skintight body suits (covering their faces) in various colors, parading in rainbow order through Leicester Square, singing "If You're Happy and You Know It (Clap Your Hands)"

Friday, May 7

We started this morning off with the fire alarm going off (not a drill -- someone in a flat in our building set it off accidentally) . So we had to run down the million stairs to the street. Two-Shots-Up, Newbie, and I were all still wet from having taken short showers in quick succession (one of us was actually IN the shower when the alarm went off, and the other two were in towels... so we quickly put on pants and jackets and ran outside... I didn't even bother finding shoes.)

I have to admit, I've been in a terrible mood for most of the day. Probably a combination of that fire drill and a bit of jet lag. (Although my mood improved as the day went on.)

Also, my shoulders are retaliating for all that I put them through in my travels. Two big carry-ons with shoulder-straps = unhappy body.

But anyway.

At 10:00am, we had a long, boring meeting with all the important information that we need. Except that some of it doesn't apply to us (we can't go on some of the program-sponsored trips because our class schedule is so different from everyone else's), and a lot of it is geared toward undergraduates (who, perhaps, are not yet of drinking age in the USA and whom they assume need reminders to be responsible with alcohol here -- whereas most of my classmates are over 25).

Some of the information was useful. A reminder to register an Oyster card (tube pass) in case of losing it. Or not to be alarmed that "Casualties)

At 2:00pm was the security meeting with an English police officer. And she was pretty hilarious, and also informative.

After that was over, we met with one of our professors briefly. He said that they're going to try to adjust our schedule so that we can do more. Later in the day, I ended up signing up for a day-trip to Avebury, Lacock, and Salisbury. I am hopeful that it will work out so I can go.

I went on an optional "practical walking tour" around the area with one of the GCs (I don't know what it stands for... but they're kind of like RAs). It was actually really neat. I got good ideas about places to head on future days of wandering.

I walked in

Wifey and I went to a pub called Princess Louise. It's GORGEOUS! It's filled with etched glass, stained glass, and dark wood. And rumor has it, you can get a pint for 1.66 pounds. But it was packed, so we left. We also considered going to one called Crown (it might be "Old Crown" actually), but it was packed as well. (Fun fact: at Crown, about 10 minutes before closing time, they pass out plastic cups so that you can pour the remainder of your drink into it and bring it home... No open-container laws in London.)

Other notes on today:

- There are a shocking number of people in London with pink, magenta, or Crayola-red hair.
- You cannot buy natural colors of red hair dye in the local drugstore, Boots. (They only have brunette and blonde shades, or shocking punk colors.)
- Brits really like to put sweet corn in their tuna. I haven't seen tuna salad WITHOUT sweet corn yet.
- I have been trying to download songs by Natalie Imbruglia (my favorite singer) that are available in the UK Amazon MP3 shop but not the US Amazon MP3 Shop. (I couldn't buy them in the USA). But the UK Amazon says I have to download the program for downloading again, and our internet is slow and doesn't let us download programs (All-The-Way has had a heck of a time trying to download Skype). Not cool.

Thursday, May 6

We have safely arrived in London!

The plane ride was nice. I sat next to Wifey in a block of 3 seats, and the third was vacant, so we had a little extra room to stretch out while (attempting to) sleep. The food on the plane was actually really good. I had a mango-papaya cheesecake in a cup that was SO delicious, it was unbelievable. I watched The Lovely Bones. I made mixed drinks. It was great. We hardly slept (it's just so hard to sleep on a plane), so most people are pretty out of it now.

We landed at Gatwick around 8:40am (London time). But it took forever to get to our place. We didn't end up seeing our flat until around 1:30pm.

We're in a housing facility that the University owns. The girls have the penthouse flat (which is a PAIN, because there are no stairs, and we have to enter through the basement of a neighboring building... remind me to post a video of how convoluted our route is). Five girls, 1 bathroom, for six weeks. This is going to be... interesting.

I'm sharing a (very small, very cramped) bedroom with Two-Shots-Up. Our room contains two stand-alone closets, two small dressers, two twins beds, and a chair. All-The-Way, Newbie, and Wifey are sharing the (slightly-bigger-but-equally-cramped) bedroom next to us. Honestly though, we might as well all be in the same room, because we share a wall. As I mentioned, we have one (very small) bathroom. We have a kitchen, and we have a little living room area (which has two nice couches and a television).

The boys are in the 3rd-floor flat. They have equally cramped rooms, but they have two bathrooms. Also, they somehow lucked out and have a microwave.

At the moment, I am super tired. I'm trying to stay up until about 9pm or so, to help my internal clock right itself. We'll see if that works.

We went to a little meet-and-greet thing with program staff. The vast majority of the other students here are undergrads. I've only met one grad student who isn't in our program (I think she said she's studying art... or art history...? -- it has been a long day).

Alright, I must be off. I have to go get a power adapter for my lovely computer (Lady MacBook) so that I continue blogging in the future.

All good things,

~A~