Tues Jan 20
Today we had a short class because it was Americans get in for free day at Madame Tussauds!! Madame Tussauds is a wax museum that’s been around for ages a pre-World war kind of thing. And inside are all of these unbelievably life like wax figures that everyone comes to see and take pictures with. They have celebrities like actors and athletes and political figures, presidents, kings, queens, singers, and famous people from back in the day, Einstein, Van Goh, Shakespeare, and many more. It was free for Americans because they released the Obama wax statue today!! Huzzah! So we all brought our passports and went down there really early as soon as it opened. And we got in for free!! When I went to get my ticket I went up to the guy and was like…”so apparently I get in for free today?” And he goes “…apparently you do” and he smiled and gave me my ticket! Yay for being an American! So we got in and we all went up the elevator together and right when you get out of the elevator there is a huge wall in front of you with fake paparazzi people on it and there were all these flashes going off. It was really cool. The first room you walk into is like a big party there are all these celebrities and actors dressed up like they were going to the Oscars or something. I saw Daniel Radcliff (Harry potter)…and I’m about the same height as him haha. I also took a picture with Patrick Stewart for my dad. (Trekie) I saw Samuel Jackson, Leonardo Decaprio, Morgan Freeman, Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts, and plenty more. In the next room there were more celebrities including, Harrison ford, Robin Williams, Jim Carey, THE HULK!!!, Tinkerbelle, Steven Spielberg, whoopee Goldberg, and again too many to name. In the next room there were athletes and British royalty and a bunch of random people. We took pictures with the queen, Henry the 8th, Shakespeare and tons more. We even saw Prince William (sighhh) (*faints*). Then continuing on we saw famous singers and performers such as Beyonce, Brittney Spears, Justin Timberlake, The Beatles!! and plenty more famous faces. Then there he was; standing with a huge grin on his face in the oval office, Barack Obama. We had to wait in this huge line to get a picture with him. As we waited we walked by Ghandi, Ronald Regan, JFK, Martin Luther King, and former president George W. Bush who happened to have a confused look on his face…poor Bush. And then I looked up and out of the corner of my eye I spotted that creepy little mustache…that evil face…Madame Tussauds even had the wax figure of Hitler. As I was staring at him…in amazement and pure disgust I saw women go up to him and take a picture with him…SMIELING! I felt sick. My whole group thought it would be appropriate to take a picture with him giving him the finger…but we decided he wasn’t worth our time. So I asked why he was there and my friend said that they made his figure in 1933 before anyone knew he was capable of such evil things. There were stories of people going to the museums and ripping of his arms, throwing red paint on him, and sticking pins in his heart. So eventually they put him in a glass case…but surprisingly he was out if the case. I had half a mind to go punch him. Another strange thing was that there was a blitz during one of the world wars and a bomb hit Madame Tussauds and a lot of the wax figures and molds were destroyed…except that Hitler’s figure was untouched. And one more freaky thing about the statue was that supposedly Hitler’s hair started to grow and the staff had to give him a hair cut…talk about freaky. Well enough about Hitler. Back to OBAMA!!! Yay!!
So we finally got to get a picture with Obama. It was great. He really looked like him…it was kind of scary. I know that was a little anti-climactic but oh well. So after we saw Obama there was the scary haunted house part of the museum…that Jmike and Krystina opted out of because they were scared…BOOO LAMEEEE. But I went…even though I was terrified. I went in with Dave and Tara. I told them we had to scream at the top of our lungs at soon as we walked through it because it would make it less scary if we made it a joke. So we did exactly that….or at least I did…Tara was actually screaming. Haha I just screamed and screamed and screamed like I was freaking out but I was just kidding around. And it annoyed one of the scary guys so he came up to me really close to my face and said in his British accent “OH SHUTT UPPP” and I continued on screaming and screaming until we were done…and it was awesomely funny. After we got out of scary land we went into one of the coolest rooms ever!! THE JAMES BOND ROOM! There were only two wax figures there Dame Judy Dench (M. In James Bond) and Daniel Craig (James Bond). They even had the motor cycle from one of the new Bond movies. IT was great! Then to wrap things up there was a movie at the end that everyone watched about celebrities and aliens…it was weird. And then it was almost over and we only saw a few scattered figures like Marylyn Monroe, complete with her dress blowing, and Mr. T and a few others. It was great and I was so glad we went it was so much fun.
After we got done with M.Ts. the group reconvened for some lunch and then we went to The Globe theatre on the other side of the Thames. The Globe is a theatre based on the original one built in Shakespeare time. It’s a big circular building like a short cylinder. And it has no roof in the middle and can hold 900 people or something like that, with 400 seated and 500 standing or some crazy number. There’s a big arena area in the middle where people can by standing tickets and there are 3 levels of seats. The stage is pretty tall with a balcony included and a trap door. And back in shake pares time there were no ways of lighting the stage so they would perform in the day time where the audience was clearly visible. Which I think is kind of scary. But in the modern one there are obviously ways to light the stage so they can perform in the day or night. The coolest part of our tour of the globe was that we got to go on the stage! It’s kind of the Mecca of theatre students. To be on the Globe stage was an amazing experience. We spent a while on the stage and then we went to this meeting room and had a talk with one of the globe directors and he talked about how hard it was to be an actor in Shakespeare time. You just got a script with only your lines on it and you had to memorize it in a few days and perform it right away. And you only got the last three words of the sentence before you. So he gave everyone sheets of paper that had that type of “script” on it and he had us read part of the script and we saw how hard it was. The actors don’t even know what the whole play is about so It must have been hard to really understand your role….craziness. We spend a while at the Globe so by the time we got back to the flat it was time to eat dinner so we got some dinner and all gathered around MPs TV and we watched the inauguration. It was a really awesome moment to have the whole group huddled around this really small British TV and watching history happen. It was great. I put my camera on top of the TV and took picture while we were watching. It’s cool because the view is from the TV looking out at us. And then I put on some red white and blue and we headed back again to the national theatre and saw the best show I saw on the whole trip. August Osage County, hands down, was the best show that we saw. It was my favorite out of all of the shows. It even topped Don John and Wicked. I was so moved by the play. I didn’t even know what I was moved to I just know that it really spoke to me. It is a dark comedy about an American family that is the epitome of dysfunction. The play explores and unfolds problems of alcoholism, drug abuse, incest, suicide, pedophilia, and serious mental health issues. The acting was phenomenal. You could really tell that the energy was high and that the actors were deep in to these characters. I could tell that this is what they loved to do. It was interesting to think about the show and the actors and how intense the show is and I wondered, along with most of the group, how the cast did this show night after night after night. Its such an intense story, full of heart ache, sorrow, and raw, broken relationships. There were plenty of times that I felt like crying during the show because it was so sad to see the realities that this family faced. The set added to the intrigue of the show. Besides being captivated with the story line and being guided along by the wonderful acting, the set made it all the more believable. On stage before us was a 3 story country house cut in half. It was like looking at a giant doll house. I felt that the set had more power to our group because we were able to explore it when we visited and toured the national theatre earlier in the trip. We saw firsthand, up-close how much detail was in the set. Some of the actors had to be on stage for lengthy periods of time even though they weren’t speaking so they had to really feel like they were in an actual kitchen or dining room or really watching TV. The set just blew me away; the attention to detail was incredible and made it believable. We talked about in class how the play was grounded in realism and real emotions but the set had aspects of surrealism. There were no walls or ceilings to part of it so the audience had to imagine that the actors were peaking around a door or listening behind a wall to a conversation or imagine that the rooms were separate so some conversations were private. Even though there was the aspect of surrealism I still bought into that there were walls there and the rooms were separate. It was all very real to me. It was my favorite show. I still get chills just thinking about it.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Day 20: Horses, Harrods, and Bikes
Jan 19th 2009
Today we had class and talked about midsummer and if we liked it/ if we didn’t/ what worked with the show/what didn't.
Then we got a preview for the greatest show ever....War Horse!! (But before I get into that I’ll tell you what I did before the show)
So today was a say of shopping a little but mostly feeling really poor hahah. Chris, Branden, Evan, Steve and I all went to Harrods today. It is a huge 6 floor department store that sells everything you could imagine. take Macys plus Sears plus JC Penny plus Prada, Gucci, D&G, and every other famous designer Plus a car dealership PLUS a huge building that is lit up by thousands of light bulbs at night that takes up a whole block and you have Harrods in a nutshell.
This store is HUGE. There are resutaraunt inside is and each room is themed...There is a room entirely dedicated to Egyptian decoration. Pretty much in every room there are chandeliers. It’s crazy!! After Harrods the guys and I went around shopping and rudie bought some shoes. We just walked around a shopping center for a bit. I drooled mostly and then it was time to go back to the flat and get ready for war horse!!
I stopped a jmike for a little bit before I went to War Horse. I realized that I had to go to meet people for dinner and I was rushing to the theatre...and oh yeah I got hit by a bike....not a motorcycle..A bicycle...and NO ITS NOT FUNNY...stop laughing....SHUT UP it’s not funny!
I was crossing the street...looked both ways and as I was about 2 steps into the street I heard a WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH looked to my right and I saw a guy on a bike and I was on the ground. All my bags and camera scattered all around me and I looked up and saw a car right in front of my face too...I just got up walked around the corner and sat down...crying like a baby. I was such a mess. the guy came over and all I could saw was I’m so sorry I’m so sorry and at first I could tell he was mad that I got in is way but after he saw me melting down he felt bad...jerk. It was kinda funny the first thing I asked him was if his bike was okay then I was like uhh I mean you are you okay? He was fine. Thankfully I was fine too. I only was banged up a little. A bruise on my elbow and a cut on my knee. Not too bad. So I called my mom freaking out and she in turn was freaking out and then I looked up...It was like an angle walking across the street...none other than Michael Page (my professor) and I called out to him in a pathetic little voice and he was shocked to see me there. I felt bad because he freaked out a little too....It was a crap journey to the theatre but the show made me feel much better....and here’s why...well here’s about the show anyway...and stop laughing about the bike thing...the guy came flying around the corner that’s why I didn’t see him...ANYWAY back to War Horse....
We had previously taken a tour through the national theater where we got to have a sneak preview of one of the life size horse puppets. So we were all really excited because we only heard great things about the show.
The play is about a boy and his horse Joey who is sold into the army to be a WWI army horse in the British army. The play explores all sides of war and what it does to people and countries. There are characters from the British army, German army, and French country side that you sympathize with. The Play starts off with Joey as a young colt and he is captured and sold to a family where he meets his owner who raises him and teaches him to be a stung horse. There is one scene where Joey transforms from a colt to a full grown horse and he comes galloping out of the darkness and burst into the light and it is nothing short of magnificent. The horses are all operated by people dressed in period with the same color scheme as the horses. There were two people inside the horse moving its legs and tail and one person moving its neck and head on the outside. They also made horse noises like sniffing things or snuffing at people. I became so captivated by the play and the horses that I didn’t even register at one point that there were people there. I really believed it was a horse. I asked others how they thought about it and they all agreed that you didn’t even pay attention that there were people maneuvering the puppet. The horse puppets, by the way, are made in South Africa by a company who specialized in life size puppets. They are made out of dried and molded bamboo or bamboo like rods and then they have a thin mesh cloth over the structure. These puppets are so strong that several times actors jumped on top of them and rode them around the stage. Besides the amazing puppets and acting as well the set was incredible. There was a scene where Joey is caught in no man’s land in barbed wire and a trench literally rises out of the stage and the Germans are on one side and the brits are on the other and Joey is in the middle. It was a great scene especially the way they used the idea of a trench. The stage itself has a revolve in it (rotating floor) that also can be split in have to that the two half circles can rise and lift out of the floor. The trench was lit from the inside so that when it rose out of the ground you could see the silhouette of dead soldiers and horse legs. It was so powerful. The entire show was riveting and moving. I was so glad we had great seats for this show. It was definitely in my top three shows that we have seen. I get chills just thinking about it.
Then after a long and semi-painful day I went back to the flat and went to bed. ZZZZZ
the End
With all my love, from across the pond,
Leighanne Evelyn
Harrods again:
The War Horse puppet:
:)
Day 19: Sight Seeing.
Jan 18th 2009
Today Jmike, Chris, Brian, and I all met up and just went sightseeing. It was our other free weekend so we just took it easy. We walked all down South Bank by the London Eye, Big Ben, Etc. It was pretty cold. But the sun was out and that made for nice photos.
We ate at this really great crepe place by the nation theater. It was SOOO good.
Then it started getting dark so we headed back home.
Then Chris and I went back to the flat and hung out with everyone and watched the musical Dr. Horrible. Its really funny and sad at the same time.
While we watched it i ate a sandwich it was delish.
And surprisingly that was it...compared to all of the museum backed days it was uneventful...but still fun.
Th E nd
With all my love, from across the pond,
The Thames River:
Jmike:
Saint Pauls:
The Eye:
Chris:
Brian:
Today Jmike, Chris, Brian, and I all met up and just went sightseeing. It was our other free weekend so we just took it easy. We walked all down South Bank by the London Eye, Big Ben, Etc. It was pretty cold. But the sun was out and that made for nice photos.
We ate at this really great crepe place by the nation theater. It was SOOO good.
Then it started getting dark so we headed back home.
Then Chris and I went back to the flat and hung out with everyone and watched the musical Dr. Horrible. Its really funny and sad at the same time.
While we watched it i ate a sandwich it was delish.
And surprisingly that was it...compared to all of the museum backed days it was uneventful...but still fun.
Th E nd
With all my love, from across the pond,
The Thames River:
Jmike:
Saint Pauls:
The Eye:
Chris:
Brian:
Day 18: Sunset Boulevard
Jan 17th 2009
Chris, Elizabeth, Jmike and I saw Andrew Lloyd Webbers Sunset Boulevard this evening. It’s about a has-been actress and a new struggling writer in Hollywood and their relationship in show-bizz and their personal relationship. It was really interesting. Its a musical but all of the instruments are played by the actors. Some actors played 4 or 5 different instruments and they all sang and acted. These actors are pretty much quadruple threats, singers, actors, dancers, and can play 5 instruments. The plot was interesting....very Webberish. The music was also classic Webber music. It was a great show and the tickets were pretty cheap so it was a good experience over all. The set was well done also. It looked like a ball room of an old mansion. There was a huge portrait of the main character when she was younger and a spiral staircase that spun around. It was all really well done and very enjoyable.
After the show we hung out and then went to bed.
The End!
With all my love, from across the pond,
Leighanne Evelyn
Day 17: Wicked.
Jan 16th 2009:
It was a start of a free weekend to do as we pleased! So Krystina, David, Chris and I had bought really cheap tickets to see wicked! Basically the whole day revolved around wicked and singing the music and getting really excited to go see it. Chris and I pre-gamed the show by playing a billion card games....all of which I reined champion.... muwahhaah. I had seen it before a few years ago in Boston. I was in the 3rd row...because my mother loves me very much she got me three tickets to go. It was wonderful (wicked reference...it’s a song...okay I’m done.)
We all decided we wanted to make a night of it so we went early to the show to find something to eat...there were no good places to eat around so we managed to find this huge tube station that’s attached to a mall and we got baguettes from upper crust/ food from other various places. I also got a smoothie that was really small and over priced...my bad.
AND I GOT A COOKIE!!
Well anyway we got to the theater and it was all decked out in green neon lights it was very emerald city. Even the foyer was decorated in green lights. It was so totally WICKED!
After the show we went back and dreamed Wicked Dreams.
The (Wicked) End
All my love, from across the pond,
Leighanne Evelyn.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Day 16: Magic!
Today we had a very long class talking about Gethsemane and British politics. After class Sarah, Tara, Chris and I set out to see what I’d be longing to see for ages… the Peter Pan statue. We embarked on our journey to the Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park…let me tell you this is no ordinary park…it HUGE! It covers a vast area of land. The park included a large lake full of every type of bird existing in England pretty much, even some Canadian Geese. There was also a play ground for kids based on the fantasy world of Never Land from the Peter Pan story (pirate ship, palm trees, and crocodile included). We walked all around the park in search of peter pan and the Princess Di memorial fountain. Then we found him! Peter Pan himself. It was a lot of fun seeing the statue and remembering the story and of course my favorite movie Hook. As my dad always reminded me “I AM the Pan.” After seeing Peter Pan we saw the Princess Di fountain, which wasn’t really a fountain it was more like a mini river that went around in a circle. It is supposed to represent her life journey, starting from her birth there’s a large pool of water at the top and then it bubbles down mini water falls to her death at the bottom of the river which is another large peaceful pool. It was all very nice. After we managed to find our way out of the Gardens we went to Covent Garden again and I bought 3 scarves for only 5 pounds!! Such a deal!!
Then we got back to the flat and a few of us tried to find some good pizza and then ended up rushing to grab fast-food and running to the theatre in order to make it on time to see The Royal Shakespeare Companies production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I really enjoyed this production. The RSC always does a great job at making the text of Shakespeare come alive and they make it so easily understandable. This play in general is just a fun play to see. Its full of funny scenes and it a playground for great theatre to be produced. It was directed by the same director who did hamlet with and Patrick Stewart and it is played in the same space so the stage for both midsummer and hamlet were similar. The floor and back wall were made up of mirror like metal like polished titanium or something. The midsummer set included a huge full moon that changed colors as the play progressed and it also move very slowly during the first act the other side of the stage. I thought that was so clever because you would look up and all of a sudden the moon was in a different place. In my opinion the RSC really brought the magic of midsummer to the stage. It was a fun show to see. I did realize that it’s much funnier when you see it then when you read it in a class. I did think the show was a bit long and it was even longer because the audience kept clapping during the play with in a play scene. One thing I thought was interesting was that the fairies were played by people holding baby dolls or Barbie dolls with wings on. It was supposed to reinforce the idea that they fairies were invisible…it was really obscure. I didn’t like the baby dolls I felt like it took away from the already great fairy characters. I did like how the fairies acted as the forest when the lovers were wandering around lost. I enjoyed how they played with the lovers getting them confused and adding to the mischief. Over all I really enjoyed the show. The RSC always does an excellent job at making Shakespeare come alive for the modern audience. After the show we went back to the flat, hung around, and went to sleep. ZZZZZZ
The End!
Then we got back to the flat and a few of us tried to find some good pizza and then ended up rushing to grab fast-food and running to the theatre in order to make it on time to see The Royal Shakespeare Companies production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I really enjoyed this production. The RSC always does a great job at making the text of Shakespeare come alive and they make it so easily understandable. This play in general is just a fun play to see. Its full of funny scenes and it a playground for great theatre to be produced. It was directed by the same director who did hamlet with and Patrick Stewart and it is played in the same space so the stage for both midsummer and hamlet were similar. The floor and back wall were made up of mirror like metal like polished titanium or something. The midsummer set included a huge full moon that changed colors as the play progressed and it also move very slowly during the first act the other side of the stage. I thought that was so clever because you would look up and all of a sudden the moon was in a different place. In my opinion the RSC really brought the magic of midsummer to the stage. It was a fun show to see. I did realize that it’s much funnier when you see it then when you read it in a class. I did think the show was a bit long and it was even longer because the audience kept clapping during the play with in a play scene. One thing I thought was interesting was that the fairies were played by people holding baby dolls or Barbie dolls with wings on. It was supposed to reinforce the idea that they fairies were invisible…it was really obscure. I didn’t like the baby dolls I felt like it took away from the already great fairy characters. I did like how the fairies acted as the forest when the lovers were wandering around lost. I enjoyed how they played with the lovers getting them confused and adding to the mischief. Over all I really enjoyed the show. The RSC always does an excellent job at making Shakespeare come alive for the modern audience. After the show we went back to the flat, hung around, and went to sleep. ZZZZZZ
The End!
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