Eighth Week: Back to Work!

The first week back at school was a taxing one. In fact, I have only just finished writing a 2000-word essay on my directorial interpretation of King Lear. In case you're wondering, I'm setting it in a hospital in modern-day America to highlight our society's mistreatment of the elderly and their resulting decline into such diseases as dementia. See, it's not all fun and games over here in London. We have our academic work just like my friends back at NYU.

I started off this past week by traveling to Richmond-Upon-Thames to see a production of the Taming of the Shrew at the Richmond Theatre. The Taming of the Shrew is my favorite Shakespeare play so I take the opportunity to see it performed whenever I can. I was very impressed with the Royal Shakespeare Company's interpretation of the character of Katherina. She was played as so abhorrent and crude that the audience wanted her to be tamed, and her famous speech at the end is delivered with genuine regret for how hideously she had behaved. This production also included the character of Christopher Sly, cut out of most productions for the sake of keeping the running time down. So in many ways, this performance was a treat!

The Richmond Theatre, in all its illuminated glory.

I feel obligated to keep you updated on my football games at Coram's Fields and therefore quickly mention that my team came back from losing 4-2 to win the game at 6-5. It was a brilliant game!

Our weekly theatre visit was to see The Master and Margarita at the Barbican. I have to tell you, I am not in any way exaggerating when I say this was the most moving piece of theatre I have ever seen. The play concerned the devil coming to earth to create mischief, Pontius Pilate's condemning of Jesus to death, a modern-day writer attempting to convey Pilate's story with humanity and pathos, and the woman he loves, Margarita, who will make a deal with the devil to be with him forever. Theatre Complicité, the group who put on the production, were the most talented group of actors I've ever seen and the lighting effects and projections transported me to another world. I have never been more impressed, thrilled, or engaged with a performance before. I only wish my friends in America could see this brilliant work of theatre.

One of the benefits of living in London was getting to see The Hunger Games six hours ahead of America! So I went Thursday night at 10pm with my friend Hari and thoroughly enjoyed Gary Ross' adaptation of Suzanne Collins' novel. I have a hunch all the people in the theatre were American, as the novel is a bit more popular in America. I loved the film so much, I went to see it again Friday night with my friends Adriana and Stacy. We went to dinner beforehand and made a nice outing of it. I found I was able to enjoy the film more the second night because I was not constantly analyzing it and comparing it to the novel. I knew that I loved it and I could just sit back and let myself be drawn in. On the way back home, I saw this woman dressed up as a chicken on the tube. It made me miss New York, as there are far more people dressed up in crazy costumes there. People are more dignified and reserved here in London and most wouldn't be caught dead in such a getup.

The Chicken Lady!

Now that we finished our first play project, upon my return to RADA we got started right away on our next one. My group's director, Melanie Jessop, wanted to do a piece in which we explore the character of Queen Gertrude from Hamlet, who notoriously does not get a chance to explain herself or tell her story. We are combining the text of Hamlet with a Howard Baker play called Gertrude, in which Gertrude tells her story (newly imagined by Baker) of how she killed her husband because she was in love with his brother Claudius so deeply. We are also bringing in other texts where women are either allowed or not allowed to speak their minds. The result should be a study on Shakespeare's allowance or disallowance of women to have their say. I'm very excited to see how it will turn out!

Next week I'll be able to tell you about seeing Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in Sweeney Todd, my weekly theatre visit to see Farewell to the Theatre, and, most exciting of all, my trip to Newcastle to stay with a HOST family for a weekend. That should be a revealing glimpse into the life of a typical British family, not to mention a chance to see the English countryside instead of the city. I can't wait!

Seventh Week: Spring Break!

I'm back in the UK and ready to tell you all about the amazing week I had in Paris and Rome! This post will mainly consist of pictures, because most of the sights I saw are best shared with you that way. Words can only go so far.

Steve and I woke up bright and early Sunday morning to catch our flight to Paris. We got into the city at around eleven in the morning and had lunch. We checked into our hotel and then headed over to the Catacombs. Sunday afternoon was the only time they were open during the time we were in Paris, so it was then or never! We got into the long line and waited quite some time, but it was worth it.

Bones from within the Catacombs

From the Catacombs, we trekked over to Notre Dame. The cathedral was impressive in its size and beauty and the inside was even more intricate. When we stepped outside, the sun was just setting and the light hit the stone and made it glow.

Notre Dame just before sunset

We walked around until we found somewhere nice to eat- a quiet restaurant with a pet cat who sat in my lap while I waited for my food. Our food was delicious and I was able to fulfill a requirement of the trip by having Creme Brulée, my favorite dessert, at the end of our meal.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to get to the Louvre. We wanted at least three hours there to see all we could (we knew we would still miss a lot). Here are some of the highlights:

Outside the Louvre by the Pyramid

Venus de Milo

My personal favorite, Winged Victory

Cupid and Psyche

We also saw the Mona Lisa, the Lacemaker and Napoleon's Apartments. By noon, we had had enough of being indoors and wanted some fresh air. So we took the Metro up to Montmartre and walked around the charming district. We had some gelato, watched a mime (yes, a mime) perform, and strolled around a local artist's fair. We ended our wanderings with a trip to Sacre Coeur.

Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Cathedral in Montmartre

Full from our gelato in Montmartre, we skipped dinner and headed over to the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to make sure we got our tickets, as it was fairly late already. The sun had already set by the time we were in line for the first elevator, so we were able to see the Tower all lit up and look out over Paris and see the city illuminated. It was a lovely way to end our short trip to Paris.

Le Tour Eiffel

Paris Illuminated

The next day, we were able to have a leisurely breakfast at a café near our hotel and then catch a shuttle to the airport to fly to Rome. I was beyond excited for this trip, as I am Italian and have always identified with my Italian grandmother. We arrived too late to do anything the first day, so we walked around the neighborhood near our hotel and found a quiet place to have our own personal pizzas outdoors. They were absolutely mouthwatering.

The next day was a busy one! We went to the Vittoriano, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. The Roman Forum is huge! We spent the majority of our day there.

Steve and I at the Roman Forum

The Colosseum!

We woke up early again the next morning to go to Vatican City. We saw Saint Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum (including the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's Stanze) in the morning. Unfortunately, pictures of the Sistine Chapel weren't allowed, but here is one of the inside of St. Peter's:

There was much more to see inside than just this section
 and it was all just as magnificent.

After some lunch, Steve and I went to the Castel Sant'Angelo, a castle just sitting in the north of Rome. We walked along the dreary, dark passageways and beheld the breathtaking views from the turrets.

The bridge up to the Castle

The view from one of the upper windows.

We had just enough time to see the Piazza di Spagni and the Spanish Steps that evening before catching a bus home. I took a picture of the Spanish Steps, but there were so many people sitting on them you can hardly see the actual architecture!

Our last day in Rome, we fit in a surprising amount. We first went to the Piazza Navona and saw the artists and street vendors there. There were some pretty funny characters including a man dressed all in green leaves, an "invisible man" with a costume that gave the illusion of a missing head, and three people dressed as various ghosts and ghouls. We took the side streets to reach the Pantheon and explored it inside and out. And finally, we went to the Trevi Fountian to throw a coin over our shoulder (right hand over left shoulder) to ensure that we would come back to Italy some day. I hope that wish comes true. I had the time of my life in just three short days.

The impressive Pantheon

The Trevi Fountain, a lovely way to end our whistle-stop tour of Italy.

Seventh Week of Classes

It has been one whirlwind of a week! Thank goodness I had a busy day of sightseeing today. Otherwise, I wouldn't have much to share with you. The reason I've been so busy is because my group's performance of The Rape of Lucrece was on Friday, so the whole week was dedicated to preparing for that. We even had practice sessions where the cast got together outside of studio on Monday and Tuesday night to run lines and rehearse. Our dedication paid off, however. The performance was a success! Our director was proud and our classmates all agreed we did a great job. Our classmates performed an abridged version of Twelfth Night and it was very funny! I wish that we could have seen the whole thing. Everyone's characters were fully realized and the humor was fully brought out. It was a satisfying day for everyone and a great way to head into spring break!

Our weekly theatre visit this week was to see Purge, a play based on Sofi Oksanen's novel. The set was amazing, completely blending into the stone floor of the small theatre. It felt like we were in the rustic home of the main character, Aliide. The story was intricate and the plot twists were genuinely surprising. Overall, the acting was very impressive, especially the woman playing Young Aliide and the man playing Hans. The authentic feel is what made this performance truly unique. I loved the venue (the Arcola Theatre) and hope to go back there to see more shows (they are only £12!)

After such a long week, it was wonderful to have my boyfriend come and visit me for spring break. He was waiting for me outside RADA after my performance with yellow roses (that apparently, he had to walk all over London to find. I guess they're not big on flowers here...) That night we went out to dinner and then went out to the Marlborough to hang out with my classmates and unwind after such a stressful week.

Today was our big sightseeing day. I drew up a full schedule for us, because we only have two full days in London. So today we went to see Buckingham Palace, walking through Green Park to get there. It was a beautiful day: not too cold, with a crisp breeze and lots of light. After seeing the Palace we walked to the Serpentine Boating Lake and rented a paddleboat. We spent a half hour paddling around the lake, enjoying the weather.

The view from our paddleboat.

After that, we stopped by St. James' Tavern to have some lunch. Steve, insistent on trying British food got the Sausages and Mash (I don't know why it was called Bangers and Mash). He had Fish n' Chips yesterday, on my recommendation. Then we trekked over to the British Museum. We only had an hour and a half there, but here are some of the (many) things we got to see during that time.

The lobby itself is highly impressive.

The world-famous Rosetta Stone

The horsemen on the Parthenon frieze

An Aztec two-headed serpent

From the David Collection: porcelain vases from the Yuan Dynasty

The Head of Augustus

The famous Lewis chess pieces

It was a full and fun day. Right now we are about to have some dinner at home, pack for Paris and Rome (which I will update you on next week) and then I'm going to surprise Steve by taking him to a Stand-Up Comedy night. He loves stand-up and I'm sure he'd be interested to see how British humor differs from American. Be prepared for a lot of pictures and stories next week! Adieu and ciao!

Sixth Week of Classes

This week started off with a visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum to check out the Theatre and Performance Collection. We were able to look at artifacts from famous performances and artists. They had sections on theatre, music, set design, costume, and dance. We spent the day marveling at the priceless items from classic performances and shows. It was a lovely outing where we were able to see some truly historic pieces of history. Here are just a few of the relics we saw that day:

Valkyrie costume from The Producers

Sex Pistols t-shirt created after Sid Vicious' homicide and suicide

Black Swan costume from Swan Lake.

I wandered into a few other exhibits and saw this gorgeous vase.

Our weekly theatre visit was to see Cheek by Jowl's performance of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, the Jacobean tragedy that created an uproar when it was written in the 1600's based on its themes of murder and incest. We saw quite a graphic version of it, and yet it never felt out of control or overly dramatic. The theatre company handled the text extremely well and the majority of the acting was very impressive. They moved as one and set the play in such a clearly defined world that no directing choices felt out of place. One wouldn't expect any less from Cheek by Jowl.

Our RADA schedules have been becoming a bit more hectic this week, as we continue to rehearse for Twelfth Night and The Rape of Lucrece. My group, performing the latter, has our text memorized and finished with the blocking last Thursday in time to do a stumble-through on Friday. It's slowly coming together and I can see the finished product in my mind. I am excited to be a part of something so inventive and I am loving how each of us are shaping the production and giving our own individual flair to the text. I know we have a lot to do in the three days we have left, but I'm sure we can pull something together that is truly impressive. I wish I could invite my friends and family to come see the show, but unfortunately it is only shown to students and teachers of RADA. I will let you know how it goes in my next post!

Friday night I went to the RADA Open Mic Night. This is an event organized by the full-time RADA students and held in the RADA Bar. A stage was set up on risers, complete with mic and piano if needed, and whoever wanted to (and was brave enough) to get up and perform was allowed. Everyone sang, but some sang a capella, with a guitar, with the piano, even with a ukulele! My favorite act was by two girls, Patsy and Eliza (they called themselves Patsiza) and did their own renditions of You Send Me and a very entertaining cover of Rolling in the Deep. Eliza's voice was jazzy and upbeat, while Patsy accompanied on the ukulele and sang with a rich, smoky tone. The two voices sounded beautiful together and was one of the most unique performances of the night. Even I found the guts to get up there and sing an a capella version of Can't Help Lovin' That Man. If you'd like to see it, I put the video on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDRAJCuVGls&list=UUaC2QRLsun3gh9xJ1sRt6Cw&index=1&feature=plcp

I am very tired as I write this entry, because today was the Zambia Benefit Football Tournament at Coram's Fields. NYUL generously paid the entry fee that goes to benefit people in Zambia so that myself and eight other NYU students could participate. Unfortunately, that classic London weather decided to make a pronounced appearance in the form of a downpour, winds, and low temperatures so that we were all soaked and freezing by the end of the preliminary rounds. Unfortunately, we were one place away from making the semi-finals, finishing fifth out of eight teams. I'd say we played very well considering we were all new to each other's styles and the teams we were up against obviously were very comfortable with each other. Nonetheless, we had fun and it was an exhausting but satisfying day.

Armaan, Aman, Joe, Vijay, Patrick
Andre, Joe, Me, and Emanuel, our captain:
Members of the NYUL Football Club!

That's all for now. Next week I'll tell you all about my theatre visit to see Purge by Sofie Oksanen, my performance of The Rape of Lucrece, and my first two days in London with my boyfriend, Steve, who is coming to visit me for my spring break.