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!