The following day, a group of us had discounted tickets to go on the London Eye. However, Mother Nature had something to say about that, because it snowed heavily, resulting in the Eye closing about 15 minutes before we got there. We did get to walk around and get some nice snow pictures, but best of all, we were able to get replacement tickets for the following Saturday. But more on that later.
Wednesday wound up being a very busy day for us - instead of class in the morning, we were taken on a tour of the British Library. You know, that place where they keep pretty much every document ever. We weren't able to see most of the books, but we were able to see some neat original documents, including Shakespeare plays, Jane Austen books, and the Magna Carta! Later that day, we went to our third show for LDA. This time, they took us to a musical, Merrily We Roll Along. I'd never seen the show before, but I'm very familiar with the closing song, "Our Time" (as is any respectable Holy Cross Playkid), so for me personally, it was very interesting to see that single song in the context of a story other than my own. The show itself was good, but it wasn't anything particularly memorable - it was essentially a stereotypical musical I could have seen on Broadway. Still, I did enjoy it.
Friday followed a similar pattern to Wednesday. In the morning, we went to the Rose Theatre, aka where Shakespeare's plays were first performed. Turns out they've built a building over it and they have the stage underwater to preserve it. Still, it felt pretty cool to know we were in the Rose, and some of us got up and performed monologues just to be able to perform in the Rose. We also saw the site of the Globe, but there's nothing there besides a plaque and an outline of where it was...and some houses someone decided to build on top of the site. Prime real estate, right? That night, Noah, Dan, and I got tickets to see The 39 Steps. I had seen the show at Fordham in the fall, so it was really interesting to see it performed by a British cast, given that the show itself is British. Overall, I enjoyed it as much the second time around as I did the first!
On Saturday, we went to the London Eye again, and the weather couldn't have been more opposite: it was a beautiful, sunny day, so not only was the Eye actually running, we had great visibility (unusual for London). After the Eye, we walked around and rode some buses before finding a reasonable pub to have dinner - I decided to get fish and chips, a quintessentially British meal. Once dinner was over, I had to rush over to Westminster Cathedral for mass (aren't you so proud of me, Mom?). Sara, Scott, and I are doing a research project on education for class, and the choir of one of the schools we were looking at was singing, so we decided to go in the hopes of being able to talk to someone. We were unsuccessful in that, but the cathedral was beautiful, and the choir was good - apparently, you can hear this particular choir singing in the movie Life of Pi!
The next day (today!), we had to go to the zoo for class. Wait, Mike, aren't you doing theatre? Why on earth did you have to go to the zoo for class? Long story short, we've been assigned scenes in Acting class, and so we had to go to the zoo and watch animals in an attempt to figure out which one best fits our character. Sounds crazy, I know, but it all comes together! Besides, LDA paid for our zoo passes, which are good till April, so who am I to complain? Again, today was a nice day - a bit windy, but still sunny. I think the sun just got lost on its way somewhere that's not London, because I think I've seen the sun more this weekend than I have since I got here.
Mom, I can feel you cringing as you read this because I'm barely mentioning class, but let me just assure you that class is going really well.
- Movement is definitely the most physically demanding class I've ever had - once a week, we stretch, tumble, roll, bounce, you name it, and then we're sore for the rest of the week.
- In Voice, we're working on good breathing and diction, which feels like it's helping me in daily life already.
- We're learning a bunch of group dances in Period Dance, so I'm trying to vanquish my two left feet, which is a process in and of itself.
- Stage Combat has taught me how to stage fall, slap, punch, and strangle - apparently this week we start with swords!
- Acting is a very intense class - our instructor runs a tight ship, but she really knows her stuff, and I always enjoy her class, even if I go into it like I went into Mrs. Mogenson's 6th grade class.
- Space Place and Text is one of the few classes where we aren't up and doing things - we've talked about Dr. Faustus and Twelfth Night, and this week we move on to Macbeth.
- Physical Theatre has been a different class for me, seeing as I've never really understood how to "embody air," but it's all starting to make sense now!
- Dramatic Criticism is where we analytically discuss the plays we've gone to see - so far we haven't had time for much discussion yet, but this week we should really starting delving into them.
- My audition tutorial is going pretty well - right now, I'm working on memorizing a Cassius monologue from Julius Caesar that we've been working on, and soon we're going to move on to a comedic monologue.
- My Alexander Technique tutorial is really interesting - Alexander Technique deals with using your body more effectively, especially with regards to posture, so even though I've only had one 40 minute session so far, I already feel like I have better posture.
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