Day off

We had a nice day off today. I had a lot of homework to catch up on for my online classes so I spent the day working on that. The heat was a little crazy today. I put some peppermint oil on the back of my neck which helped immensely. They don't have air conditioning in most buildings or on public transportation. I assume its because gas prices are the equivalent of about $8 a gallon. That also probably explains why most people walk instead of driving wherever they need to go. Tanner and I made a stop at Sainsbury's to stock up on groceries for the next couple weeks. It was great to have time to relax and work on our Shakespeare scenes.

The Roaring Girl

This evening we saw the RSC's production of The Roaring Girl at the Swan theatre. The production was so much fun and very progressive for the time that it was written. It centers on a cross dressing woman named Moll. She is not necessarily a main character in the plot, but she is a pivotal part of the show. She has a great monologue that rally focuses on feminism, which in the early seventeenth century was pretty monumental. At the end of the show they danced their bows, which we've learned is historically common practice after a Shakespeare show. Though it wasn't Shakespeare, the jig was still a great inclusion. As we walked out of the theatre, they played Beyonce's "Run the World." After the show, we went to the The Dirty Duck/ The Black Swan, a pub around the corner from the RSC where the actors allegedly frequent after their shows. We didn't meet any actors, but we had a good time chatting with each other.

Medea

We missed our train out of Stratford-Upon-Avon. We watched it drive away and didn't realize for about twenty minutes that it had arrived at a different platform. We got on the wrong train and listened to them announce a long list of destinations. When we didn't hear ours, we scrambled to grab our bags and hop off just before it left. Luckily, we'd planned for little hiccups like this and we got on the next one heading to London. It had a transfer in Solihall. The guard looked at our tickets and told us that switching at Dorridge would be faster. Sure enough, we arrived in the city only 10-20 minutes after we'd originally planned. We headed straight from Marylebone to Waterloo, then to the theatre. Medea was a wonderful piece of theatre. The women's chorus used a lot of modern dance to tell the story, as did Jason's new wife. None of the deaths happened onstage, even though it was a modern interpretation. Medea was played by Helen McCroy, who played Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter series. She was wonderful!

Startford Performance

We started off the day with breakfast at the hotel after checking out. I had coffee, cranberry juice, chocolate twists, peach apricot yogurt, scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. It was all quite good. From there, bags in hand, we headed to the park where we performed our monologues. Here is a short clip of mine from The Taming of the Shrew. The church in the background is Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried. It was also across the river from the RSC. After our performances, many people headed back to London. Tanner, Liz, Amy, and I stayed for lunch. It started to rain so we waited it out on the bottom floor of the McDonalds. Tanner and I stopped by Poundland to test out some British candy we found yesterday before making our way to the train station.

Afternoon Tea

This morning we woke up to continental breakfast at the hotel. Last night I stayed up watching the British Food Network. There's a show called B*tchin' Kitchin, which was pretty funny to watch. We weren't sure whether or not breakfast was included in our package. We asked at the front desk and he didn't seem to completely understand but he told us it was. I had a chocolate twist with peach apricot yogurt and a coffee. Then we headed out on the town. First we headed toward Trinity Church. Vimto

We passed by the RSC and the back of Shakespeare's father's house. As we walked, we saw several actors leaving rehearsal for lunch.

We passed these rental boats. Each was named after a Shakespeare character. I think they probably should have left Ophelia out though. That doesn't seem like a safe boat.

Here is the gravesite of Shakespeare and his wife. His daughters and sons in law are also buried nearby. The statue in the corner was installed not too long after his death. On his grave you could still just barely make out the inscription so they have it copied on a plaque: "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forebeare, To digg the dust enclosed heare; Bleste be the man that spares thes stones, And curst be he that moves my bones."

This is the Hall's Croft, the former home of Shakespeare's daughter Susanna and her husband. We tried to go in the shop but they told us it was closed.

These are the gates to King Edward VI School. The bard attended this school growing up.

We found so many Shakespeare shops. We also came across a street market. It was like a giant garage sale. We found a booth that sold gourmet sausage rolls. At first I was skeptical because the first sausage rolls we tried were virtually flavorless. These were so very delicious. I had a Chinese barbecue roll, Tanner tried the chorizo, Liz had the mozzarella tomato pesto, and Amy tried the Jack Daniels BBQ. We almost had to go back for seconds. We stopped at a corner shop to get drinks. I got a blackcurrant raspberry soda called Vimto. It was very good.

Here is Shakespeare's Birthplace. The sheets of paper hanging outside are poems from a local children's competition inspired by on of the greatest poets of all time. 

Tanner and I stopped for Afternoon Tea at Hobson's Patisserie. They had case after case of incredible desserts and treats. Overwhelmed for choice, we went for the scones and clotted cream. It was all delicious.

One of our last stops before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the performance that evening. It was a china shop owned by a sweet older couple. Their son had designed all of the art on the china. He had also written a children's book called A Midsummer Mouse. His dad walked us through the whole story, picture by picture, showing off the work his son had done. It was very sweet.

Two Gents

We left the hotel and stopped by a McDonalds on the way for a drink before meeting Lance at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Prior to the show, we went to a talk with the director, Simon Godwin. He is incredibly passionate about Shakespeare and it was great to hear from an industry professional. So many of the people here know so much about the Bard. It was very cool to be able to apply the things we've been learning in class to the conversation. He even talked about the monologue Nick is working one. After the talk, we headed out to find some grub before the show. We didn't have much time, so we just stopped at a small take-away restaurant for fish and chips. I also popped by a corner shop across the street to grab some water. We ate in the grass in front of the theatre. A group of local twenty-somethings were playing frisbee. It was fun to watch and listen to their accents and slang words. We finished our meal and headed in to the RSC shop. It is a Shakespeare wonderland! We almost had to pull each other away from all the books to head in to the performance. What a wonderful production! Two Gentlemen of Verona is not one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, but I thoroughly enjoyed this performance! Post-show, we headed out to search for a local pub and stopped at allegedly the oldest one in Stratford.

Blurry, but the director is the one in blue 

It was packed in paper. That's the first time we've had it that way.

The sign said Two Gents, but changed right before the picture.

Stratford Upon Avon

This morning in BC&S, we talked about class distinction and British media. It was interesting to compare their media ethics to ours. They are much more unforgiving than our major news sources. after class, we headed for Marylebone Station to catch our train to Stratfor Upon Avon for the weekend. We ended up at the station early so we decided to get luck for the road. Tanner and I stopped in the Internation Cheese shop and got a bacon and brie sandwich, Funyon-like crisps, and a sparkling apple juice. It was quite delicious. Tanner, Lance, and I shared a four person table on the Chiltern Railways train. I spent the time writing and essay for my online U.S. History class. We had a layover in Solihaul for about a half an our, then boarded another train for the last half hour of our trip. Stratford is beautiful. It is chalk-full of everything Shakespeare. Lance walked us straight to our hotel, The Grosvenor. We are getting washed up to head out again. Tonight we are going to a director's talk and seeing The Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Royal Shakespeare Company

The cheese place.

Marylebone artwork

Stratford-Upon-Avon Train Station

Toy store on the way to our hotel

Mock Audition and Thrifting

We had our mock audition with our monologues in Shakespeare today. Everyone performed their pieces and we had mini workshops and critiques at the end of class. It went very well. I can't wait to perform again in Stratford! After class, Amy, Tanner, and I went thrifting. Much like our Goodwill and Salvation Army shops, they have charity shops here for various organizations. However here they include cancer research, heart disease, and many other causes. We didn't end up buying anything, but it was very cool to see. I think there were one or two shops in Surbiton that we missed. Maybe we can go back another day. We also stopped by Sainsbury and bought a tube of chocolate chip "digestive biscuits" and a two liter bottle of cider. We had a nice evening in doing homework and getting ready for class tomorrow.

Oxford and The Events

Our BC&S class had an early morning today. We took a field trip to Oxford, boarding the charter bus at 8:45 a.m. at Seething Wells. I slept almost all the way there, until we got to the lovely scenery that is Oxford. Our first stop was the trip around the area was the Sheldonian Theatre, where Oxford holds its graduation ceremonies. The mural on the ceiling represents the arts and sciences conquering envy, rapine, and ignorance. The architecture of the building, by Christopher Wren, was incredibly progressive as there are no columns holding up the ceiling. It was one of his first major works. After our visit to the lookout of the theatre, we began our tour. Our tour guide, Jaime, was very funny and passionate about Oxford. He started off by first pointing out a bicycle and reminding us that bicycles are silent and dangerous as we crossed the street, then explaining to us the difference between university and college at a collegiate university like Oxford. Oxford University is not a place you can be or not be, but the acquirement of knowledge. The many colleges at Oxford are more like our dorms in the U.S. They include all the necessities for living. Christ Church College is one of the most well known due to its use in the Harry Potter film series. It was not part of our guided tour, but after our lunch break where we visited Oxford's famous covered market and The Eagle and Child Pub–known to locals as "the bird and the baby"–we took a self-guided tour of Christ Church. It was beautiful. The Great Hall, used as the dining hall in the Sorcerer's Stone film, was incredible. It was hard to imagine eating there on a daily basis.

 The view from the Sheldonian Theatre lookout.

 Our tour guide, Jaime.

 The door to the dean of Brasenose College's house. The dean was a good friend to C.S. Lewis. The intricate door and the fawns guarding it are rumored to have inspired his stories of Narnia. If you look closely, you can see the lamp post down the street.

The University Church of St. Mary at Christ Church College. Many incredible people have spoken from that pulpit, including, according to Jaime, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu

 Lunch! 

The pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien met with their writing club, The Inklings.

Lots of locations around Christ Church College looked incredibly familiar from the Harry Potter films.

The portrait of Charles Dodgson in the Great Hall, better known as Lewis Carroll

The Alice Window in the Great Hall

It was hard to get a good picture in the Great Hall because the line is constantly moving.

After our tour of Christ Church, we headed back to Seething Wells. We had a bit of a stressful ride because our show for the evening was scheduled to start at 7:45 and we hit rush hour traffic. Lance convinced them to hold the show for a bit for us. We were still a little late but got to see most of The Events at The Young Vic. It was an interesting piece about a female priest of the Anglican church who'd survived an atrocity during the rehearsal of her church choir. Every night the performance has a different guest choir from the community. It made the piece very powerful to see members of the community in the roles of the show. Afterward, a group of us headed to Coronation in Surbiton for drinks and chips with Lance.

Skylight

Tanner, Liz, Amy and I met at 7:30 to make our way into the city to get day seats for Skylight with Bill Nighy and Carrie Mulligan. I guess I should clarify that day seats are similar to student rush seats. They are sold on the day of performances for extremely discounted prices. Before we caught the train, we stopped at the Pickled Pantry for Cream Tea, a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam and a cup of tea. We waited in line for over an hour in front of the theatre while we ate our scones. They were scrumptious. Unfortunately, the show only has 12 day seats and since the computers were down-we later discovered this was all around the city-they were selling standing room seats. When we made our way up to the ticket office there were only two seats left. The girls insisted that Tanner and I take them. Liz went to get tickets to 1984, Amy and Nina decided to have a dinner date, and Tanner and I went to Baker Street in search of his phone at the tube lost and found office. They have him all the information they had but said it would be a few days before they received it. With this news, we headed back to Surbiton for a quick nap before the evening show. Getting into the theatre was madness. There was a returns line a mine long and people were crowding and fighting with the box office to get in. It is definitely the most contemporary theatre piece we have seen. Mulligan and Nighy were splendid. Much of the show was just watching people be. There were a couple men around us talking through the show, which was rather frustrating but the show was lovely regardless. 

Titus Andronicus

We had a nice relaxing Sunday morning. Nina, Liz, Tanner, Amy and I bought tickets a few months ago to see Titus Andronicus at the Globe so we took it easy until show time. The Festival of Love is a short walk from the Globe, so we decided to eat there. Tanner and I tried a Harissa chicken wrap, which was delicious. I also bought a garlic and parsley foccacia and a mojito popsicle, both very tasty. We got in line at 4:40 p.m. for a 6:30 p.m. show and there was already a long queue. We still ended up in the center, but we didn't get to lean on the stage. There was a lot of movement through the audience of the actors, so we got shifted around quite bit. Even some of the scenes happened on the ground. It was an incredible experience. The show, however, was very gory. They warned us before the show that an average of six people faint per performance. Sure enough, six people had fainted before intermission. It was very cool to recognize the actress who played Tamora from her role on Game of Thrones as Ellaria Sand. After the show we headed back to Surbiton to Coronation for a cider. We had a funny encounter on the way home with a very nice British couple. We had decided earlier that we were going to wake up early to get day seats for Skylight and wanted to stop at a place our friends had told us about. I said to the group "I want to know where the pickled pantry is," and walking the opposite direction pointed and told me "Down there!" There are plenty of very kind strangers around here who are happy to help if you just ask!

Harissa Chicken

Mojito ice lollies!

Our spot in line.

Interval (intermission) depicting our mixed emotions 

My arm was a little stage-blood stained

Tanner and I at the Globe gates

Coronation!