Week Update...Not As Exciting As You Think!

Well, my dear readers, it has come to this: an update of almost a week crammed into one post. In my defense, I did not spend much time near a computer this week, as my cousin Catherine was sick with potential swine flu and the pros of visiting her house did not outweigh the cons of being quarantined before leaving the UK. :)

Rather than breaking down my week by days, I'll just give an overall synopsis of some of my activities:

Visited Gibside, an estate which was formerly owned by a woman known as the Unfortunate Countess, who was wed to an abusive husband who essentially imprisoned her on the grounds. (She escaped and later divorced him.) The manor is in ruins, and is literally a shell of a building...very sad, considering it's vast size and my romantic notions of how it must have looked. The grounds also include working stables, a walled garden, and a chapel which is still in use (the countess is buried beneath it).

Visited Wallington, an estate with a gorgeous garden, with my aunt and uncle. The rooms in the manor included the usual displays, but also contained an incredible display of doll houses, including a Victorian house with running water and electricity. Between that and the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh, I may have had my fix of doll houses.

I am currently spending time in the Lake District again with my Auntie Brenda and Uncle Tom. I took the train over from Newcastle yesterday, and I will head back sometime tomorrow. Brenda and I spent part of the morning in town shopping before attending the local livestock fair (which felt a bit like my warm-up for the State Fair back home)...most of the time was spent mooching around the craft tent, but I enjoyed seeing the animals. Jersey cows are beautiful. :) We also went to another craft fair near Penrith, which was a bit more extensive but still relatively small. We also went to church in town, which was my first real mass since London.

No promises regarding future posts...it all depends upon my ability to be near a computer. After I return East, I will have another full day in town before heading to London. I am spending most of Tuesday in transit, then hopping over to Cardiff all day Wednesday (which should yield an interesting post, even if it is written upon my return to the States).

Edinburgh, Antiques, and Plans

Thursday was another quiet day, consisting of time with Grandma and a trip in to downtown Newcastle for some shopping. (I needed a guide to Edinburgh, although my Auntie Denise printed out maps and information for me as well.) In addition to visiting Waterstone's, Catherine and I wandered around Primark and Fenwick's for a good chunk of the afternoon. We had dinner at her house with Adrian and Denise, which was fun, although I arrived back at Grandma's house later than I had planned.

On Friday, I spent the day out by myself in Edinburgh. I had gone there at least once as a child, but I only remember bits of it. I took the 6:25 train out of Newcastle, so I was there a little after 8:00 AM, giving me plenty of time to wander before any of the sights opened. I began my visit by walking to Calton Hill, which is an open park area with several monuments and memorials. The air was cold and rain was inevitable, but the views from the top of the hill were incredible, and I was glad that I stumbled upon that area. (And, because the city was still asleep, it felt very peaceful.) As the clock inched toward 9:00, I made my way back up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. (As I found out, the castle actually opens at 9:30 rather than 9:00, but I waited and was relieved to be toward the head of the queue...yeah, I said "queue"...more British by the moment...) I spent about two hours wandering the castle with the audio guide. My favorite part was St. Margaret's Chapel, which is actually the oldest building in Edinburgh...it was small and simple, but I thought that the simplicity made it more beautiful. I had tea in the cafe before heading out, and my next stop was at the tartan weaving mill next door to the castle...the machines used for weaving the tartans are huge and noisy, so I was only there briefly. (Which reminds me: I saw more men in kilts in one day that I think I ever have before, including the Scottish regiment at Trooping the Colour.) I spent the next bit of time at the Camera Obscura, which I remembered slightly from a childhood visit. Essentially, the building has a series of lenses and mirrors which can project the activity on the street below onto a small white table on the top floor. When I was little, I thought it was magic, plain and simple, and even though I know how it works now, I still thought it was magical (so those of you who thought that my cynicism was out of control can see that I am still able to be enraptured and humbled by simple things like lenses and mirrors). My favorite part involves the use of cards to pick up cars and people on the road below (I remember being little and wondering what was happening to the real cars below while we were playing upstairs). The rest of the museum is pretty cool as well, with displays on holograms and optical illusions (including a hologram of a telescope that you can actually look through). As I was finishing up on the last floor, the fire alarm went off and the building was evacuated. I had planned to wait and see what was going on, but when a firetruck arrived, I thought that I should probably make my way along rather than wasting time. My next stop was the Museum of Scotland, where I only checked out a few choice exhibits. (I wanted to see the cast of the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots, since I had already seen the original at Westminster Cathedral in London.) I particularly enjoyed an exhibit about Scotland Today which featured interviews about what it means to be Scottish. On my way back to the Royal Mile, I checked out the memorial to Greyfriars Bobby and stopped for tea and shortbread at The Elephant House (the cafe where JK Rowling began writing the Harry Potter books...thanks Amelia and Drew for the recommendation!). I ducked into St Giles' Cathedral just as the rain started thundering down, which was a beautiful and peaceful space. I also stopped by Canongate Kirk, which was much more modern, but still a beautiful house of worship. As I continued down the Royal Mile, I visited the Museum of Childhood, which was charming. My favorite exhibit was a collection of doll houses, which were so intricately detailed and gorgeous. Just as I was preparing to leave, the heavens broke again, so I loitered in the gift shop a bit longer before biting the bullet and going out into the rain. I made my way to Holyrood Palace (for which I had allotted time in the afternoon) only to discover that it was closed due to a visiting official. Instead, I went into the Scottish Parliament building (I was searched on the way in, but did not find much of personal interest) then back to the Queen's Gallery to see the exhibit of conversation portraits (which had an excellent audio guide). I stayed there until they closed, at which time I still had about an hour and a half before my train was due. I visited a small cafe for dinner (leek and potato soup...can't get much more Scottish than that if you don't fancy haggis) before making my way back to the train station. The ride home was easy, although it started pouring outside again as soon as I reached the Metro station closest to home. (It was fine though...I stayed under shelter for five minutes with three local guys and we chatted about lousy Newcastle weather.)

Yesterday was another quiet day: time with Grandma, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. I went out for dinner with Adrian, Denise and Catherine at a restaurant that is part of an inn in the country, which was lovely. The views along the way were beautiful, especially as we were coming back with the sunset. (And I have now discovered the joy of panna cotta and fudge ice cream!) Today was similarly quiet. I went over to Grandma's for Holy Communion (one of the ladies from the local church brings it to her and they have a lovely little ceremony in her room, which I attended, as well as one of Grandma's neighbors), then went to an antique sale with Denise and Catherine. We spent a fair amount of time picking over a heap of silver jewelry that was being sold by weight (I found three lovely rings), and I bought a beautiful vintage silver dress with exquisite beading (the ladies I bought it from had purchased it at an estate sale in North Yorkshire)...that definitely wins the prize for the best five pounds I have ever spent. :)

This evening, I finally planned out my return south: I will leave Newcastle on Tuesday (August 4) for London, spend all of Wednesday in Cardiff (finally getting to Wales! And for only £10 on the bus!), and fly out on Thursday morning. Catherine is coming with me, so I will have some company in my final days. In the mean time, I'm soaking up Newcastle sights and heading over to Auntie Brenda's for my final weekend. :)

Rapid-Fire Update

The lack of internet access in Newcastle will probably result in posts such as this one for the rest of the trip: general and brief. (Although questions will certainly be welcome at a later time!) Here's the running list of events since my last post:

Spent the last full day in the Lake District shopping downtown before going out to a free concert in a cafe in the evening with my cousin Catherine. We later went to a pub nearby and listened to bad karaoke (as opposed to good karaoke?) before heading back home. The next morning, we all went to the Sheep and Wool Centre (mainly to buy tea towels and postcards...exciting stuff, I know) before our trek back home...the two hour journey took almost four hours due to a traffic accident and the windy country paths. Amelia and Drew flew out the next morning.

In between family dinners and visits to Grandma, my parents, Catherine, and I managed a day trip to Raby Castle and Barnard Castle, both sights which we had not visited before. The grounds at Raby Castle were beautiful, and I have never seen so many deer in person...we walked along the path to get as close to them as possible, and it was amazing to watch them running together and protecting the babies. Barnard Castle is in ruins, but still contains amazing sections, including an original staircase leading to an upper level. A great day out (even though I wanted to fall into a curry coma as a means of recovering from the previous night's dinner...).

Yesterday was my last day with Mom and Dad here, so we visited Grandma and went to the Metrocentre to do some shopping. Mom found a new Illusion ring, and I just enjoyed spending some time with her here at the end. I've cried a lot over the last 24 hours, usually in short bursts, and I probably will for a few more days, but I still have so much to do while I'm here and I know that I will be home sooner than I can believe.

I spent most of today with Grandma and Catherine. My Auntie Brenda came over this morning to help Grandma with some things (as she does weekly), and it was nice to not be completely alone. Catherine and I (after several hours with Grandma) visited Bill Quay farm (which included some beautiful piglets!) and walked in the woods nearby before coming back to her house. Most of the evening has been spent planning the rest of my time here and trying to book trains, etc...I'm going to Edinburgh on Friday, but beyond that, anything could happen. :)

First Few Days in the Lake District

After much anticipation, I am finally back in the Lake District, staying with my Auntie Brenda and Uncle Tom. The house and surrounding countryside is just as beautiful as I remembered, and it is such a peaceful change from the city.

After my last entry, I left the library and met up with my cousin Catherine for some quick shopping (just taking advantage of being downtown), then went back to my grandma's house for tea. Once the rest of the family returned, we piled into the car and went to visit my great-Auntie Hilda in her flat. I had been warned that she was getting pretty frail and that the dimentia was really setting in, but she was as much of a spitfire as always, and incredibly excited to see us. (She took a liking to Drew in particular, and kept saying how much she loves boys...check back in about 70 years, and you will probably find me in a similar state!) We also stopped by to see my Grandma on the way home (who was having tea with her friends, so we just had a quick visit). We stopped by again the next morning (again, catching her having morning tea) to say adieu before heading over to Brenda's house. We took our time with the journey across, stopping at a walled garden that we stumbled upon, one of the forts along Hadrian's wall, and the site of the ancient temple of Mithras (which, of course, brought back memories of reading "The Crystal Cave" several years ago). The countryside grew more and more lush as we traveled along, and I am still enthralled by the sheep and cows in the fields (such a city girl, I know...). We spent the evening settling in at Brenda's, but did a bit of exploring the next day in town.

On our second day over here, after a brief spin through downtown Cockermouth (including a trip to the auctions to check out the wares), I went to Whitehaven with my parents to see the coast. The wind was pretty wild while we were there, but the sun was shining, and the view down into the town itself from the hills was quite stunning. (We actually saw a few boys jumping off the pier into the water, which was reportedly freezing!) As we were making our way through town early in the day, we met a delightful sight: a newborn calf with wobbly legs (whose mother, standing nearby, was complete with hanging afterbirth). The city dweller strikes again! In the evening, I opted to go back into Cockermouth (the nearest town) for a theatre event, since it seemed like one of my best opportunities to see a show while I'm up north. The two one-acts ("Unholy Congregation" and "All About Adrian") were by a local playwright, Michael Spencer, and produced using local artists and actors. To be honest, my expectations were exceeded (although they had not been incredibly high), particularly in terms of the writing itself. The venue (Kirkgate Theatre) reminded me a bit of BAC, which was comforting.

Today, I went with my parents over to Carlisle (a little less than an hour from Brenda's) to see the castle and pick up Amelia and Drew from the train station (they spent the last few days in Edinburgh). The castle had some interesting history of which I had not been aware (only the second place that I have heard referred to as "the key to England"...the other was Dover), and there were some pretty rustic places to explore, including the storage cellar that was converted into a dungeon (definite haunting potential!). This evening, we had dinner at the pub down the lane...we'll see what adventures tomorrow brings!

Malabar, Gateshead, and the Library

After much searching, I finally found a way to gain Internet access in Newcastle (no, the city is not that backward, just seriously lacking in internet cafes): the public library. Given, I had to wait about 45 minutes after reserving a computer time, but I read about half of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's new book, so the wait was not in vain.

When I last updated, I was over at Adrian and Denise's house getting ready for dinner/a night out with Catherine. We went to South Shields at about 9:30 for the finale of Saturday's festivities for the Mouth of Tyne Festival: a parade and performance by a group called Malabar, which depicted the birth of the sun. The parade was really spectacular: performers in colorful costumes on stilts with a huge praying mantis and copious amounts of pyrotechnics. Sign me up! :) The performance itself was Cirque du Soleil-esque...lots of movement segments to tell the overall story. There were also a fair number of acrobatic sequences, using supports which were suspended from the praying mantis's head (musicians played on it's back), and the performance concluded with the most incredible fireworks display I have ever seen...I knew that something would make up for my missing Independence Day this year! (Although, truth be told, this put "Freedom Blast '08" to shame...the entire show felt like Indy's grand finale!) :)

Yesterday, we piled into the car and explored some of the local history near Gateshead, including the ruins of the ancient monastery at St. Paul's (where there has been continual Christian worship for 1300 years, not to mention the pagan worship that most likely took place there before the conquest) and the pedestrian tunnel at Jarrow which crosses under the Tyne. (Very chilly in the tunnel, and a very slow-moving wooden escalator.) Later in the day, we met up with my Uncle Simon, Auntie Ann, and my cousin Sarah (my other cousin Christopher was on a school trip in the Lake District) and went to see the Angel of the North, a huge statue that has become a cultural icon of Northern England. I do not remember seeing it up close on our last visit, but it is absolutely massive. (My uncle asked me if people outside of the UK actually know about it...I seriously doubted that many of them even know that England contains more than London, but my American readers are welcome to comment away!) The eight of us went out for a pub dinner afterwards (always a fun place to spend the evening), and on our way back, my group stopped by to visit my Grandma. (She was already in bed at that point, since her carer helps her get ready, but she was wide awake and seemed really glad to see us and hear about our day.) We are planning to try to see her again this afternoon, as well as visit with my great-Auntie Hilda (who I recall as being a little spitfire...that's where I get it!). Tomorrow, we are heading west to the Lake District to spend a few days with my Auntie Brenda and Uncle Tom, with plans to stop along the way at some of the sights that we have not yet visited. Prepare for fascinating historical updates (or, at least, prepare to be jealous of me for spending time in a cottage in the Lakes with an aunt who is an excellent cook...all of the weight I lost on the "Budget-Minding College Student Walking Around London Diet" should be back by Saturday...).

The Northern Migration

My loyal readers must be wondering what happened to me by now...three days without blogging! She must have dropped off the face of the earth! I'm still here and kicking, obviously, but I've relocated to the North (gasp!). Here is my brief update of the last few days...no promises as to when the next post will be, as we're still trying to find an Internet cafe up here (hence the lack of posts recently), but I will continue to keep you updated as I can.

My last day at BAC was lovely...just a few quick tasks throughout the day, mainly involving striking the Grotowsky exhibition...taking down the cinema set-up was just as fun as putting it together. :) We had a brief rehearsal prior to the YPT performance, which included teamwork exercises. Four-square in a theatre with lighting equipment is a dangerous activity, and I find it ironic that this was the only "sporting event" I attended in the UK. The show was perfect...I could not believe how wonderfully it went, and the director and producer were equally amazed. The sand effect was wonderful, and the audience (all 15 of them) really enjoyed it. We all deserved a performance like that after the rehearsal process, and I could not have been happier with it.

After the show, I quickly put away some of the props from the building, said my goodbyes, and hopped on the bus/tube to catch the 10:00 train to Newcastle. I have to go back to London...I missed my coworkers within ten minutes of leaving them. :) Amelia and Drew met Mom and me at King's Cross, and we spent the next four hours or so en route to Newcastle. It would have been much more interesting had it not been dark outside, but the trip was not too bad. By the time we arrived at my grandma's house, I felt ready to drop...I am staying in my Uncle Paul's old room, which is characterized by the yellowed walls and a phantom tobacco scent from years of being inhabited by a smoker...perfect for me after two months in London. I slept more soundly than I had in quite a while...it was weird being in the house without my grandma or Uncle Paul there (Grandma moved into assisted living a few months ago, so this is the first time I have ever been in the house without her there), but the house still has so many fond memories and it is nice to be in an actual home after my two months of temporary housing.

Thursday was spent just getting reacquainted with the North. I visited Grandma, which was great...I was able to go on my own, and her flat is really nice and cozy. She seems really happy, and it was almost surreal to actually see her after such a long time. I took Amelia and Drew back over there later, to find her in the common area at the end of the hall with her friends having tea. I think this was the first time I've ever seen her interact with non-family members, and it was obvious that everyone there adores her. By the time she came back to her room, her carer had come to help her get ready for bed, so we opted to head out with plans for a visit later. The three of us went into town with plans of hitting up a Boots and a bookstore (medicine for Amelia, who had been feeling ill, and a book for me), but everything was closed by that time of night, so we ended up wandering the bankside for a while before returning home.

Yesterday was a day out, beginning with Alnwick Castle (about an hour and a half from my grandma's house). The castle is ancient, currently housed by the Percy Family, and famous to the modern audience for being the location for several films and television series (most notably Kevin Costner's Robin Hood and the first two Harry Potter films). It also contains amazing gardens, including one made up entirely of roses, and one of poisonous plants (which requires a tour guided to visit, as it is behind locked gates), as well as a gigantic tree house. We spent the majority of the day at the Castle and Gardens (I went on tours of both the castle grounds and the filming locations), before continuing our journey along the coast. We also went by Bamburgh Castle (stopping to visit one of the local churches which contains the post that St Alban leaned against as he was dying as well as the grave of Grace Darling, a heroine of the area who saved several survivors of a shipwreck and became a national celebrity), continued along to Warkworth Castle (which was closed, although we walked around the perimeter), and St. Mary's Island. We also stopped at Seahouses for fish and chips (amazing!) and walked along the shore for a while.

Today was another random day...visit with Grandma, trip to Tesco, and an evening with my Auntie Denise and Uncle Adrian and my cousin Catherine. Evening out with Catherine impending...there's a festival going on at the bankside today and tomorrow, and we're headed to a parade tonight. More stories to come...:)

"Time Was": Corrina's London Premiere

It's been a long couple of days, but now I can officially say that I have successfully opened my first London show. Many more to come, I'm sure. :)

After working for a bit on Sunday, I retreated back to the hostel and spent most of the remainder of the evening reading (either on the balcony off the kitchen or atop one of the bunk beds by the window in my room). I met my roommate for the night (just the two of us on Sunday, but two other girls joined us last night), who is another student, but from France. We actually ended up having breakfast together this morning: me with my tea and toast, him with his coffee and cigarette. (Add one beret and we would have the most stereotypical Frenchman ever!) Considering that this is my first hostel experience, I'm really enjoying it...the place is simple but it has everything I need, and I feel really comfortable.

Yesterday was a mess...I spent a good chunk of the morning acquiring 90 kilograms of sand for the hourglasses. After my bus and taxi adventures with these six huge bags of sand, I discovered that the play sand I was sent to buy would not work (it is moist because it is intended for sculpting purposes, so it would not run through the hourglass). I bought new sand this morning (fortunately, someone was going to the paint shop next to the hardware store and they drove me), but the question still remains of when the play sand will be returned. I also discovered yesterday that in regards to the hourglasses, "I'll take care of it" means "I'll buy the plastic and Corrina will take care of it"...not exactly what I wanted to hear at that point. I can think outside the box if necessary, but not with a ticking clock and a looming dress rehearsal. I constructed the cones, but still seriously doubted that they would contain the weight...they held up fine, but that was when we realized that we had the wrong type of sand. Rehearsal last night was a nightmare...the kids would not focus and we did not even make our way through the entire show (which, considering it's short length, was pretty ridiculous). To add to our fun, the roof began leaking just as we were about to begin, which meant that we could not use any of the lights for fear of it leaking onto the grid. The canes that I painstakingly painted did not show up (which meant that I spent several hours today covering them in white paper which would show up under blacklight), and and the cones were not in the air for the final sequence. Needless to say, I had a large list prepared for today, all of which I managed to accomplish...with one slight hiccup. Josh, my technician, asked me to copy another technician's prototype and prepare the cones for rigging. At this point, I was already in panic mode about my to-do list, and I simply did not feel that it would be safe for me to prepare a bag of sand to be suspended in the air above the heads of children. I also felt like he was not listening to me and just being generally condescending, which was not the best way to spend my day with all of the preexisting stress. It worked out in the end...two of the other technicians took care of the cones and I could focus on my work (which was fortunate because I barely had enough time for everything as it was). The dress rehearsal went fairly smoothly, and the performance was very well received. I took care of props and did all of the fly effects, while Josh oped. And the hourglass effect at the end did not work. It worked in dress rehearsal, but Josh changed the mechanism and it did not work during the performance. It was out of my hands at that point, which was exactly where it should have been, so I'm not mourning the effect at all...just something to do tomorrow. As stressful as the last two days were, I'm really glad that I had this experience, and I felt great after the show. (The fact that Luke bought me a Stowford Press didn't hurt, either...just what I needed at that point in time!)

In non-BAC news, I finally got to see some of my family last night...though not the relatives you might be expecting to hear about during my England trip. My mom took the train down and met me right after the dress rehearsal (perfect timing, as I was ready to hack my head off at that point), and after much searching, we found Amelia and Drew at their hotel. The four of us went out for dinner, and it was nice to be back with family again. I suppose that the end of the night stood out the most, when we all went our separate ways home...since I've always lived either at home or in the dorms, it was odd not to be either going home with Mom or dropped off by her. I think the realization that I'm basically an adult is slowly sinking in with this experience...

Hootananny Hostel, Hamlet, and Sunday at BAC

Since my days at Nido are over and the Hootananny Hostel does not have an internet cafe, my posts will now be slightly more retrospective...but I'll still try to keep them just as informative and fun as always. :)

I made my escape yesterday morning...I didn't think that I had acquired quite as much stuff as I had, so moving everything out was a challenge. Honestly, the only thing Nido really had going for it was the location, and I'm glad to be somewhere else that does not claim to be any better than it is. The trip on public transportation was interesting, to say the least. Imagine, if you will, a small American woman with a day bag slung over one shoulder, two grocery bags filled with household items clutched in one hand, and a rolling suitcase grasped in the other. Add a sweaty brow from the humidity outside and nearly teary eyes from when she inevitably took a wrong turn, and you have me yesterday around noon. I'm not sure whether my arms and shoulders ache from carrying all of my stuff or from sleeping in awkward positions. I will say, though, that once again I was able to depend upon the kindness of strangers...I found a pub in my wanderings, where they directed me to my hostel, gave me a glass of water, and made sure I had the pub's phone number before I left just in case I got lost again. (Later in the day, the memory of that moment actually moved me to tears. People can be much kinder than we give them credit for, especially when they can tell that you need help.) Finally, after one last bus ride (which, inevitably, left from the very place where I began), I made my way to the Hootananny Hostel, situated above a pub in Brixton. It is a pretty cool place, and after one night there, I suppose that I would recommend it. I am staying in a four person room (last night I was the only woman), which seemed like a better bet than a twelve person room. I slept decently last night...the guy on the bunk above me was snoring like a banshee, and there was noise from the pub when I was first falling asleep, but after the long day, I could probably have slept anywhere.

After I checked in at the hostel, I went to BAC for our YPT1 rehearsal. The kids were not as focused as last time, but it wasn't awful. We worked on some of the transitions between scenes and then attempted a stumble-through. We made it a little more than halfway through, but we should be fine for tech tomorrow. I'm actually back at BAC at the moment (yay for computer access) since I needed to do some prep for tomorrow, and Josh (our technician) is working on hanging all of the masking/fly stuff so that we can focus on lights tomorrow. The building is really quiet right now...I think that one group is rehearsing upstairs, but other than the duty manager, Josh is the only other person I've seen so far.

When YPT1 rehearsal ended last night, I scurried across town (relishing in my last day of my unlimited Tube pass) to Leicester Square to see "Hamlet" at Wyndham's Theatre. I loved it, and not just because of the star power. Jude Law was fantastic, pretty face aside. To be honest, I was surprised by his performance...there's always the possibility of casting just for the name, but he was very powerful and worked well with the ensemble as a whole. Penelope Wilton, as Gertrude, was wonderful...and she is a very sweet lady as well. I met her after the show as she was leaving, but she was willing to sign my program and seemed touched that I wished her well with the remainer of the run. Kevin McNally was Claudius, and for the first time, I did not feel as though that character was seething with guilt from the very beginning. Honestly, up until the confession scene, I would have assumed that the murderous plot was just the figment of Hamlet's imagination. I told Mr. McNally that after the show, and he said "I agree. He's a fine fellow until he confesses." So now I will never watch any of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga again without thinking of Shakespearian villains. The production as a whole intrigued me because Hamlet's descent into madness did not really have a clear breaking point...in fact, the opening sequence showed him alone on the stage with almost etherial lighting focused only on him and ghostly whispers as sound effects, almost alluding that he was either mad to begin with or that his father's ghost was only something he saw because he wanted to see it. (I have my theories about how I would approach this subject in general, but I won't bore you with them now.) It was an excellent production, especially considering that I had never seen "Hamlet" live before. (Nor have I seen quite that many screaming fans in a compact space either...Midwestern girl that I am, I did not shove my way to the front of the crowd to have my progam signed by Jude Law, but I did snap some photos of his lovely face before he disappeared inside again.) And apparently, Ken Branagh was there last night as well, although I did not see him...that may have sent me into Shakespearian overload. :)

One more fun thing: I met a Spaniard last night who spoke limited English, and I was able to use my minor again. According to this man, I speak Spanish very well (which makes me think that he was just surprised that I could speak it at all), but either way, it was nice to be able to make someone happy with my language skills. (We talked about how crazy Jude Law's fans were and how I was going to wait by the stage door after they left in case he came back...he didn't, but at least I tried.)

Today I slept in (although, technically, I don't think that I got any more sleep than usual because I went to bed late and woke up so many times in the night), then showered and had breakfast at the hostel. I had planned to go straight into BAC, but as I was on the bus, I passed St. Mary's Church in Clapham and decided that I should just go ahead and go to Mass at noon (it was about 11:30 at this point). I'm really glad that I did now...it was the golden anniversary for one of their priests, and I really enjoyed his homily and his overall attitude...very kind and welcoming. Of course, this led to me crying a bit again on the bus when I considered all of the kindness I have been shown here. Cynical as I am, I'm finding so much human kindness here, and the thought of leaving this place that has become another home to me is very difficult to swallow. I still have several days, though, and a lot to do before I head up North, so I am going to try to focus on the present rather than my impending departure. :)

Random Sights, Waterstones, and Leicester Square

Today was my last Friday in London for a while...I know that I will be back at some point, but it will be really difficult to leave.  I'm not sad about leaving Nido, though...bring on the hostel!  :)  We had our final Professional Development Seminar, discussing Global Trends and Analysis.  The Cine Lumiere was incredibly warm, and the number of bodies crowding it did not help, so they shortened the session slightly to keep us from all becoming ill.  I wandered around a bit in the early afternoon, catching up on some things that I had planned to do eventually since this was one of my last chances.  I started by going to Westminster Cathedral to see the view from the tower...once again, I was struck with how close everything actually is.  Since I ride the Tube everywhere, the city seems huge, but from my view, it is all actually pretty compact.  And the view was stunning...not to mention the cool wind that can be felt from that height!  Today is the feast day of St. John Southworth, whose body is enshrined at Westminster Cathedral, so when I arrived, they were just finishing the midday Mass and his body was on display...definitely not an experience that I am used to!

Next, I went to the National Theatre to buy a copy of the script for "England People Very Nice."  I had planned to see it again with my mom this week, but it turns out that this is their dark week...bummer.  Ah well, now I have the script to relive the experience.  Since I was on the southbank, I wandered along to Borough Market for lunch...it's definitely an experience.  I passed on the ostrich and venison in favor of a boring chicken and veggie pasty (something that I still had not tried, despite being here for almost two months).  After my picnic came the highlight of my day: I went to Waterstones, snuggled up in an armchair, and read for two hours.  And it was wonderful.  :)

In the evening, I went to Leicester Square (always fun on a Friday night!) to see "A Guide to Sexual Misery" in the basement theatre.  It didn't really fulfill my expectations...either the reviewers all went on a really good night or they have a far different sense of humor from me.  (From what I had read, I expected to be rolling in the aisles...the only chuckles I had were from audience antics.)  However, when it ended, I was able to slip into the upstairs theatre (shhh!) to catch the end of Miss Polly Rae and her Hurly Burly Girlys (who, honestly, I should have just come to see rather than this show).  The part of the show that I saw was fantastic, as always, and it really made me wish that we had a similar venue at home.  (Anyone interested in opening a comedy/burlesque club with me?)

Painting and 24 Pesos

Based on EUSA's set dates for the program, my internship officially ended today.  Very sad.  Based on reality, however, I still have rehearsals on Saturday and Monday, as well as next week's performances before I really have to say goodbye.  It's a bit hard to swallow right now...I may have found another home in London and at BAC, so leaving will be much more difficult than I foresaw.  I have learned so much, though, and I am so glad to have had this experience and met all of the wonderful people that I encountered.

I started my day with YPT tasks: sent out my rehearsal report from last night, then went out to the courtyard to paint the canes for one of the sequences.  It was warm out, but the shade felt lovely.  The cafe staff was all in a rush because of an event in the Grand Hall.  I did not get all of the details, but it was some sort of government gig, and the Prime Minister was there (I, however, was hidden away).  Because of this, the building was much busier than usual, which was not aided by the heat.  After lunch, I did some random set-up for YPT2 (projector, screen, microphones, etc)...if they had not been moved to a room with blazing sunlight coming through the windows, it would have been much more pleasant (and easier for the projector to actually project!).  During set-up, though, I discovered a room of random furniture, some of which I hope to use during the YPT1 show next week...hopefully this will all work out as I foresee now.

Tonight was the last cultural excursion for EUSA (I skipped the farewell banquet last night in favor of rehearsal), so I opted to go to the Scoop again for a concert.  The opening act was Tom Hickox (of whose name I took note because, drawn as I am to cute piano playing men, he seemed like someone on whom I might have a crush by the end of his set).  I enjoyed his style, shallowness aside...his voice definitely grew on me (somewhat Steve Rothkopf-esque in the sense that you can tell that behind the attempt at pop music there lies classical training), and I forgave him some of the cheesier lyrics.  :)  The main act was a quartet called 24 Pesos, and they were awesome.  They varied between soulful blues and upbeat swing, and I loved it.  It was the type of music that is made to be danced to, although the pace of the dancing might vary.  Plus, the band was obviously having a really fun time, which made them even more enjoyable to watch.  My one complaint (as always) was the audience...if I had young children, I don't think that I would let them run around a concrete amphitheater crowded with strangers.  And if I had friends with me, I would not talk through every single song, particularly those of the opening act (it can't be easy to attempt a soulful ballad with a keyboard with screaming children running in front of you).  That's just one person's opinion, though...and a quiet, seated person at that!

YPT Day

YPT day, so I was in for my adjusted schedule.  I still left Nido relatively early (slept about an hour and a half more than usual, but wanted to get out because my roommate was still around...apparently, her boss said that she is not needed for this last week, so I will probably not get any of my much-needed "Corrina alone time" for a while...).  My first task was picking up glow paint from Flint's Hire and Supply, which is near Elephant and Castle.  It was obnoxiously hot when I walked to and fro from the bus stop, but I thoroughly enjoy theatrical supply shops, so the trip was worth it.  I'll start painting tomorrow...

When I arrived at work, I did some YPT prep (still hunting for some random prop items), then killed my time before YPT by doing some cable labeling (now we're adding BAC labels to some of them to prevent accidental thievery...).  Sam arrived a little after 4:00, and we had a brief production meeting to discuss next week's schedule and the remaining to-do list with Josh.  I should have a relatively eventful day tomorrow as I prepare.  We have one last casual rehearsal on Saturday afternoon (which means that Saturday will be a crazy day in terms of running around for me), then get-in on Monday morning, tech on Monday night, final dress on Tuesday afternoon, and opening on Tuesday night.  I'm excited...it's going to be a pretty tech-heavy show, especially for YPT standards.  We may have some flying as well, so I will potentially be backstage rather than up in the booth (I have found that most ops are self-sufficient here, so Josh will probably just handle all of the lights and sound and I will keep backstage sorted).  Rehearsal tonight went surprisingly well...I'll admit, one or two of the kids could use a good smack now and then, but the focus tonight was so much better than usual.  The kids blamed the heat...Sam suggested that we bring in heaters next rehearsal.  :)

Flyer, Monkey's Fist, and Pint Discussions

Work today was...interesting...to say the least.  Surprisingly uneventful, but interesting none the less (we bring the fun wherever we go!).  The morning was pretty quiet, although there were several groups in today.  The group in the General Office reported power issues backstage, so Greg and I went back there to take the lighting unit apart and check the wiring (which was all fine).  He thought that we had tripped a circuit somewhere else in the system, but the only way to check was through the Intake Room, which is down in the Crypt and requires a key...so we took a short break while Front of House was scouring the building trying to find the key, and when we returned backstage to check things out again, we discovered that it was just a double-switch issue: two switches control the same lighting system, and they can cancel each other out if they are not put in the right combination.  Easy fix.  :)  I also spent part of the morning transferring the photos from our adventure yesterday onto the computer, which Ed later used to produce a wonderful little flyer with instructions for taping down, removing, and coiling cable correctly.  (Hopefully, the video will be online at some point...it was taken with a different camera than mine, so I'm not really in control of that...)

The afternoon was just an assortment of random activities...Ed made the flyer and we took down some stuff from the Grand Hall after the Tea Dance was finished.  The mirror ball was especially fun to take down, because it involved a climb up to the roof.  The view is pretty amazing from up there, but the attic was ridiculously hot.  We also spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out how to tie a monkey's fist knot...I know how, and I've done it successfully in Stagecraft, but the rope I had was really crappy and I wasn't able to do it.  When Ed, Greg, and I were all simultaneously attempting it with an online guide and different pieces of rope, someone compared us to the monkeys with typewriters who after an infinite amount of time are supposed to create the works of Shakespeare.  :)

At the end of the day, we all had a pint out in the courtyard, which was lovely and shady after the hot day.  (The walk to the cafe for lunch was not very pleasant in this heat, and it's only a block away!)  I may have come closer to discovering why I enjoy my coworkers so much: subjects such as quantum physics and perception rates for humans versus pigeons were just some of the fun subjects that we discussed over our drinks...find me a crew in the US that is that nerdy and wonderful, and I will be a happy stage manager.  :)

Grand Hall and Cable Video

Work today was relatively quiet again, but I still had an absolute blast.  Most of my day was spent in the Grand Hall prepping for a Tea Dance that is taking place there tomorrow.  It was pretty basic stuff...just rearranging some of the lighting and clearing the space (fortunately, Front of House took care of all of the tables and chairs that needed to be struck and reset...with my whole lower half still aching from Dover, that was not a job that I wanted to do!).  Most of my work involved moving ladders, cutting gels, and manning the lighting desk.  I also did some general work for YPT, since tech is a week from today...I'll have to do some paint shopping later this week.  Fun times.  The really exciting part of the day was actually toward the end (I stayed around until about 8:00 because of this): Ed and Rob were making a video on proper cabling procedures, so I was their camera-person and did voice overs at the beginning (with a cameo at the end).  It was pretty hilarious, and, to be honest, I'm amazed that none of us cracked up on camera.  After a lengthy process of rehearsing, taking process photos, and taping the three-part sequence, we went back to the greenroom for the premier...which would have been much more exciting had we been able to figure out how to hook the camera up to the TV.  (But hey, I can't really complain: I spent several extra hours with the most lovely people I have met since I arrived here, and I had an after-work round with them.  Although cider on an empty stomach may not have been the best idea, and I sense that I will be in bed early tonight...)  Main note from today: I love my coworkers.  And I find it remarkably unfair that I finally feel as though I belong and will potentially never see some of them again after this next week ends.  They are kind, warm, intelligent, hard-working people, and they truly embody the spirit of theatre that I love....and I am grateful to them for welcoming me so willingly into their group.

Petticoat Lane, Waterstones Hunt, and a Quiet Evening

Today was pretty relaxed at times...although I spent more time walking than I would have liked.  I decided to do some shopping since this was potentially my last Sunday in the city (or, at least,  my last Sunday living at King's Cross), so I headed to Petticoat Lane first.  My prize item was a pair of boots (£5) which will be stealthily tucked away until autumn...despite the chaos of the market scene and the rude people at times, I really like the atmosphere there: people arguing over prices, trying on clothing articles over whatever they were already wearing, music playing loudly (needless to say, there were several Michael Jackson tributes).  The guy who sold me the boots actually asked me about Gary, Indiana when I told him where I was from...I think he was expecting a charming small town, and he seemed pretty disappointed by my description.  (He did tell me that I was a very nice girl and wished me well with school, and another vendor said "Such a beautiful smile" as I was walking through...so I suppose that the trip to the market satisfied both the urge to shop and the urge to have complements thrown at me.)  :)

After I had scoured the rows of stalls, I had planned to spend the afternoon at Waterstones.  Unfortunately, as I left Nido in the morning, I realized that I forgot to double-check which stop I needed to go to in order to visit the bookstore, and it seemed silly to go back upstairs just to check that.  I asked someone in Information at one of the tube stations, and she gave me information that I think was correct (sending me to Tottenham Court Road), but it was a different location from the central one, and thus, I could not find it from memory.  I also went to Euston in search of the branch there, but I was unsuccessful again.  By this point, I was running out of time (they close at 6:00 on Sundays) and my feet and legs were killing me.  The hill-climbing yesterday definitely took its toll, and wandering the city in search of the bookstore just made me feel exhausted, which was ironic since I just wanted to curl up with a book and a cup of tea.  I passed several branches of WH Smith and a Borders, but I just wanted the Waterstones atmosphere!  Eventually, I gave up my search and returned to Nido, did a google search to find out where I should have gone, and checked Mass times at St. Aloysius.  That part of the evening actually worked out pretty perfectly: I took a short nap (after which my legs and hips were stiffer than a Brit's upper lip) and set out an hour before Mass, both to compensate for my potentially slow walking and to stop at the WH Smith at King's Cross/St Pancras to pick up a new book (I figured that I could just make tea back at Nido and have a makeshift version of my previously planned afternoon).  They had the next book in the Tudor Series (my name is Corrina and I am a Philippa Gregory addict), so I bought it (as well as groceries from the Marks and Spencer next door), then headed to Mass.  During the evening at Nido, I did laundry, had dinner and read...this is really thrilling, I know, and I hope that you will still read tomorrow after my relatively quiet post today.  :)  I did have one moment of excitement, though: I went to the cafe to read and drink my tea while my laundry was in the dryer (which did not break this time!), and I spent part of the time watching a group of guys watching whatever game was on at the time.  I was sitting around the corner, so I could see all of their reactions, but not the game itself: the perfect view, in my opinion.  Every now and then, I would just hear a synchronized gasp of horror and know that something exciting was happening...it almost reminded me of high school football games and my (still, to this day) ignorance of the rules of the game, but still enjoying the excitement of the game itself.  :)

Day Trip to Dover

Today, I experienced what may be the best part of living in one of the greatest cities in the world: leaving the city for the day and experiencing some classic history and culture.  I got up early today and took the 9:00 bus to Dover.  I opted for the bus rather than the train for two reasons: the chance to see more of the country during transit and the cheaper fare.  To be honest, I dozed for part of the outward journey and read for the return, but it was nice to see some of the countryside anyway.  Dover, as a city is pretty quiet, at least the corner of it which I saw (the coach station is really close to the castle, so I did pretty minimal exploring...of the town at least...read on...).  When I arrived though, there was a church fairy event going on at the base of the path leading up to the castle, so there were plenty of happy children to be seen.  :)  Now on to the first climb of the day: the walk from the bus station to the castle is approximately one mile,, from what I had read.  It's also uphill most of the way.  I made it, but I'm sure that my calves will be in a sorry state tomorrow  morning (I was actually really surprised that I could walk again after the three hour ride back to London tonight).  The staff at the castle were really accommodating and helpful, which was lovely after my hike, and I made my way into the grounds with ample information.  As I was entering, Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon ere preparing for post-coronation events, which I, of course, had to watch.  (And it was because of the historical significance and my interest in the time period...and not because Henry was still young, handsome, manly Henry rather than massive, vengeful, scary Henry...nope, not at all...)  The two royals and their companion were all on horseback (Katherine was riding sidesaddle, which was very impressive given the weight of her costume) and the two men did some typical tournament activities (a jousting-style exercise involving hitting a swinging target with a lance, and another involving cutting a cabbage in half while running past it).  At one point, the companion was doing a better job than Henry, so I wondered if his execution was on the schedule for today as well.  (Come to think of it, he wasn't theree anymore when I returned to the green after the tunnel tour...)  After the long ride into Dover, I decided that lunch would be a good idea before my tour of the Secret Tunnels of WWII.  Maybe I should set a goal to drink tea in all of England's major castles...

I ventured on next to the tunnel tour, which, considering my limited interest in military history, was pretty interesting (and a bit chilly underground!).  The beginning of the tour uses dramatized audio clips as you walk through the hospital section, which added to the ambiance much better than an ordinary tour guide might have (particularly in the surgery room...I was expecting blood and gore, but this was much better, especially when the power failed mid-operation).  To be honest, I found the medieval tunnels on the other side of the grounds more interesting, if a bit spooky.  (Note to parents: when you are exploring dark, ancient tunnels, do not let your children run around screaming.  It does not make other visitors happy.)  The grounds were just as hilly as the rest of the area, so I got quite a workout just wandering from building to building.  Eventually, when I felt as though I had seen as much of the castle grounds as possible, I decided to check out my real reason for visiting Dover: the White Cliffs.  (Consider this my shout-out to AP English.)  And no, I did not want to visit them for suicidal purposes, so do not consider my King Lear pilgrimage a cry for help.  :)  I did, however, understand their potential for offing oneself after my mess of a hike trying to find my way to the cliffs themselves.  (I could see them from the castle grounds, but the paths were very unclear.)  Due to some odd directions, I ended up back down the hill near the coach station, and the climb up again was worse after wandering the castle grounds for several hours.  At one point, I actually had to make my way through a section  of uncleared woods (all the while wondering what wild beasts might live in Dover) to a narrow road, which was just as curvy as it was hilly.  I dodged traffic for about 20 minutes while I climbed, and by the time I reached the car park for the other visitors to the cliffs, I was ready to drop off them!  The cliffs were oddly rejuvenating, however.  It was perfect weather for the trek as well...warm sunshine on your skin simultaneously being cooled by the sea breeze.  At every turn, there was a new smell of wildflowers and wind, which was such a clean contrast to the polluted air of London.  I wandered down the path for about fifteen minutes, then found a spot to perch and watch the sea.  I stayed there for quite a while, and it was incredibly peaceful.  I looked back at the castle and could tell that I had come a long way, but it just made me feel stronger for not giving up during the long walk.  And with the cliffs looming and the sea below me, I suddenly felt very small...which was good for me, I think.  I felt relaxed and at peace, and it was almost as if the stress that I typically harbor had  been carried away by the wind.  It did not matter that I had no idea what I would do tomorrow or that I haven't done anything related to "God's Ear" since I left...if I were at home, that would have driven me crazy, but when I was surrounded by the sound of the sea and the wind, everything just felt okay.  I find it pretty ironic that a place with militaristic and suicidal connotations could turn out to be a place of enlightenment for me, and I feel as though I will be back again in the future.  :)

I eventually pulled myself out of my reverie and made my way back down the hill into town.  (Surprisingly, the downhill journey is not much easier...it's so steep that you want to run, but you know that if you do you will be unable to stop.)  I still had a while before the bus was due, so I had dinner at a pub.  It was no match for The Famous Cock (I'm such a loyal customer!), but the bartender was very polite and asked me where I was from and how I was enjoying the UK.  I read for almost the entire return journey (although I did take some time to watch the sunset), so I foresee another Waterstone's trip in my near future...but I won't worry about that right now.  I expect that I will sleep very soundly after today, with a few less worries and aching feet.  :)

Workplace Creativity, Tea, and The Woman in Black (could be my biography...)

My Friday began as usual: Professional Development.  I was thoroughly pleased today, though, because attendance was taken at the beginning and the end of the session...I was really getting irritated by the number of people who were not returning after the break but still receiving credit.  (Plus, although I would rather be somewhere else, the guy who leads it actually is doing a really great job and tries to keep things as interesting as possible.  He deserves more respect than that.)  The topic was "Creativity in the Workplace," which was interesting at times...we did some fun brain-teasers (including one where I was the only one to speak up with the correct answer...go me!) and an assessment of our thinking styles.  I'm a right-brained limbic thinker...hmmm...emotions, intuition, and interpersonal communication?  Never!  :)

Since I was already in South Kensington for the seminar, I went over to the Victoria and Albert museum (for the second time) to check out some more of the exhibits.  (The last time I went, I stayed right up until closing.)  My main goal was to see the exhibit on England during the Renaissance (particularly since I am currently hooked on Philippa Gregory's series about the Tudors).  I also stumbled upon a room filled with larger-scale pieces, including casts of several tombs of royals past.  I was particularly excited to see King John (I'm such a Shakespeare nerd...) and Eleanor of Castille.  (Did you know that Elephant and Castle station is named because of a misunderstanding of that queen's name?)  While I was at the museum, I had afternoon tea in one of the cafes (I lead such a sophisticated life, don't I?) and considered my plans for the rest of the afternoon.  Again, my inner dork rears it's adorable head, because I decided to visit the Twinings tea shop near Covent Garden (besides, I had already had three cups of tea by this point in the day, so it seemed fitting...).  The aroma was incredible and the small exhibit at the back of the shop was interesting.  Since I was so close to Covent Garden, I also opted to visit the Tea House (about a block from the station) in search of a teapot.  No luck with my search, but the shop is beautiful and I really enjoyed just looking around.

This evening, I went to see "The Woman in Black" at the Fortune Theatre.  All of the publicity alluded to the fact that the show was full of scary moments, but I honestly did not expect quite as many jumps.  I can understand why the show has been running for so long, though.  The design was simple (it is meant to take place in the theatre itself), but you could tell from the shabbiness of the curtains that something eerie was going to happen.  And nothing is more eerie than backlighting a scrim to reveal the inside of the previously locked room, whose door just opened on it's own (except for amplified, echoing shrill screams...).  They used a lot of shadows and dim lighting to build the suspense, and I have never felt silence utilized more effectively in creating the unsettling atmosphere.  :)  I really enjoyed the performance, as creepy as it was.  My only bone to pick was with the audience...I sat behind the rudest couple, who seemed to think that because they were whispering loudly to one another in German, that rendered us unable to hear them.  The woman also left her seat and returned several times throughout the show, climbing over her friend to reach the aisle.  Also, I do not understand why every "jump" moment must be followed by everyone in the audience talking about how scary it was while the actors are continuing with the story...not to mention the fact that the silences were often broken by people adjusting their seats or unwrapping candy.  Had a phone gone off, I might have screamed out of frustration.  However, I feel that it is a credit to the actors and the designers that I was still enraptured by the production despite all of the distractions...perhaps they even kept me from being wound up so tightly that the first jumpy moment would have made me scream.  :)

Dimmer Rack, Unexpected Opera, and Celebrity Death Scandals

Work today was another assortment of random tasks.  I find it almost funny that I seem to be consistently busy just as I am ready to make my way home.  Today, my end of the day activity (after a morning of random fetching and sorting) involved helping Ed construct a dimmer rack for the Rec Room.  The dimmers lead up to the attic, so needless to say, we were pretty gross by the time it was done.  It was actually pretty toasty outside today, so I can only imagine how you are all feeling back home.  Before I left, I also ran into Josh, who has been appointed as our technical guru for YPT, so we had a brief chat about the effects.  He is going to handle the hourglass effect.  I'm pretty stoked about that.  :)

We had a choice of cultural excursions tonight, and I opted to go to The Unexpected Opera Company's performance of "The Barber of Savile Row," a version of the original opera set in 1950's London...a pretty clever twist if you ask me.  Figaro's hair itself deserved a round of applause...I have never seen something more magnificently awful in real life, only on the covers of Harlequin romance novels (Megan, I'm talking to you!).  Had I known the breaking news at the time, I might have not mentally compared it to that of Farrah Fawcett.  The show was delightful, and a different experience from what I had expected.  It was performed in The Scoop, a small outdoor amphitheatre on the southbank (right next to the government offices)...if a show can keep an audience entertained for three hours while sitting on concrete steps, it's a success.  :)  One character in particular, the head of police (from the Royal No-Cockup Metropolitan Police Force), was absolutely hilarious and made the opera feel like a stand-up act whenever he was onstage.  (One particularly fun moment was when he announced the audience participation bit: "We'll be doing Wagner's 'Ring Cycle'...you half can be Vikings, and you lot can get raped and pillaged!"  He also referred to his nightstick as a "Hackney Lie Detector.")  The villain showed his evil colors by condemning the modern music in favor of Gilbert and Sullivan (just as he was about to start singing "Modern Major General," the head of police marched in with the troops shouting "Don't you bloody dare!")  Also, being the good Catholic girl that I am, I found the sequences involving men in drag as nuns hilarious.  :)

Speaking of drama, Nido is in an uproar right now over the "Michael Jackson: Dead or Alive" scandal.  (And yes, I am aware that making that joke just secured another few bricks in the pathway to purgatory...)  According to the BBC website, his concert has been postponed...I'm not really sure how that will work...:)

Hostels and YPT Day

Ah Wednesday...my day to get some rest before work.  :)  I headed out of Nido just before noon so that I would have plenty of time to prepare for YPT today.  Almost as soon as I arrived, the duty manager for today (Alex, who is an absolutely delightful man) came down to the technical wing to find a technician for a repair job in the general office.  He knew it was lighting related and thought that a fuse had been blown, and I was the only technician in the building (and believe me, I use the word "technician" very loosely when referring to myself!).  Fortunately, when I went to the space, it was just a blown lamp (the bulb itself), so it was just a matter of taking the blown lamp to storage and finding a new one that was similar.  I'm really good at matching things.  :)  But it was one of those weird managerial issues...had there been a dire problem that wasn't just easily solved by a trip to the lighting storage, there is not much that I could have done.  Either way, they were fine in the end and Luke carried around a radio for the rest of the afternoon in case anyone needed help.

The cute place that I found in Battersea where I had hoped to say is now unavailable, so I did a bit more searching for accommodations during tech and performances.  I eventually found a hostel situated above a live music pub in Brixton, which is about a half hour from BAC on the bus.  I booked it, and I'm actually pretty excited about being there for a few days.

YPT was interesting...more technical issues to work around than usual.  Sam requested a mini-disc player (is it just me, or did that technology never reach the US?), and the first two that I brought to the space were not functioning properly.  The third was a charm, although we then discovered that the track she needed was not even on this particular disc.  Since the sound system only had one external hook-up for equipment, I kept juggling cords back and forth between the mini-disc player and the CD player.  I will have no problem setting up equipment next week.  :)  The kids were wild as always...funnily enough, I could envision how a twelve-year-old Corrina would have felt as part of this group (pretty miserable, to be honest...).  I wish that they knew what they were missing, though...Sam is awesome, and she has so much to offer as an instructor, and they are wasting their limited time with her.  Also (and this may be my anxious teacher gene coming through), there are some kids who are obviously not trouble-makers, but they retaliate or try to fit in with the other kids and get in trouble while the other brats go unnoticed.  Just an observation...there's not much I can do until tech except try to support Sam as much as possible.  The performances are rapidly approaching, so hopefully, they will start behaving...although I'm not really holding my breath.  :)

Draping, Hostel-Hunting, and My Favorite Pub

Work today was split pretty equally between running-around and sitting at a desk...not a bad combination for a tired girl like me.  :)  When I first went in (after my morning cuppa), I did some random fetching for the show in the Council Chamber (an elementary school's Shakespeare review), which included a lovely trip to the chair store (where we were building last week).  I have determined that the chair store is the second-creepiest place in the building, the first, of course, being the crypt under the main stairs.  I also worked with Ed as we attempted to turn the Member's Bar (from which the bar was removed a few weeks ago) into a cinema-like atmosphere for a film component of an exhibition on Jerzy Grotowski (the original set for "Akropolis" is in one of the upstairs rooms as well).  The project was begun by Rob yesterday, so we finished putting up scaffolding and draped off the room, conveniently covering the paint job that was done last week.  :)  It was actually pretty tiring, climbing a ladder and hanging the heavy curtains.

Eventually, Luke called down to the technical wing to tell me that BAC would not be able to put me up in housing during tech for "Time Was," but they will take care of my expenses if I stay elsewhere.  Thus, I spent a good chunk of the afternoon sifting through the various websites devoted to the hostel/hotel/guest house scene of Merry Olde London Towne.  :)  The most fun ones included beautiful descriptions, but personal ratings with warnings of giant rats and unsanitary communal bathrooms.  I eventually found a guest house that is really close to BAC and reasonably inexpensive...hopefully, I'll be able to snatch up a room before they are all gone.  :)

I topped off my evening by visiting my old haunt, The Famous Cock.  No noteworthy, Earth-shattering news to report, but I just like to mention when I visit obscenely-named pubs because I miss making my friends laugh.  :)

Quiet Monday and Grasses of a Thousand Colours

Work was relatively quiet today...a few groups were setting up in various spaces, but it was pretty low-key nonetheless.  I spent most of the day working on YPT stuff, which was not too exciting.  I also recoiled some cable that had gaffa tape stuck to it which was disgustingly sticky...the type which has obviously been overheated and is now just a clothy mess of goo.  Toward the end of the day, I helped Stuart with some lighting set-up in the Council Chamber, which was a nice change of scenery...I would have gladly stayed and finished it up, but I had to run back to Nido for food before my theatre experience tonight.

I went to the Royal Court Theatre (for the second time) to see "Grasses of a Thousand Colours" by Wallace Shawn.  I was particularly excited because he is in this production, along with Miranda Richardson and Jennifer Tilly.  The show was...interesting...let's just say that I'm glad that the program is also a copy of the text so that I can reexamine it later after I've let it soak in.  And few things are quite as awkwardly hilarious as seeing a man that you recall from childhood for his delivery of "Inconceivable!" as he rambles a monologue about his relationship with his nether regions.  I laughed like the love-child of MO'Hara and Prendy, and it was glorious!  The space was lovely as well...a small studio theatre, with unassigned seating.  I sat in the center of the second row, so I was never more than ten feet from the actors.  The show also utilized some pretty cool projection work, which was an interesting contrast with the simple set (just a rug, large white sofa, lamp, and podium).  Miranda Richardson was clearly the strongest of the three women for most of the performance (the weakest being Emily McDonnell, the only one in the show that I did not recognize), although Jennifer Tilly had her surprising moments.  After the show ended, I went outside to the stage door to be a raving fan...come on, how many times will I get to meet these people?  Apparently, Miranda Richardson went out another way (grumble), but I did get to take a photo of Wallace Shawn as he left and he signed my program/script.  Jennifer Tilly (criticize her acting as you will...and I know you will, you heartless beasts!) is a sweet, sweet lady.  Not only did she offer to take a picture with me, but she also asked me my name so that she could personalize her autograph to me.  So once again, my heart is warmed by the kindness of someone unexpected.  :)

The Globe (and other Tudor Playhouses!)

Today, I continued my random acts of nerdiness by visiting Shakespeare's Globe and feeling like a kid in a candy store.  :)  I knew that sometimes photos are not allowed within the theatre itself due to rehearsals, so I planned to arrive for the first tour in order to beat the actors...unfortunately, I managed to get off the Tube at the wrong stop (I was sure it was "Tower Hill" but it was actually "London Bridge") after taking a long ride around due to closures.  It actually turned out to be a great mistake, because I was able to walk along the bankside in the cool morning with very few other people around.  Oddly enough, one of the big things I noticed was that I could actually smell the sea-like air, which is usually covered by the smell of tobacco...but since I was the only one out, I did not have to worry about that.  It was so peaceful and quiet, with just a few early joggers out and about...the city is still asleep at 10:00 on Sundays.  I made my way to the Globe with about fifteen minutes until the next tour, so I strolled through the exhibition while I waited.  The tour contained primarily information that I already knew, but it was still enjoyable.  The space itself is so beautiful, and I had such a wonderful time at "The Comedy of Errors" a few weeks ago, so it definitely has a warm, happy aura about it.  The exhibition itself focused equally on establishing the world of Shakespeare's era as well as elements specific to this particular theatre.  The south bank was constantly described in detail as an area of ill repute right up to the point in which the Puritans shut things down.  The last part of the exhibition was particularly interesting, in which they described Sam Wanamaker's efforts to have the Globe rebuilt.  Following my exploration of the displays, I went on the other tour (much less popular: there were only three of us total on this one!) to the site of the original Globe as well as two other theatres in the area: The Swan and The Rose.  The Globe site is actually rather sad; right now, it is an open courtyard which is partially covered by an apartment building (which was made with concrete foundations, rendering excavation impossible).  According to our tour guide, most of the people who are really interested in preserving a space such as this would not be able to anyway, as they cannot afford to live in the area.  Similarly, the site of The Swan (best known as a bear-baiting arena) is now a large building, but is gradually being converted into a rehearsal space for the actors at The Globe.  A building now surrounds the excavation site of The Rose, which is under water currently.  Now that The Globe is fully constructed, The Rose is the next large project, and they are attempting to continue excavation and eventually build a glass stage atop the original site (making the archeological site visible beneath the stage).  It was pretty incredible to see how close these three theatres actually were...they literally all fall within one city block of each other (which also explains the extreme rivalry between them..."A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" is actually a sarcastic comment meant for the other playhouse and it's proximity to the open sewer, and yet we consider it one of the most romantic quotations ever written!).

After I had tea and visited the giftshop (the whole time attempting to resist buying an "Out Damned Spot" tea towel...I know, I'm a dork...), I decided to walk back the way I came.  The bankside was not incredibly busy, but still starkly different from the peaceful walk I took on my way to the Globe.  It was also much hotter outside...it had been an overcast morning, but the afternoon was bright and sunny.  I walked back past the Tower of London (where it became pretty crowded with tourists), then thought that I would cross Tower Bridge back to the southbank again and see what was around on the other side off the beaten path.  I walked for a while, eventually stumbling upon a church with a large courtyard that was shaded and smelled heavily of roses...I might have to stumble back that way another day.  As inconvenient as my becoming lost can be at times, I have seen so much of the city just by wandering in the wrong direction, and today, for the first time, I opted to just keep walking...so I suppose that the roses were my reward for being curious.  :)

England People Very Nice

Today, I had my second experience at the National Theatre for the matinee of "England People Very Nice."  The show was just the right combination of laugh-out-loud comedy and serious social commentary...and I loved every minute of it.  For the first few minutes of the show, I actually felt consciously aware of the smile on my face, and it was not about to leave.  The script dealt with the topic of immigration to England over the last several centuries, specifically highlighting the French Protestants, Irish, Jews, and finally Pakistani/Bangladeshi immigrants.  The first act set the stage for the necessity to laugh at some of the circumstances and pulled quite well from stereotypes (ie an Irishwoman throwing her two fighting friends from the house out into the street because "I'm giving birth in here!"), while the second act eventually gave way to the conflicts between Muslim immigrants and their first-generation children in England (including reactions of the Muslim community to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Tube bombings, which were incredibly moving).  It was incredibly poignant at times, which made the comedy all the more delightful since it felt like a surprise (in the midst of anti-Islamic persecution, our hero still manages to invent Chicken Tikka Masala!).  From a technical standpoint, this show was my personal stage management dream.  The set consisted simply of a tall wall with doors built in, sections of which could be pushed downstage to change the space.  Furniture was used to differentiate locations, several of which were revisited during different scenes in different time periods, including a bar in which the barkeeper always starts with the phrase "Fecking (insert cultural title here)" and one of the regulars always has one living upstairs from him..my favorite one was "Fecking Americans...where are they?  They'll come in right at the end, I'll bet" during the WWII segment.  :)  Sight lines did not really apply, and all of the costumes were visible on racks upstage.  The reason why I would love to work on a show like this was the use of projections...it was incredible!  At times, there were Monty Python-esque animated segments, some of which included the specific characters onstage at the time.  However, the really incredible effect was the combination of animated effects with the live action: doors appearing as projections on the wall, then the actual door opening, or a man being hanged in the animation on the back walls, just before a dummy with a noose falls from a trap above the stage.  I loved it...the last time I saw projections really interacting with the story was in Spamalot (hence the Monty Python reference earlier), and I thought that this was such a clever way to deliver the messages.  Throughout the different time periods, an interracial couple (played by the same two actors) always formed, further emphasizing their overall message of the human race as the only race that matters.  I had a wonderful time because I had the chance to laugh out loud and truly feel entertained while still feeling moved by the message.  The only shame, I suppose, is that I would only really be able to work on this specific production here...many of the jokes mocked English culture as a whole, which would not translate to a US audience.

After the show, I had tea in one of the theatre's cafes and finished my book ("The Boleyn Inheritance"), so after Mass, I stopped by a bookshop to pick up more reading material.  I find it particularly interesting to read these  books about Tudor England while I'm here...when I read a passage from Katherine Howard's perspective as she was led through the Tower of London, I could visualize the route since I visited last week...that was certainly exciting!  And I'm recognizing several of the palaces (of course, Hampton Court appears frequently) as well, even specific rooms that are mentioned.  What I would give to have a library card right now!  As I have said before, I have to make time to read when school starts again...that is so much more important that many of the time-drains in my life, and I have a to-read list in the works right now...

Hunterian Museum and Waiting for Godot

Once again, today was a very good day.  Professional Development was not nearly as boring as usual...I'm starting to sense a pattern: the first half is a snooze-fest, but if you show up again after the break, you are rewarded with interesting info.  (More than half of the people did not show up again after the break, so I had some grumbling to do, of course...)  One of the activities was a values survey to help us gage the type of organization that would best suit us, which was pretty enlightening.  Maybe I'll take it again in six months and see what has changed...

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons.  It was really interesting and a bit gross at times.  The collection is one of the oldest medical collections in the world (many specimens were collected in the 1700s), and the preservation is amazing.  (There were actually some bone structures that were preserved through tanning, similar to leather...)  Some of the specimens on display reminded me of the Body Worlds/Body Works exhibits that have been touring (I've seen two such exhibits, one in Indy and one in Chicago), but there were so many different animal examples as well.  As usual, the most fascinating yet sad specimens to see (in my opinion, at least) were fetuses.  I was particularly taken by a set of quintuplets that were preserved soon after birth (two were stillborn and the other three died soon after birth...they were so tiny!) in the mid 1700s.  One of the museum volunteers (a retired ear, nose, and throat doctor) led a brief talk involving some of the specimens, entitled "An Evening with Venus; A Lifetime with Mercury" which dealt primarily with the effects of syphilis.  I certainly felt my midwestern pride since Indianapolis was the Syphilis Capital of the United States in the mid-nineties!  :)  The particular specimens that we examined were mainly skulls which had been eaten away, which was pretty disgusting...and the treatments were not much better.  (When you cannot tell if the madness is caused by the disease or the mercury used to treat it, I would consider that a serious problem...)  And, while we're on the subject of Georgian nether-regions, I must mention one of my other favorite artifacts: a condom from the 1750s made of sheep gut, designed to be washed and reused.  Just another day of culture in London!  :)

The utter highlight of my day (for which I expect many a comment after this is posted) was my evening at the theatre.  I went to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to see "Waiting for Godot."  Let me preface this by saying that I'm not the biggest Becket fan...just throwing that out there.  I have to be in the mood for him, which strikes pretty rarely.  That being said, the show was incredible...but then again, when your leading men are Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, it's pretty hard to go wrong, right?  The set was so stark and grey, and yet so incredibly detailed that you could imagine what else might be lurking behind the wings in this desolate wasteland.  And I have never seen such beautiful use of gobos for lighting texture before...I was actually glad to be in the upper balcony so that I could fully appreciate the effects (textured gobos in intels are amazing!).  The cast also featured Simon Callow and Ronald Pickup, as well as a child actor who is far cooler at the age of 11 than most of us will ever aspire to be.  (Where do you go at the age of 11 after working with this cast?  Seriously, you have to keep climbing...)  The cast was so energetic and full of life, and I could feel all of that energy from my spot up in the cheap seats.  The two people next to me actually left at intermission, which I cannot understand...even if you don't understand the show, when will you get to see a cast like this again?  After seeing "Catastrophe," it was pretty exciting to notice some of the various "Becketisms" within the text, as well.  (I purposefully avoid reading shows that I plan to see, this one included.)  After the show, the excitement continued.  I ran around the block to the back door of the theatre, where there were about fifteen other people waiting for the cast as well.  I probably waited for an hour total (but hey, after watching a segment of eternity spent waiting for Godot, I could deal with an hour of waiting for the cast), but it was completely worth it because my program is now signed by all of the cast sans Patrick Stewart.  I also hugged Sir Ian McKellen, then practically danced back to the Tube station (all the while thinking "Oh my God, I just hugged Macbeth and Gandalf...oh God!" and other such incoherent thoughts...nerds, consider ye warned, for I am now your Queen!).  :)  Sir Ian is such a gracious, kind man, and was cordial and warm to everyone who was waiting for autographs.  Tonight felt like another reminder that I'm doing the right thing by choosing to spend my life in this industry.  I've had several moments like that since I arrived here, and that is definitely an affirmation that we all need every now and then.

Work, Wellcome Collection, and Swine Flu

Work today was pretty slow at times. St. Mary's College was loading in another show, and they are really self-sufficient, so I only had to do some basic fetching for them (the bin labeled "Working Birdies" is a liar...) and other housekeeping stuff...setting up safety railing on the seating, finding a narrower table for the lighting/sound equipment so that the operators could actually sit behind it, etc. I did some work on YPT stuff as well, which was not too exciting...I'm ready to shop for props, though, so I just need to get petty cash from Finance and I'll be ready to go. I will tackle that task next week...

For our cultural excursion tonight, we had a choice of visiting the National Portrait Gallery, the British Film Institute, or the Wellcome Collection. Since I had already seen most of the National Portrait Gallery (but still plan to go back for the contemporary exhibit) and could see the British Film Institute another time, I opted for the Wellcome Collection...well, that and the publicity info made it seem too tempting to pass up. Their tagline is "For the Incurably Curious"...that would be me. :) The museum itself is pretty small (I made my way through in under two hours), but really enjoyable if you like obscure culture. My favorite part was the "Medicine Man" exhibit, which featured a fairly random collection of items from diverse parts of the world. Some of my favorites included Darwin's walking stick (topped with a tiny skull...just a bit creepy!), anatomical models from the 1700s (most of them were half the size of a Barbie doll and contained removable parts...there was also an obstetrics teaching tool, which was eerily similar to a model I remember seeing at the hospital with my mom during a comfort measures class), and a Peruvian mummy (which was pretty gruesome). Some of the more disturbing items included a steel corset and a pair of shoes to be worn post-foot binding. They also have an exhibit called "Medicine Now" which featured interesting sections on genetics, obesity, and malaria. The choice of the two diseases seemed odd until I read about the intent: one occurs primarily in developing nations while the other occurs primarily in developed nations. It was a really fascinating contrast, and the exhibit consisted mainly of artistic interpretations of the diseases along with displays of commonly related items (diet books, weight-loss pills, malaria medications, mosquito netting) with audio clips available. The whole exhibit was a museum/art gallery hybrid, and it was brilliantly presented. One section, which stressed individuality, featured some interesting installation work: one was a video of children from Essex who were filmed for 15 seconds doing whatever they wanted to express themselves, side by side with a new video taken of them 10 years later. The idea was brilliant...of course, I've seen people show photos of themselves as children, but this was so much more engaging because both "versions" of the same person were interacting with the viewer simultaneously. I loved it! I also took part in another installation, which is an ongoing experiment in facial features attempting to determine the "average face." It began with the computer taking a digital photo of you, which it then blends with the other photos of other participants. They also asked you questions about your lifestyle so that they could research further into facial differences between various groups (smokers and nonsmokers, drinkers and nondrinkers, people over and under 40, London residents vs other UK residents vs non-UK residents, etc).

My day was topped off when I returned to Nido and checked my email: apparently, there's a confirmed case of the N1H1 virus at Nido. However, they did not do the best job of informing us: we have one email with the subject "N1H1 Virus at Nido," another with the subject "H1N1 Virus at Nido," and a third saying "Recall: N1H1 Virus at Nido"...riddle me this: how long will it take for the halls to be overcome with panic. I know, I'm getting more cynical by the day, negative swine that I am (pun intended)...well, I guess I'll just keep washing my hands like it's my job. :)

YPT and Stockholm

Odd schedule today...I will never understand why I feel so exhausted by Wednesday night even though I get to sleep longer that morning. I went in to BAC at about 12:30 (I seem to arrive earlier and earlier on Wednesdays, just because there really isn't anywhere that I would rather be) and started by doing some research online regarding our set pieces for YPT1. You can only look at so many oversized (but not quite oversized enough) digital clocks before you're desperate for another task. I did a few minor fetching/inventory related tasks (compelling stuff, I know), and during the process discovered that the Council Chamber is a pretty terrifying place when the lights are all out and you can't locate the switch. (Almost as creepy as the room full of puppets that Greg and I stumbled upon yesterday...)

YPT itself went really well. The kids were at their usual level of rascally-ness (I'm sure that term will catch on eventually), but we made some really solid progress with a new movement piece. Sam and I had some more chats about the show's needs, and she's looking into the location of the set pieces for the hourglass effect from the last time it was done (and the digital clock will probably be a projection...yay!). The only thing that has really annoyed me about the kids is that they will not just shut their mouths and listen to Sam...she'll start to explain the activity, and then they'll shout out guesses of how they think it will work, then ask the same questions twelve times because they don't listen to each other, either. However, the sessions are relatively short (2 hours), and they sometimes manage to pleasantly surprise me with their work once they actually start listening.

After YPT, I opted to stick around and see the show that we set up yesterday. The group (as I finally found out) was from St. Mary's University, and the show was "Stockholm" by Bryony Lavery. Actually, I decided that I should see the show only after I found out who the playwright was: I am familiar with "Frozen" (and by that I mean "I have seen a handfull of monologues and scenes performed to death at Cathedral from 'Frozen'"), so I wanted to see what Lavery's other works were like. I really enjoyed the show, and I felt as though the Rec Room was a pretty perfect venue. The show is gripping to the point that you feel like a voyeur, and the seating was set up in the round with gaps for various set pieces to fit. In that way, you as the audience feel as though you are part of their house, but you still feel uncomfortable because the only people who should witness a relationship falling apart like this are the couple in the relationship. There was no fourth wall, not even during the dialogue between the two actors, adding to the discomfort that I relished in as I watched...not only should I not be seeing this, but they know that I know that I should not be seeing this. (That's the whole point, though...and I sat in the front row while most other people squeezed into the safety of the second row...sort of my challenge for the actors to "bring on the discomfort!") It's the kind of show that you cannot effectively perform on a proscenium stage, and that is the type of work in which I prefer to be involved. Add to that the fact that the actors were incredibly well-trained, which was a breath of fresh air after the last student show I endured. I did not feel as though I was watching students, apart from the relatively young age of the performers. I'm certainly glad that I stayed for this tonight, and I'm a bit sad that I will not be able to work with some of these artists again. The design/production team were all lovely people, and I think that their kind and gracious attitudes may have also contributed to my enjoyment of this production. I'm definitely guilty of letting personal opinions of artists impair my ability to appreciate their work...I'm not proud of that, but it's the truth. If you're rude to me when I help you load in your equipment, I will not consider your design remotely beautiful...but this group was lovely all around.

Tool Box, Pint, and Midsummer Night's Pantomime

This was a great day...I say that with confidence and a smile on my face.  I went in to BAC at the usual time and helped the Rec Room group with a few minor things (moving ladders, footing the ladder in order to help prevent Ed from plummeting to his death, fetching lanterns and torches...and by that, I mean desk lamps and flashlights...I know, it sounded so dramatic before that clarification!).  Most of the rest of the day consisted of general tidying up, including several hours sorting stuff in the Tool Box with Greg, with my hands getting more and more gritty and the piles of stuff getting more and more organized.  The work can be dull at times, but I couldn't ask for better company.  I also did some odd jobs with Ed (including carrying a heavy dance-floor downstairs...can't escape them, I guess...) before taking a break to wish well to our coworker Maureen, who is leaving this week for her wedding in Jamaica.  She's a sweetheart, and really made me feel welcome during my first few days at work.  Our final task, which I stayed later than planned to assist with, was rigging up a track for a curtain in between the Heavy Store and Tech Playspace.  It was a feat, and might be a safety hazard, but it's in the air, at least.  Once again, I managed to grow a pair and deal with the often rickety ladder...although, since I got the ladder and Ed stood on a rickety stack of platforms, I can't complain too much.  :)

I planned to see a show tonight at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, which is not far from BAC, so I opted to stick around until closer to show time rather than dashing to King's Cross and back, and I'm really glad that I did.  The building has a different atmosphere after 5:00, and I was able to just hang out with Greg and Ed in the courtyard.  And Greg bought me my first pint (cider...after a few moments of confusion and slight mockery at my not having ever really had alcohol before...), and I could not have asked for a better pair to enjoy it with me.  I haven't felt like "part of the group" in any setting for a while now, so the hour or so of conversation in the courtyard was just what I needed.  So, for those of you who were placing bets on how long it would take Corrina to become fully integrated, in the last two days I have been asked directions to an obscure street in Vauxhall, ordered a sandwich with "to-mah-to," and had a pint with my coworkers.  Time to pay up.  :)

The show tonight was pure entertainment...no deep meanings here, but sometimes it's nice to just be amused.  It was "A Midsummer Night's Pantomime," performed on a tiny stage in a gay bar in south London (Royal Vauxhall Tavern).  And it was awesome...switching between original text and modern comments, filled with more innuendo than even Shakespeare intended.  They actually compared the RVT to the Globe in its heyday in terms of its purpose as a center for artistic expression and bawdy behavior.  :)  Hermia was played by the tallest drag queen I have ever seen (self-proclaimed as "six foot eight in heels"), and who can argue with a Puck with a red mohawk, tutu, and combat boots?  Oh, and the lovers were rearranged again at the last minute by Puck...apparently, Athens has pretty liberal views on same-sex marriage!  Oberon/Theseus was played by Dusty Limits (for those regular readers who recall my night at the burlesque show), who was charming as always.  I really wish that Indy had a venue similar to some of these smaller theatres that I have visited...maybe that's my calling.  :)

Assorted Tasks and "Aunt Dan and Lemon" (With A Sentimental Surprise!)

Today was both busy and low-key at work, depending on the moment.  I'm starting to think that Production Stage Management might be on my horizons...especially if I were lucky enough to find another venue similar to BAC that I loved just as much.  We had another college group start working (somehow, I never actually learned which school it was), and although they had a fairly tech-heavy show to load in, they also had a really competent crew at work.  Several of them also seemed genuinely kind, and were incredibly appreciative of Ed's and my help...always nice to be around a professionally-behaving group that is considerate!  :)  I spent the first few hours at work helping them out and getting the space in order.  They are in the Rec Room, which is about 3/4 Strother size (I love how all of my room descriptions are measured in "Strothers"), so there was just enough room for our small group to work efficiently...they also had a full day devoted to set-up, so it won't be quite as chaotic as our last group was, with load-in, tech, and performances all in one day.  I also realized that I am actually gaining some upper body strength, because Ed and I had to carry five scissor-platforms downstairs to heavy storage.  I don't want to know how much they actually weigh, but let it suffice to say that on my first day of work, I could barely move two platforms from storage down the hall to the Grand Hall.  (Not that the five platforms were easy to move, but we worked out a pretty good system and I did not feel as though my arms would fall off this time...)  At noon, I had a meeting with Luke to discuss YPT and my prop/scenery hunt.  The meeting ended with me emailing the director a list of questions about her desired effects (which, in turn, led to me emailing some of my lovely techie friends at home about a piece of scenery that makes me nervous...).  I'm going to start prop hunting (in a "purchasing" sense) soon.  After lunch (during which I ordered my sandwich with tomato, pronounced "to-mah-to"...yeah, someone's blending in...I wasn't even thinking about it either; the word just kind-of came out that way and I sort-of had a double-take at myself...), we went back up to the Rec Room (where most of the lights and scenery were set up without problems) and solved a minor conflict involving painting the doors to the room (there are four total, one in each corner, and two needed touching up with paint while one, painted bright red, just needed to be painted over completely).  Eventually, I was sent to the paint shop (about fifteen minutes walking) to get more supplies, and everyone was happy.  :)  When I left, some of the technical staff were starting to work on building a shelving unit in the lumber storage area to hold long planks of wood (funnily enough, the storage is called the "chair store" although there were only a small stack of chairs down there, which we promptly moved to begin construction).

I would have stayed and helped with construction (since I actually know how to use some of that equipment!), but I had to dash back to Nido and drop off my bag and eat, because I had tickets to "Aunt Dan and Lemon" at the Royal Court Theatre.  It is part of the "Shawn Season"...as in Wallace Shawn, who I have heard described (to my agreement) as "the US's most profound and most overlooked playwright."  I'm holding my breath waiting for someone to say "Inconceivable!"  (Yes, he's that guy...)  The show was wonderful, and I really enjoyed myself.  I felt so comfortable, almost as though I was just listening to him telling me his story (even through the perspective of the protagonist, a woman), which I attribute to a combination of the simple, homey scenery (set originally in her flat, switching to various locales as seen with the table, chair, bed, rug, etc) and the simple language that still managed to convey a powerful message.  The scenes shifted seamlessly, and it was almost startling to watch the furniture serve it's multiple purposes for various locations (Lemon's childhood bed, for example, changed into Aunt Dan's deathbed and the bed on which Aunt Dan's friend has a brief seduction prior to murder).  I felt moved, and as I was watching actors onstage, I was glad that the program was also a copy of the text so that I could read some of the passages again.  The message turned surprisingly political toward the end, which I knew was a feature of Shawn's work, but did not really foresee throughout the production as a whole.  The most profound piece of the message, which really stuck with me throughout the production, is the idea that our lives are not made up of the things "I did" or "I saw" or "I said."  Life is really made up of the other people who influenced us, who taught us, and who made us into what we came to be.  That poignant thought, which is so simple but so true, really made me think of the people waiting for me at home.  I am so happy here in London, by myself for the most part, worrying only about the day at hand (although, controlling as I am, I try to plan out all of my time and often change my mind at the last minute).  But more than that, I am so touched that you, my readers, take the time to read up about my day.  Maybe that is why, although I am alone, I haven't really felt lonely while I have been here.  I have the city, and I have all of you thinking of me, and I am truly grateful for that, so thank you, and I send my love from here to wherever you are as you read this.  :)