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.  :)