this week has been theatre-filled. i've seen three shows:
1. cooped. recommended to us by our modern physical teacher, this was an hour and a half of british humor. everyone was made fun of--germans, spaniards, americans, women, old people. men dressed in women's clothes. there were rubber chickens and ping pong balls. it was great.
2. ivanov. kenneth branagh starred--it was the first time he's been onstage in five years. we were in the super-cheap seats: back of the top balcony, standing, but we could see and hear everything. it was tom stoppard's new adaptation of chekov's play, so the writing was excellent. and the rest of the cast was equally as talented. really, really fabulous.
3. hedda. this was a modern adaptation of hedda gabbler by ibsen at a small theatre in notting hill. i loved it--the adaptation was very true to the play but changed some really interesting things, and all of the actors were totally phenomenal.
one of my favorite things about london so far is how diverse theatre is here--there is always something for everyone, and the audiences are always full of all different sorts of people.
i found the cord which uploads my pictures to my computer, so i will post pictures soon!
love,
ellen
Friday, September 26, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
this week, in review
classes got harder this week, and the work began to pile on. this isn't a bad thing, though, and i'm quite head-over-heels for all of my professors. here are this week's highlights:
1. in high comedy, our teacher kathryn told us two stories. the first one began "well, when i was in 'the lucky chance' [a restoration comedy that i am working on] i was leticia and alan was gayman. alan rickman, you know him? a very, very fine actor, but he just did not play this scene well..." each and every one of us stopped listening around this point and started drooling. the next story began "when i was portia in merchant of venice at the globe". portia is (in my opinion) the greatest female shakespearean character of all time (and in 'merchant' she is by far the biggest character) and the globe is the old globe. where they do all shakespeare, all the time. i love this woman!
2. julian glover did our masterclass on friday. he's was clasically trained at the national theatre, and was a member of the royal shakespeare company. he was also this guy in star wars:
and he managed to work in this story to our class: "don't beat yourself up about lines, when i did star wars the only thing i had to say was "fire up the main generators" and i just couldn't remember it! i wasted seven takes!"
3. bada took us to stratford-upon-avon (more commonly referred to as "disneyshakespeareland) to see the royal shakespeare company's production of a midsummer nights dream. we were able to cut through tourist land to pay our respects to billy at holy trinity church, play some theatre games and practice sword fighting on the banks of avon, and eat at the dirty duck (the company's favorite pub) under a signed picture of judy dench. to top it all off, the production was amazing--i've rarely seen a production so unified in its design, acting, and tone. it was magnificent.
too-do-lo!
ellen
1. in high comedy, our teacher kathryn told us two stories. the first one began "well, when i was in 'the lucky chance' [a restoration comedy that i am working on] i was leticia and alan was gayman. alan rickman, you know him? a very, very fine actor, but he just did not play this scene well..." each and every one of us stopped listening around this point and started drooling. the next story began "when i was portia in merchant of venice at the globe". portia is (in my opinion) the greatest female shakespearean character of all time (and in 'merchant' she is by far the biggest character) and the globe is the old globe. where they do all shakespeare, all the time. i love this woman!
2. julian glover did our masterclass on friday. he's was clasically trained at the national theatre, and was a member of the royal shakespeare company. he was also this guy in star wars:
and he managed to work in this story to our class: "don't beat yourself up about lines, when i did star wars the only thing i had to say was "fire up the main generators" and i just couldn't remember it! i wasted seven takes!" 3. bada took us to stratford-upon-avon (more commonly referred to as "disneyshakespeareland) to see the royal shakespeare company's production of a midsummer nights dream. we were able to cut through tourist land to pay our respects to billy at holy trinity church, play some theatre games and practice sword fighting on the banks of avon, and eat at the dirty duck (the company's favorite pub) under a signed picture of judy dench. to top it all off, the production was amazing--i've rarely seen a production so unified in its design, acting, and tone. it was magnificent.
too-do-lo!
ellen
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
the weekend's adventures
this weekend was our first out and about in london, and we had many adventures.
the first was i went with my roommates annie and ritu and yasmine to see damien hurst's art exhibit at southeby's. he is a bad-boy contemporary artist who is most famous for his diamond-encrusted skull, preserving sharks and zebras and horses in formaldahyde, and large canvasses with dead butterflies. he was auctioning off his own work, and before that it was all on display. the first day of the auction was today, and he walked off with a solid 70 million pounds. that's 140 million dollars.
that night, we made a cake for parker and steve, who both had had birthdays earlier in the week. after, we headed to our local, round-the-corner pub, the duke of york, for celibratory pints.
sunday was a grocery store, laundry, and work day, but i did make time at night to head to the thames and see the fireworks at the end of the thames festival. the were launched from blackfriars bridge, the nighttime view of city with the fireworks was beautiful.
chip chip cheerio!
love,
ellen
the first was i went with my roommates annie and ritu and yasmine to see damien hurst's art exhibit at southeby's. he is a bad-boy contemporary artist who is most famous for his diamond-encrusted skull, preserving sharks and zebras and horses in formaldahyde, and large canvasses with dead butterflies. he was auctioning off his own work, and before that it was all on display. the first day of the auction was today, and he walked off with a solid 70 million pounds. that's 140 million dollars.
that night, we made a cake for parker and steve, who both had had birthdays earlier in the week. after, we headed to our local, round-the-corner pub, the duke of york, for celibratory pints.
sunday was a grocery store, laundry, and work day, but i did make time at night to head to the thames and see the fireworks at the end of the thames festival. the were launched from blackfriars bridge, the nighttime view of city with the fireworks was beautiful.
chip chip cheerio!
love,
ellen
Thursday, September 11, 2008
it's been a bloody long week!
we are rounding the corner on the end of our first week of classes. methinks i'll give you a summary of my classes here, so when i come home and have all these theatre games and monologues to show you all you'll know why!
modern physical: taught by mick who looks and acts like he just walked out of monty python, this class focuses on movement and being playful and engaging onstage. we run around a lot, improv a lot, and he makes fun of us. it's bloody brilliant.
shakespeare: this is taught by ian, the dean of bada, who drops in liners like "oh, that's just helen," to which we respond..."helen mirren?" he is brilliant and tough, but very kind hearted and very funny.
high comedy: this is taught by katherine, an actress with the attention span of a rabbit. but she's wonderful and reminds me of one of my favorite professors at usc. she's one of the most honest people i've ever met.
movement: marcel is our teacher. she's a little firecracker, and makes us run around the room with our eyes closed.
stage fighting: natalie is our teacher ("my name has a t in it, you americans say it nadalie") and she's downright scary. she could beat us all up. at the same time. but now we all know how to fake punch! and we'll be learning sword and rapier!
every friday we have masterclasses, which are like one-time classes from someone interesting. tomorrow is fiona shaw, most commonly known as mrs. dursely from the harry potter movies. she's awesome.
school is wonderful. i go monday-friday from around 10-6 and come home exhausted, but its wonderful, and i know this semester is going to be amazing!
plan for this weekend: get out and explore london a little bit, hopefully shoreditch and hoxon.
cheerio!
ellen
modern physical: taught by mick who looks and acts like he just walked out of monty python, this class focuses on movement and being playful and engaging onstage. we run around a lot, improv a lot, and he makes fun of us. it's bloody brilliant.
shakespeare: this is taught by ian, the dean of bada, who drops in liners like "oh, that's just helen," to which we respond..."helen mirren?" he is brilliant and tough, but very kind hearted and very funny.
high comedy: this is taught by katherine, an actress with the attention span of a rabbit. but she's wonderful and reminds me of one of my favorite professors at usc. she's one of the most honest people i've ever met.
movement: marcel is our teacher. she's a little firecracker, and makes us run around the room with our eyes closed.
stage fighting: natalie is our teacher ("my name has a t in it, you americans say it nadalie") and she's downright scary. she could beat us all up. at the same time. but now we all know how to fake punch! and we'll be learning sword and rapier!
every friday we have masterclasses, which are like one-time classes from someone interesting. tomorrow is fiona shaw, most commonly known as mrs. dursely from the harry potter movies. she's awesome.
school is wonderful. i go monday-friday from around 10-6 and come home exhausted, but its wonderful, and i know this semester is going to be amazing!
plan for this weekend: get out and explore london a little bit, hopefully shoreditch and hoxon.
cheerio!
ellen
Sunday, September 7, 2008
cheerio from london (finally!)
i am, finally, in london. the story of my arrival is quite a saga, so i'll tell it script-style.
scene 1. kansas city airport.
ellen: i'm going to chicago and then on to london!
united worker: oh dear....you're probably not going to make it tonight. there's major weather issues in chicago, and your plane to chicago hasn't left there yet. hopefully it will be here at 8:00, so you might be able to make your 9:30 flight, because it will probably be delayed too.
ellen: okay...
scene 2. mom and ellen waiting in kci. they look up at the departure ticker. it reads "to chicago. delayed. departure time: 8:00"
scene 3.
ellen: well, mom, it's 7 now, so i'm going to go through security.
mom: okay.
they look at the departure list. it now reads "to chicago. delayed. departure time: 9:00"
ellen: never mind.
scene 4. ellen sits inside security at kci.
untied worker: okay, our plane to chicago is finally here!
ellen looks at the time on her cell phone. it is 9:30.
scene 5. chicago o'hare. the united terminal. it is 12:00am.
ellen: okay, so my flight was delayed and i missed my flight to london. can i get on the next one?
united worker: maybe...the only one you would have a guaranteed seat on is the 4:00pm flight.
ellen: please?
united worker: okay. i'll put you on the 6:00am flight to heathrow.
scene 6. chicago o'hare. ellen is sleeping on the chairs outside of departure gate 13.
scene 7. 5:00 am. ellen wakes up.
united worker: attention passengers, we are now boarding flight 922 to london!
ellen grabs her bag and queues up to board the plane.
scene 8. 10:30 pm, london time. heathrow airport.
some guy in the customs line: hey, i've been on your flight since chicago, what's your name?
ellen: oh hi, i'm ellen.
guy: cool, what are you doing in london?
ellen: oh, studying.
guy: where?
ellen: bada.
guy: me too!!!
ellen: sweet!! where are our flats, and how do we get there?
guy: i have no idea....
scene 9: united baggage claim.
ellen: so, my baggage didn't come...
united worker: oh yeah. becuase your flight was delayed.
ellen: uh...yeah.
united worker: we'll deliver them tomorrow.
ellen: okay!
scene 10: ellen and isaac (the guy) in paddington station. isaac has his laptop open.
ellen: did they send you the address?
isaace: yep!
scene 11: ellen and isaac enter the landward, where their flat building.
ellen and isaac: we're here! *high five
epilogue: ellen's baggage did, indeed, arrive the next day.
we had orientation today, and i am so excited to start school tomorrow. i've met a lot of very cool people and the program sounds like it's going to be very intense in a good sort of way.
chip chip cheerio,
ellen
scene 1. kansas city airport.
ellen: i'm going to chicago and then on to london!
united worker: oh dear....you're probably not going to make it tonight. there's major weather issues in chicago, and your plane to chicago hasn't left there yet. hopefully it will be here at 8:00, so you might be able to make your 9:30 flight, because it will probably be delayed too.
ellen: okay...
scene 2. mom and ellen waiting in kci. they look up at the departure ticker. it reads "to chicago. delayed. departure time: 8:00"
scene 3.
ellen: well, mom, it's 7 now, so i'm going to go through security.
mom: okay.
they look at the departure list. it now reads "to chicago. delayed. departure time: 9:00"
ellen: never mind.
scene 4. ellen sits inside security at kci.
untied worker: okay, our plane to chicago is finally here!
ellen looks at the time on her cell phone. it is 9:30.
scene 5. chicago o'hare. the united terminal. it is 12:00am.
ellen: okay, so my flight was delayed and i missed my flight to london. can i get on the next one?
united worker: maybe...the only one you would have a guaranteed seat on is the 4:00pm flight.
ellen: please?
united worker: okay. i'll put you on the 6:00am flight to heathrow.
scene 6. chicago o'hare. ellen is sleeping on the chairs outside of departure gate 13.
scene 7. 5:00 am. ellen wakes up.
united worker: attention passengers, we are now boarding flight 922 to london!
ellen grabs her bag and queues up to board the plane.
scene 8. 10:30 pm, london time. heathrow airport.
some guy in the customs line: hey, i've been on your flight since chicago, what's your name?
ellen: oh hi, i'm ellen.
guy: cool, what are you doing in london?
ellen: oh, studying.
guy: where?
ellen: bada.
guy: me too!!!
ellen: sweet!! where are our flats, and how do we get there?
guy: i have no idea....
scene 9: united baggage claim.
ellen: so, my baggage didn't come...
united worker: oh yeah. becuase your flight was delayed.
ellen: uh...yeah.
united worker: we'll deliver them tomorrow.
ellen: okay!
scene 10: ellen and isaac (the guy) in paddington station. isaac has his laptop open.
ellen: did they send you the address?
isaace: yep!
scene 11: ellen and isaac enter the landward, where their flat building.
ellen and isaac: we're here! *high five
epilogue: ellen's baggage did, indeed, arrive the next day.
we had orientation today, and i am so excited to start school tomorrow. i've met a lot of very cool people and the program sounds like it's going to be very intense in a good sort of way.
chip chip cheerio,
ellen
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