"Are you dead from the neck up?"

Alright, besides plays, we did do a lot of stuff around town as well. But the plays were the best part. On Monday we visited Hall’s Croft and Nash’s house. Hall’s Croft is where Shakespeare’s eldest daughter Susanna lived with her husband Dr. John Hall. They were really rich. It was kind of boring because we’ve seen like a thousand homes that were somehow associated with Shakespeare. He never lived at this one or anything so it was just like Stratford was just trying to turn everything into a museum so they can make as much money as possible. The tour guide in Hall’s Croft was really mean. He said, “Are you guys dead from the neck up?” No, your house is just boring. This was the most exciting thing.

The gardens were pretty too.

Then we went to Nash’s house and New Place. Nash’s house is where Shakespeare’s granddaughter lived. That is a stretch. Next door was New Place where Shakespeare’s house used to be. He bought it after he was super rich so apparently it was really nice. It is now just a garden.

But we really just enjoyed coloring our own knot gardens.

That night we went to Julius Caesar, which I already wrote a blog post about so just read my last post if you want to know more about it. On Tuesday we had class in the morning. We had a Q&A with the Company Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Michael Dembowicz. We were hoping to get an actor, but he gave us interesting insight into the life of people in the RSC. Um, let’s just say it’s ridiculous. There’s a company of 45 actors who between them did 6 plays this season. The actors are in 3 plays each with different directors. Then in two weeks rehearsals start for another 4 plays with the same group of actors. So he has to juggle rehearsal times for all of these with the rehearsals for the current productions and the actual performances and at the same time be working with the other departments like marketing or the board to make sure everything is going smoothly. He told us he has one day next year where nothing is scheduled. Crazy. Just as a visual, this is the theatre we saw everything in, The Courtyard. It’s actually a temporary theatre but it’s what the new theatre will look like but on a smaller scale. This seated 1,000 people and was very nice for a temporary theatre.

Tuesday afternoon we went to Trinity Church. I went there the other day for church and it was cool. They’re doing construction right now so we couldn’t actually see Shakespeare’s grave very well because they wouldn’t let us through with all the scaffolding…

The Church is very beautiful though.

On Wednesday, we had a lecture about a portrait of Shakespeare that they think they have found. It was given by Sir Stanley Wells who actually found the portrait and have conducted all the research on it. They still don’t know for sure that it was him. The thing is there is no definitive portrait that we have that we know was painted of Shakespeare during his lifetime. They have dated this one and it would have been painted while he was still alive. It was found in the former home of his patron and one of the very few who Shakespeare ever actually dedicated a work to. So they think it’s him, but they aren’t sure.

In the afternoon we had a drama workshop! I had fun, although I think some people in our group did not. I got singled out to read Juliet’s entire monologue right before her suicide! I answered a question and then she was like ok now get up and do the whole thing. It was cool to see the process that these actors go through when preparing for these roles. We had to go through the lines and translate them into modern English so that we would know their meanings. Then we had to figure out who each line was directed to, even in the soliloquies! Then we got to do some scenes from “The Winter’s Tale” which we were seeing that night. All the groups had the same scene but we had to each play them differently. My group played the scene like it was a family court, but other groups had to pretend that it was an Oprah show, a dinner party gone wrong and someone’s deathbed. It was then cool to see how the scene was actually played out in the show that night. I really have fun doing things like that. And I got to play King Leontes who had killed his wife so extra fun! I’m writing a separate post on the actual production of the play we saw that night.

That night we went to a pub/bar called the Dirty Duck. The real name is the Black Swan but it developed that nickname over the years. It was a really cool place because it’s traditionally where the actors hang out after the performance.

I thought that we might see only one or two, but as soon as we got there practically the entire company was coming in behind us. So we were just creepers for a little while and just watched some of them. They actually have a separate room and bar just for them, which is neat. At the end of the night one of the actors pulled over his chair and talked to us. He was only a year or two older than us we think. It’s just crazy that someone about my age already has a job with the most prestigious acting company maybe in the whole world.

On Thursday we had our last Q&A with Kelly Hunter who played Hermione in “The Winter’s Tale”. This was the best Q&A yet.

She gave us insight into how she prepares for her roles. She always learns her lines before rehearsals and when she learns a speech she pays particular attention to the last word of every line. She can go through each one of her speeches and recite only the last word of each line. Also, Hermione has a scene where she has to pretend to be a statue on stage for about seven and a half minutes and then come to life. From the moment she leaves stage in the first half she starts doing meditation exercises to slow her heartbeat down. She doesn’t eat or drink anything so that her body stops those functions. Then she wraps herself up in a fire blanket and basically goes to sleep until it’s time to go on as the statue. And she does not move! It was fantastic.

That afternoon we had a wig and makeup demonstration! That was really neat too. She put some fake wounds and costumes on people. AnnGarner got a lovely head wound...

And Andrew got to wear some women's clothing...

And then…I got my throat slit! It was awesome! Except that she neglected to take into account that I was wearing a white shirt. I was finding blood in all kinds of places that night…Anyways, we got to see the different ways they got blood on people in Julius Caesar. Caesar actually wore a harness with a bag of blood in it that the actors would break open at the right moment.

That night we saw “The Drunks” which is a new Russian play. I may just write a separate post about that because this is getting too long. So this morning we left our lovely guest house, Forget-Me-Not, and the lovely lady, Kate, who took care of us for almost 2 weeks.

We were all very, very sad to leave. And now I sit in Carlisle, England. We saw Coventry Cathedral today which was bombed by the Germans in World War 2.

Sorry to throw all of this out in one post, but I had gotten behind! I miss you all!

Julius Caesar is fierce

Monday (I think) we went to see Julius Caesar at the RSC. A lot of the people in my group really did not like this play. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it.

The show began with a fight between the half human/half animal forms of Romulus and Remus. This scene was both interesting and effective to me. Interesting in the fact that it was something I would never have thought to portray on stage in this play and effective in the fact that it really sets the tone for the rest of the evening, bloody.

I liked the actor who played Brutus, Sam Troughton. He was a younger guy, which some found ineffective, but I didn't even notice it. One image in particular that I remember was the scene when Cassius and the conspirators come to Brutus’ home to try to recruit him to their cause. They all came in cloaked and wearing black like Death Eaters, while Brutus wore white for most of the play. That costuming choice showed his “purity” of motives and also provided a stark contrast to the perhaps selfish motives of the others.

One thing I found interesting was that these black figures never enveloped Brutus. He was never surround and forced or bullied to make his decision. He willingly stepped into the circle of trust among these dark men (literally and figuratively). I never felt sorry for Brutus except in the fact that I knew his end. I thought the actor showed how Brutus made his own decision to become a murderer out of what he though were pure intentions, to save the republic from a tyrant.

Julius Caesar was played effectively by the amazing actor Greg Hicks except for the fact that his voice was not as commanding as I had expected. That was a general problem in the play but I think it may have just been the acoustics of the set. Julius Caesar seemed egotistical an authoritative but not in a way that was an immediate threat to the republic of Rome.

So there seemed to be an equal balance between the possibility of Julius Caesar reaching the point where he was a power hungry dictator and the uncalculated brash actions of the conspirators. The death scene was really good! Instead of just dying instantly when stabbed, he first put up a pretty good fight and then staggered down his "throne" and lingered there before poignantly delivering the famous line "Et tu, Brute?" Chills.

I also liked Cassius played by John Mackay. I like it when the bad guys are likeable! You become wrapped into their thoughts and their motives because they don’t seem so bad but then you remember what they are actually capable of and you are scared of them again! I felt like that’s how Cassius was. He was manipulative enough to bring Brutus to their side, but yet you still feel sorry for him when he dies (at least I did). Although his Scottish accent that came out sometimes was really distracting. Either have the accent or don’t have the accent. In this picture he's on the right and Brutus is on the left.

Mark Antony was good as well. He is really a slippery character oscillating between supporting the murder of the tyrant Caesar, but then mourning the loss of his best friend Caesar. Darrell D'Silva has been absolutely fantastic in everything I've seen him in here.

The women in it were ok, but the moral of this story should just be to listen to women because they are a heck of a lot smarter than men are.

When Julius Caesar doesn't listen to his wife, he dies and Brutus won't share anything with his wife, she kills herself and then he dies.

The thing that was most detrimental to the production were these projection screens made of black cloth that were set along the back of the stage. They filmed the actors before hand and used their images in crowd scenes and battles. It was a little strange. The production was not enhanced by these projected images. Sound effects of grounds and battles are helpful for calculating the scale of an event, but a visual is not needed for everything. But perhaps there are members of an audience who needed that help. So although I would not have done this as a director as it added nothing to the play, I don’t have strong feelings against it.

Overall it was not my favorite production. There were better ways to have interpreted this play artistically and the director might have made better choices to tell the story more clearly. I still found plenty of things to take away from the play. The acting was absolutely splendid so it's really a shame when something out of the actor's control detracts from their play.

"All the world's a stage" aka Another Cliche Title...

I want to move to Stratford. It is so beautiful here and I love that theatre is like the center of it all! So much happens everyday that its hard for me to keep up with the blog, so bear with me everyone.

On Thursday we had class in the morning and then went down to the GLOBE THEATRE in London! For those of you who don't know, the Globe was the name of the original theatre where Shakespeare's plays were performed during his time. It is open air so when I looked up I could see the stars (and the airplanes). The stage is a thrust stage which means that its basically a semi circular theatre and the stage juts out into the audience.

You can either stand as one of the "groundlings" for a mere 5 pounds or you can sit on benches further back. My group swapped places at intermission so that each person did both (I liked standing better). This was a theatre experience unlike anything I have ever done. There are raised platforms that go out into the audience so actors make their entrances and exits on those sometimes coming from behind you.

Rosalind as Ganymede and Celia

We saw "As You Like It" and there were scenes were the actors would come in from behind you through the crowd and walk up onstage. And during the fight scene, the wrestlers fell into the crowd and stuff. It was so neat!

When I was a groundling I was so close that I could touch the stage as there is no barrier or anything between you and the actors. This was my favorite character the fool, Touchstone. He was so funny! He also interacted with the audience alot.

The whole thing was very interactive as the audience would cheer and boo the events onstage and the actors would respond to the things the audience said or did. They would address certain people in the audience specifically as well.

The play itself was wonderful as well. It was a traditional interpretation and the actors were so funny and really kept your attention (mostly because they kept like sneaking up behind you or appeared in the balcony). I did not like the girl who played Rosalind though. She was just really energetic and then when she switched back to being a girl at the end she lost all the personality she had when she was pretending to be a boy.

Orlando and Rosalind as Ganymede

The next night we saw had class and then saw "As You Like It" again, but this time put on by the RSC here in Stratford. It was absolutely fantastic. I was really just blown away. Ok I may just do a separate blog post on this play because I like it that much and I want to relay every detail to you guys. Like you want to know that much, too bad it's MY blog!

Ok So on Saturday we got up so early to drive to Blenheim Palace on our way to Oxford. Bleheim palace was absolutely ridiculous. It's huge! It is the home of the Duke of Marlborough (I think) and he actually still lives there in the private wing of the house.

This is actually where Winston Churchill was born. It's the Spenser-Churchill family that inherits the title and home there but since he was not the eldest son he wasn't in line for it. Also Princess Diana was somehow a part of this family as well.

One of my favorite parts was just the extensive grounds of these place. There tons of gardens and fountains and paths through the woods that were all a part of this palace. My favorite thing I found was the Secret Garden.

Or not so secret as there were signs directing you towards it. But it was still absolutely gorgeous.

Then we went to Oxford and spent a few hours there. I just walked around and went to Blackwell's which is a ridiculous 3 story book store that has anything you could ever want in print. We also went to the Eagle and Child to just relax.

This is the pub were the Inklings would sit and discuss what they were writing at the time. This included people like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. We actually sat where they were would have sat at the time. So that was neat.

Then we came back to the hotel and just collapsed as we were so exhausted!

I've got another jam-packed week ahead of me at Stratford so I'll try to update again soon!