Hey everybody,
Two weeks into London and lots to tell.
RADA (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) is a really cool, professional studio. They've split our group of sixteen actors into two groups of eight, so we're getting a lot of personal attention. Recently, I've been learning how to wield a five pound broadsword and make it look like I'm fighting without actually harming anyone. So far, successful. I've been cast as the Dauphin in a scene where I fight Joan of Arc and get my ass kicked. We started choreographing today.
I also had my Elizabethan dance class in the afternoon where we've been learning how to do courtly "basso" dancing, reverence bowing, and showing our calf muscles (apparently Queen Elizabeth's suitors actually practiced dancing on tip-toe so they could show off their legs).
Walking around London is, in some ways, more of an adventure than walking around in New York. It's hard to keep the jaywalking habit while still remembering which way to look. Also, the streets don't run on a grid at all, so for the first couple of days, my roommate and I got lost trying to take "shortcuts" back to the apartment.
My roommate Phil and I joined the NYU in London football squad and played our first game Tuesday night. We lost 16-4, but both of us scored a goal. It was a clear demonstration of British soccer superiority. We will improve.
Tomorrow, I meet my RADA buddy who's a student from England studying five days a week at RADA.
Will write soon.
-Doug
