Arts in Shakespeare

This past week was a busy one in preparation for our "Arts in Shakespeare" performance in front of RADA and Tisch faculty.  Our group of sixteen put on an hour and fifteen minute presentation of Elizabethan dance numbers, madrigal singing, sonnets, sword fights, and clowning in front of what turned out to be an extremely intimidating and critical audience.  Despite their reserved demeanors during the performance, many of the faculty said they were really happy with how the presentation turned out.  I'm not sure our dance teacher was very proud of us, but he was a little crazy, anyway. (He told us:  "I want you to think astrologically in your dance: planets are aligning in response to the movements and the measures, that's why Shakespeare wrote 'Measure for Measure.' It all comes back to dance, the music of the spheres. " I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point.)

Either way, it's good to have it over with because now we begin to focus on our Shakespeare shows.  I'll be in rehearsals for an hour-long version of "King John" over the next three weeks, directed by Brigid, who taught our sonnet class.  The next show will be an all-male "Tempest," which I'm particularly pumped up about.  Our last show, which we present in early May, will be all sixteen of us in "Measure for Measure."  Music of the spheres.

I also saw on Valentine's Day "Taming of the Shrew" at the RSC.  Pretty intense production.  They had the opening take place outside of a strip club in a red-light district, and the main character gets tossed out of a window by the bouncer.  The best part was the production went head on into the sexism and did a good job with it.

NYU in London soccer club received another trouncing by English footballers.  This time I was checked into the boards early in the game and skinned my knee up pretty badly.  Final score 11-2.  Phil and I are not slated to be at next week's game.  It'll be good time to get rested and healed.

Stonehenge and Steam Baths

Other than the freezing cold weather, this weekend felt like summer vacation.

I took a school-sponsored trip to the ancient city of Bath, about three hours west of London by bus.  It's a quaint and historic town founded by the Romans during their reign in Britain and then re-vitalized during the Georgian era.  On the way, we stopped at Stonehenge, land of the druids.  In the words of Christopher Guest: "No one knows who they were, or what they were doing, but their legacy remains" --This is Spinal Tap

It was freezing cold at Stonehenge, but we did get to see sheep migrating across the snowy plains past the rocks.  We also took the opportunity to do as many perspective shots of me lifting the stones.   

The cold at Stonehenge was remedied later that afternoon when we arrived in Bath and took advantage of England's only natural hot spring spa.  A 2-hour session in the spa for 22 pounds was absolutely worth it.  We swam and steamed and floated on jet-propelled water currents in the pools, living the lap of luxury.

We also had a chance to visit actual Roman Baths erected as places of worship around AD 300.  We descended below street level to see the steam pools and the aqueducts that the Romans built to harness the water for luxury and medicinal purposes.  Apparently, there were 42 minerals in the water that folks far and wide came to experience a taste of when afflicted with gout, scars from battle, amputated legs...etc.  At the end of the tour, we were invited to try a glass of the Bath water, and it actually seemed to ease my sore throat a little.

All in all, a very fun-filled, educational experience.  Next week we have our "Arts in Shakespeare" performance at RADA.  Will post on that soon.

Kick Off

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