Just some casual weeks in London...

For those following, I am so sorry that I have not posted more about my time in London sooner! If you can believe it, we have been going and going almost every hour of everyday and it’s so difficult to find time to sit down and write everything that I’ve been doing. Alas, my roommate Julie and I are doing laundry now and I finally have time to sit and write while I watch my clothes go round and round in these weird English machines.

I’m not going to really go through everything in chronological order but rather try and talk about everything we have done individually. Here it goes!

In front of the Houses of Parliament

London Eye: A couple of us decided to do the London eye on one of our first nights in London! We went around 8:00 PM as it was just starting to get dark. This was perfect because we were still able to see a lot of the city on the way up and then on the way down it was completely dark and we could see the city lights! London was absolutely beautiful at night from the eye and made me realize that this indeed my favorite city!

On the London Eye in front of the National Theatre

Greenwich: This is an area east of London that was once home of the Royal Navy and Royal Observatory. The Prime Meridian goes right through Greenwich (thus, Greenwich Mean Time) and there are several museums such as the Greenwich Naval Museum, Royal Observatory, and Queen’s House. Needless to say, it was a long day there. The highlight:  a tour of the Naval Museum led by the one and only Neptune. This was probably the best and most entertaining tour of my life.

Eucharist at St. Paul’s: Second Presbyterian would be proud (maybe?). On Sunday we all woke up and attended the Sung Eucharist at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was a beautiful service in a beautiful building. It was a little odd however how tourists (some louder than others) were coming and going during the service. It wasn’t as “sacred” as I thought it would be.

Hyde Park, Green Park, and Speaker’s Corner: One of our assignments was to pick a park and explore a little bit. We first went to Speaker’s Corner where we had an “interesting” conversation with one of the speakers about women’s role in society and feminist theory. Needless to say, he thought that women belonged and were safest in the kitchen. As we left Speaker’s Corner, we walked around more of Hyde Park but of course (do to the size of the park) were not able to explore everything. We then moved to Green Park (the park next door) and walked through. We compared the differences between the two parks and saw Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, we were locked out of the palace and had to call DPS…

Speaker's Corner

Much Ado About Nothing: On one of our nights off, I decided to wait in the returns line for Much Ado About Nothing at the Whyndam’s Theatre with DAVID TENNANT and CATHERINE TATE!!! I really wanted to see this production (as a huge Doctor Who fan) but knew that tickets were hard to get. I waited, and waited, and waited and finally got a ticket! I had great seats and the show was incredible. It was set in the 80’s and David Tennant wore the shortest jean skirt I’ve ever seen. Sounds like success to me!

David Tennant!!!

David Tennant and Catherine Tate coming out of the stage door!

More later, I hope…

Richard III: A Comedy

So, I feel that due to the production value of Richard III, I need to write an entire blog post about the show. Those who know me well know that lately, I have seen some pretty incredible shows (Jerusalem, La Bête, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson to name a few) and when I leave the theatre, I have immediately said, “That is by far the best show I have ever seen”. Aware of this fact, I am hesitant to say that Richard III was the best show I have ever seen. But it was.

 First, I’m pretty sure that the title of the show was actually Richard III: A Farce. The show was hilarious and the set had at least 8 doors at all times (the perfect equation for a farce). This was mainly because of Kevin Spacey and the way that he was able to make the most serious and tragic moment, comedic. Kevin Spacey would make the smallest change in facial expression, and it would create this wonderful moment. I also enjoyed how Spacey’s Richard was very creative and unique compared to traditional ones I’ve seen. The bottom line is that Kevin Spacey was incredible and was not just selling the show because of his name, but rather his talent for acting. The entire cast was extremely talented and I had actually seen a couple of them last summer in other productions.

Another reason why I loved the show was the direction, lighting design, scenic design, and projection design. I will have to say (even though I’ve heard that Sam Mendes is not the nicest guy on the block…), he is an amazingly talented director. He is able to bring so much out of a production while still keeping every aspect coherent. There is nothing I hate more than a show is that is trying to do too much and ends up looking like something mod-podged together at the last minute. The set was made up of nothing but doors and almost each door was used all through the play. There was a great moment in which Margaret comes out and starts marking a black “x” on specific doors that are then used by those murdered by Richard III. Projections were not used in every scene but when they were it completed the look for many scenes.

All in all, Richard III was the best production that I have seen thus far and for anyone in New York, run, don’t walk to see this last bridge production!