War Poets

Blake again!

An update on my first official week at the internship with Helen Eastman:

Helen is a founding member of a theatre company called Live Canon, which produced shows of poetry spoken and sung using small groups of actors. This week I was with Live Canon as they prepared a show called War Poets and performed it at the Oxford Playhouse!

Tuesday and Thursday were rehearsals. In an old church hall turned rehearsal space (with the sounds of Glee's "Small Town Girl" being rehearsed through the walls) we spent several hours drilling the poems that the three actors had to memorize and perform. We also ran the a capella songs that they were to incorporate. I was in charge of recording the blocking as they quickly placed the movement throughout the show as well as watching book and feeding the actors lines if they needed them. After working overtime on Thursday, they were ready to go!

On Friday, we boarded a train to Oxford at 9:50 (about an hour train ride from London) and once we got there went straight to work. An hour or two of rehearsal in Oxford University's Classics Department and then to the stage! The Oxford Playhouse is a historic and prestigious venue, often hosting big name actors is big name shows. Just to be there and see the facilities was great(all of their lighting instruments are different but the sound system is very much the same as MSU). Our show did not have a set, so we performed on the set for Oxford University's upcoming student production. I assisted in fixing the blocking to fit the space while a student lighting designer adjusted our show lighting. The show was great, with over 300 audience members in attendance! (Who says poetry is dead?) We enjoyed chatting with some of the audience and Playhouse employees at the theatre bar after the show and then we journeyed back to London.

Check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VWjcqnokrg&feature=related (This poem was performed by this actress in our show)
http://www.livecanon.com/

Next week I return to Oxford for at least two days (with my internship paying for travel and accommodations!!!). We are working on mounting Medea, a Greek tragedy that will play at the Oxford Playhouse for a week before touring the UK. It will be an opportunity to see a professional touring show in action. Also, I will be helping to cast a huge upcoming show with thousands of applicants! I'll keep you updated.

Cheers!

Theatre Triathlon

Blake here!



I have much to report about my first week at my internship when I get time tomorrow, but I must relay the happenings of today...




We planned yesterday to spend the day relaxing, only maybe going out to a market to do some shopping for our upcoming Rocky Horror Picture Show costumes, but then we got a crazy idea...Let's go see the sold-out show Red at the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden. We know nothing about the show except the Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2, Frida, DaVinci Code, etc.) is in it, and it is the same theatre company that did the production of Hamlet with Jude Law that I saw on Broadway! So...how do you get tickets to a sold out show? You wait in line for day tickets. Some theatres hold a few seats that only go on sale the day of the show. These tickets are so popular though that oftentimes queues (lines) wrap around the block. This morning we got up at 7 AM and waiting in line for these tickets almost three hours...in the cold...the freezing, toe numbing cold. But it was worth it when we got 5 tickets! Me, Sara, two friends Mollee and Jeremy, and our theatre professor/Marlowe's author Don.



From here we thawed our toes in the tube on the way to theatrical event 1: Marlowe Auditions...We saw some very talented actors today, and it really gave us a lot of hope for the show's future. One is working on a feature film, one just getting back in the business, one from several countries away...but with power and confidence and talent. It was refreshing! I have scheduled almost 50 more auditionees this week so we will see a couple a day every day!



Then on a last minute opportunity. Event number 2: Night Songs...Our theatre friend and my roommate, Jeremy, is doing his internship at The Cock Tavern Theatre and this afternoon was the first performance of the new short play Night Songs! He got us in for free and the show left us chatting all the way home. It was great and we got to see a genuine pub theatre venue!



After a short rest back at my flat, it was on to theatrical event number 3: Red!!! The theatre is in an old warehouse. The stage surrounded on three sides by rows of benches. The set is the studio of painter Mark Rothko. There are two actors in the show...Alfred Molina (brilliant!) and Eddie Redmayne (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Good Shepherd). The show was beautiful...truly an emotional romp through preconceptions of art and artists. I don't know if I've ever seen theatre with as much honesty. The design team backed up the actors with a perfect set, a lighting design that did more with 30 lights than Broadway does with 300, and a cinematic and perfectly done sound design. We stayed after the show and met Eddie Redmayne. He was so pleasant and charming, signing autographs and taking photos, but also interested in how long we were studying in London, and where we were from! Alfred Molina snuck out the back, but that's understandable. Check out http://www.donmarwarehouse.com/pl103.html.



So it was a fantastic day of theatre! Look for an update on my internship tomorrow. Sara is going to Brighton on a day trip tomorrow, so I'm sure she will have an update soon.



Cheers!

The Strange and Unusual...

Here are a few things we have discovered about London:

• Pedestrians very seldom have the right of way!


• Snow for one day is unexpected. Snow for more than one day is a national emergency and the city shuts down. (Right after our flight landed, over a hundred arrivals and departures were cancelled or redirected and they never got more than an inch)


• McDonald's is delicious and has onion rings, Burger King is no longer appealing because of the origin of the word "whopper"--look it up!, and Pizza Hut is far superior to ours (plated dishes, tons of toppings, etc.)


• The British love WWII! They have taken a fondness because it was fought on their soil and they won. Monuments/murals are everywhere.

• Living in a city preparing for the Olympics is good and bad...they are fixing things up all over the place which means excitement but tube delays and scaffolding...


• Everything is very connected to water/the sea. At any place in England, you are never more than around 80 miles from the ocean.


• The Thames is like a living creature. It has a tide of nearly 30 feet. It has frozen over. It once clogged up (when it was used for waste disposal). And at one high point in pollution...a single swallow of the water could kill you!


• The city is very low lying--only a handful of skyscrapers and mostly away from the center of the city (near Parliament, Big Ben, etc.) There is however, The London Eye--a sightseeing attraction that used to be the largest ferris wheel in the world. Londoners hated the idea of putting up a modern circle next to the all the square historical goodies, and when it did go up they agreed to take it down in 2005. When it came time to knock it over, there was a huge uproar...they have become very fond of it for some odd reason and there it sits.

• Ice cream is sold at almost all theatrical intervals here. (What we call intermission)


• A naked woman can be seen on page 3 of almost all popular newspapers. (This was discussed in one of our classes complete with demonstration)


• It takes approximately 3 hours to wash and dry two shirts, a towel, and a few pairs of socks and underwear in the standard machines provided in our flats....we rewear at all costs (as you can see in some of the pictures)


• London is one of the only places you can stop in to visit dinosaurs between shopping at an anime store and seeing Wicked!!!

Cheers!

Playwrights, and pubs, and Greeks...oh my!

Hey, it's Blake!

I am excited to report on our theatrical experiences working in London thus far:

Marlowe: This was an unexpected, but fantastic surprise. Our theatre professor Don Lillie (apparently an old friend of MSU's own Dr. Bob) has written a play about Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare that will be produced in London this semester! Exciting...very!...EVEN MORE EXCITING...Blake is the production stage manager and Sara is the sound designer!!! How is this possible, you may ask? It is a non-profit production and we were in the right place at the right time. We have just started in with auditions and actors are coming from all over the world (Hollywood, Spain, Italy, as well as Londoners from the Royal Shakespeare Company and BBC). This will be an unbelieveable journey and we will definitely keep you posted.

King's Head: Sara's internship is looking up as well! She has been offered a sound design position. Catch? It opens in a week! So that's what she will be doing all weekend. I think that is one of the amazing things about fringe theatre here. Sometimes it is like this:

AUTHOR: I'm gonna write a show!
DIRECTOR FRIEND: Hey! We can do that one! I know a quaint little pub down the street...
AUTHOR: But we need a great cast...
(Hundreds of great cast members walk in)
CAST MEMBERS: 'Ello. We're right thrilled to be in your show!
DIRECTOR: (to passers-by) Hey, you! You are theatre people, right?
PASSER-BY 1: I'm a stage manager!
DIRECTOR: Brilliant!
PASSER-BY 2: I'm a sound designer!
DIRECTOR: Brilliant! You start tomorrow!

It didn't happen exactly like this...but close to it...

The Onassis Programme: So why wasn't I in Oxford with Sara? Well...my internship has begun with a bang...

• I am currently working with a poetry-based company that will be traveling to Oxford this Friday for a performance and later Exeter,
• then move to Medea, a Greek tragedy that spends all next week in Oxford then tours the UK,
• then move to stage managing a new Greek play reading that premieres in London and moves to Oxford (getting 15 actors on a train will be the challenge there),
• then stage manage a travelling children's show about Greek myths,
• then work on a huge children's show that has yet to be released to the press (so more later),
• all the while attending production and design meetings for two or three new Greek dramas that will happen after I'm gone,
• and all the while working from home and in office on the publicity, casting, programs, props, etc. for all of these shows

...whew!...

So needless to say, I am going to be very, very busy. I will attempt to post pictures and info from all of my shows (though I normally make Sara take pictures...)

I think we are officially settled in here. Things like daily shopping and using the tube are becoming second nature, which is a relief since we have so much else on our plates. We miss you all very much!

Cheers!

Blenheim & Oxford

Sara here! :D

This past Sunday I went on a tour to Blenheim Palace and Oxford. It was so much fun and I wish Blake could have come, but the sign-up list was limited and he didn't make it on time (he was at his internship interview when the lists went up, so I promise he wasn't just slacking off! :P)

Aside from the educational experience gained from visiting these historical places in the UK (I'm actual a huge historical nut - The History Channel is one of the things I miss the most! ;~;), I go to practice my photography. I was extremely lucky to have an absolutely gorgeous day - a bright blue sky with gorgeous clouds and sunshine! It was perfect for a full day of photography!

Blenheim Palace

Oxford, UK

Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire is the birthplace of Winston Churchill, so there was a lot of historical significance in the visit. We stopped by his grave which is in a small graveyard next to a small church with his family. He was offered to be buried in Westminster Abbey, but he "didn't think he would get along with all of those people around him."

Coincidentally, we visited his grave on the anniversary of his death. It was pretty cool when we realized that!

Oxford, home to 38 universities, has been my favorite trip so far. The architecture in the city was astounding, and I was even able to go on top of St. Mary's to take pictures overlooking the city.

It was breathtaking; I couldn't ask for a better opportunity for my photography.

There are also a lot of literary references connected to the colleges in Oxford, including the lamp post that inspired C.S Lewis for The Chronicles of Narnia and the Great Hall that is the basis for The Great Hall featured in the Harry Potter movies, as well as a few locations that actually appear in the movie.

On the staircase that Harry, Ron and the other first years climbed on their way to be sorted in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

In the Great Hall that inspired Hogwarts' Great Hall.

Next to the lamp post that inspired C.S Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia

For more photographs from this trip, check out my Facebook page!

For this blog, I'm the one in charge of all the featured photographs. I'm heading out on another tour next Sunday to Brighton, so expect photos then, and also periodic updates with photos I've taken in and around London! :)

Until next time! <3

Week 2

Day 12: We will actually update more often from now on. We've had a busy week...


So...we got settled into our routine a little this week:

Monday-Class 11-1, 3-8
Tuesday-Class 11-12, 3-4
Wednesday-Class 2-5
Thursday thru Sunday-Free for internship work and fun!

We are both just barely started in our internships and really put in the full 20 hours/week starting this week. More on that later this week.

After our first class sessions this week, it looks like we have more work ahead of us than we thought. Books to read, papers to write, presentations to give, and (cue dramatic music and nostalgic images of B.F.A. Review)...a portfolio to create...but in general, we should learn a ton about British culture by study and actual interaction in the theatre and out. We mentioned the Fringe Theatre class show in the last post. Well, we have found an audition space and have well over 75-100 responses from excited auditionees all over the world. Looks like it's actually going to happen! We'll keep you updated.

The highlight of the week was Friday's field trip to Bath and Stonehenge! The most important thing to note about this day was that the weather was absolutely miserable. It was a thick, misty rain that wasn't really rain, windy, and freezing....yuck! But we still had a great time. 200 students from CAPA on 4 coaches invading some ancient rocks with 200 umbrellas and 200 less-than-sunny dispostions! Our 45 minute stop at Stonehenge quickly turned into a 15 minute stop as students ran back to the dry coach after a few quick pictures. The current structure is not that impressive--roped off from the tourists who have chipped away at it for years and worn down by weather and time--but you could just feel the history. It floored us to think just how old it was and how amazing its construction was. (Even if it was aliens!)

Then on to Bath--a very old Roman city with a natural hot spring under it. We toured the ruins of the original Roman baths and walked the hyper modern streets lined with pubs and shops (everything from Jane Austen's works on sale to GAP). We had our first fish and chips...simply WONDERFUL...and tasted the local water from the spring...supposed to have medicinal effects but tasted like dirty pennies...Sara is going to upload some pictures later this week! Back on the coach and back to the city!

We also saw two more West End shows! Wicked and The Lion King. They were brilliant, but both used full British accents which was a little odd. We had dead center floor seats for student price at both shows (be jealous!) and can't wait to see more!

This weekend was purely chilling. Blake checked out a few local markets and will be returning when he has a little more time. Sara took a day trip to Oxford which she will post about sometime soon. We'll stop babbling now...lots of reading to do for class...but now that Blake has the password to this blog and we need to kill time between classes each day, expect more postings (AND PICTURES!)

Cheers!

Welcome to London

Day 6: So much to say...bear with us for this first post...

We have been here almost a week and are finally settling into life in the big city. Getting lost numerous times and taking the wrong tube (coughSaracough) is the biggest problem, but we will be locals in no time. We started classes today! Musical Theatre History and Fringe Theatre, both with an eccentric professor and both with numerous field trips to the West End coming up! In our Fringe Theatre class we are actually putting on a fringe show (holding open auditions, rehearsing, teching, etc.). That should be an adventure!

We have definitely gotten some time this week to explore the city. A guided bus tour and our excessive amount of walking took us to some big attractions this weekend:

• Westminster Abbey
• Big Ben
• Buckingham Palace
• London Bridge and Tower Bridge
• St. Paul's
• Tower of London
• Platform 9 3/4
• Harrod's Department Store
• Covent Garden Market
• Imperial College

We saw Avenue Q on the West End and Daybreakers at a West End movie house. We've been to pubs (sans alcohol), bakeries, and Pizza Hut (better than ours by far).

We both had internship interviews/orientations today:

Sara is at Kings Head Pub Theatre as a technical intern. She had a short meeting with the stage manager today outlining some future shows she will be involved in and some general responsibilities. Kings Head was the first "pub theatre" and has had a few shows transfer from it to the West End. Hopefully she will get the chance to mix/run their sound board in upcoming productions!
Blake is working with Helen Eastman, Producer of Oxford University's Onassis Programme and local freelance director/playwright. There are about ten shows he will be working on this semester sort of observing and helping with production meetings, rehearsals, press releases, tech weeks, openings, and workshops. He'll get the chance to personally stage manage a few things including a show that moves from London to Oxford. At his first meeting with Helen, he went with her to the Royal Opera House, where they had tea backstage and discussed a huge upcoming show. He will be traveling quite a bit, especially to Oxford, and should be busy constantly!

We are still slowly recovering from jet lag and tend to go to bed very early here, but we continue to be on Facebook when we can. We aren't sure yet how often we will post on this blog, but we guarantee once a week. Some pictures will be coming soon so keep checking in. Miss you all!