Saturday, we had our first real day "off" with only Mother Courage and Her Children to see at the National Theatre at night. So during the day, Sam and I and a few others from the flat went to Primark, which is one of our new favorite places since it's extremely cheap with really adorable stuff, to get Ben some clothes for his new makeover. He looked pretty good as soon as he walked out of the store. Not a total improvement, but definitely getting better. We need to just get him into some jeans and maybe some other pants than the cargo ones and I think we'll be good. After that, we headed to the theatre...
The view from the bridge from Embankment station to the South Bank, where the National Theatre is. Along with a whole bunch of other stuff like Shakespeare's Globe and the Tate museums. When we were there, there was also a festival going on: The Thames River Festival, which had a whole bunch of craft booths and various goings on along the riverside. It was pretty awesome and if I had known that's what it was, I think we definitely would have skipped Primark and shopped along the festival! Either way though, Sam and I met a new friend in the camel below to raise awareness for the occupation of Morocco and other parts of the Sahara. It was actually really interesting.
Then the show. Holy WOW. Amazing production. Mother Courage and her Children is kind of a landmark in the theatre world. It's by Brecht, who was known for writing theatre that broke the fourth wall and alienated the audience, which this definitely did hands down. It was a fantastic performance. Fiona Shaw, who has been in hundreds of things including playing the role of Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter films, played Mother Courage and she couldn't have been better whatsoever. Absolutely brilliant. Harry Melling, who plays Dudley in the HP movies, actually was in it as well, playing Swiss Cheese, Mother Courage's son. He was great as well. All around amazing. It was a translation by Tony Kushner too, who is one of my favorite playwrights. So seriously, it was an awesome night at the theatre, to say the least. It was just the theatre majors who went, plus we met up with one of Gary's former students from Rose Bruford, which was a lot of fun as well. 
All of us in front of the advertisement for the show.
Outside of the National on the balcony... with the London Eye lit up in the background. How beautiful is this picture, seriously?!
The London Eye at night!Sunday was fairly chill. It was just rehearsal and homework, which is what Sundays have started to become known for. It's a really kind of chill out, relax, lazy day which is extremely nice considering the crazy schedule that we're on.
Monday was classes and Les Miserables on the West End. Classes are going well. We have pretty long classes since we meet once a week, but afterwards, all of us are ready for either a nap or some kind of rest. Or at least I know I am. But there's not really any time for it when we're always on the go. We go from classes, to rehearsal, then typically straight to the show. Thankfully, our rehearsals on Mondays are in the classroom space so we don't have to worry about going down to Drill Hall. So! Les Mis!
Piccadilly Circus - which is part of the West End. The big lit up ad display thing above Gap is kind of a well known image, sort of like Times Square, for anyone who knows London.
More Piccadilly Circus.
Shaftesbury Avenue, which is somewhat like 42nd Street in New York. Theatres are everywhere - SO awesome to see.
Avenue Q! I didn't see the show just because I've seen it already so I didn't want to spend money on something that I've already seen before, but Sam, Krista and David went to Avenue Q on Friday night and said it was great. 
Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre. What's interesting in London is that the theatres are actually smaller than those in the US. So even though we were seriously up high for the show, we had fairly good seats because we were still close to the stage and could see everything. I'd even say they were better seats than any of those that I've had at the Ordway seeing Les Miserables.
The outside display at the theatre.
The door handles of the Queen's Theatre. Sweet, right? As for the performance itself... eh. I'm actually a bigger fan of the music of Les Mis than the show itself. A lot of people have had emotional reactions to the show and I really never have. I think it's because it was hyped up for me way too much all throughout going to the show and anticipating the show all as I was growing up and whatnot since I knew the music, so when I got there, it's like... really? This is it? I don't know, that's the reaction that I had and have had every time I've seen it, including Monday's performance. However, I can't deny that there were definitely some beautiful staged moments with lighting and everything. Which there always are. It's a well done show, but it's just not one of my "Oh-my-God-I-have-to-see-this-every-time" kind of shows.
Piccadilly at night on the way home!Tuesday was Rose Bruford, as usual, except that Tuesday was the first day that we had absolutely rotten weather. It was chilly and extremely wet. Strangely enough, Tony, our instructor for Acting the British Approach, said that it hasn't been very wet in London lately. So it was kind of a rarity for everyone. Not something that I would like to live in every day, that's for sure. Like he said, the weather was just depressing, and it was to say the least. We met some of the British students who are taking the American Acting classes at Rose Bruford, some of which will be coming to Minnesota next year, and they are so freaking great. I love them already. I hope that we get to spend more time with them in the coming weeks on Tuesdays because they're so nice and hilarious! Our two classes went well, Global Issues and Acting. Sam and I are going to be performing a scene from the play called The Country by Martin Crimp - a VERY strange, disturbing and intriguing recent play written by a British playwright - for our final showcase. For which I have to have a posh, upper middle class British accent, which is a lot harder than it seems. Sam gets to have her regular accent since she's playing an American. Definitely not fair! Krista and Sam are going to be working on a scene from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Tony is still looking for a scene for Krista and I to do, but so far it should be a pretty good showcase. Then on the way home from Rose Bruford, in the rain mind you, Sam found a friend, as you can see!
After that night's rehearsal, we came home to find the other girls in our flat, Rachel and Taryn, making some really strange noises with their throats and acting insane pretty much! They were making a birthday invitation for the boys to come over on Wednesday night for a birthday dinner for David's 22nd birthday. It was absolutely hilarious and insane all at once. The video is on Facebook and it's so funny. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time - to the point that we got in trouble with our neighbors even. Whoops! Oh well, it's all for good times, right?
This is our front door... we're gathering memories and funny sayings and lines and whatnot. Other miscellaneous stuff that makes us smile or remember home, as you can see with the giant SMU and the picture of the clock tower on campus!
Ninja Rachel! That's her "costume" for their invite.
Rachel having fun with the leggings on her head.
Rachel and Taryn.
Rachel finally gets to breathe for a hot second.
Rachel and Taryn laughing as they write the script to the invite.
Okay, seriously, back to business.
This is my wall of all the pictures and things that I brought with me to remind me of home and everyone at school. It turned out well I think! It makes me smile every day knowing that I've got a little piece of all my friends and family here with me. Wednesday, along with our nightly rehearsal, we saw the play Pitman Painters at the National Theatre once more. It's written by Lee Hall, the man behind Billy Elliot and it has somewhat of the same premise... it's about going against the status quo a bit. It takes place in the 1930's, right before the Nationalisation of the UK and occurs in this small town in Northern England, essentially a mining town. These pitmen take a class that is put on by the WEA - worker's education association - for Art Appreciation, and in the end they begin painting their own paintings, criticise them, start questioning the real meaning of art and can art come from the lower, working class instead of the high brow upper class, well-trained art world. It questions what art is, where it comes from, what it all means, etc. It's probably one of my favorite plays now because it's absolutely brilliantly written and we had the priveledge to see it performed by the original cast. What's also great is that it's based on the true story of the Ashington Group. It actually happened that these pitmen painted these fantastically gorgeous paintings and hit it big in the art world. It's a must if it ever comes to the States or if anyone wants to read it.
Thursday was our Art in London class, which we went to the National Portrait Gallery for. Before hand though, the girls and I got to the museum a bit early so we hung out at Trafalgar Square.
This is actually really interesting...the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square is constantly changing. Artists get to display various works and whatnot because the government could never settle on a fourth statue to put on the plinth - therefore, it's free for the artwork to be there. But, from July 6 to October 14th, Antony Gormley came up with this idea that for every hour, a different person gets up onto the plinth and creates something, or does something or... whatever! There was an article in the paper the other day that said someone went up there and plead for a British woman's life who is on Death Row (mistakenly it sounds like, it's incredibly suspicious but leave it up to Texas...) in Texas. People submit their ideas and then they're chosen. There's actually a live webcam set up if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.oneandother.co.uk/ I highly recommend it because it's so cool! But there was a man with a mirror when we were there, so that's him!
St. Martin's In The Field church, right on the corner of Trafalgar Square.
The National Gallery. Not to be confused with the National Portrait Gallery - which we quickly learned.
Times sure have changed since Marry Poppins, yeah?
Wide view of Trafalgar Square.
Big Ben from Trafalgar Square!
One of the bronze statued walls on the four sides of the pillar.The portrait gallery was really amazing. Some of the portraits were incredible. Sam and I were assigned to the Stewart era of paintings, so we actually analyzed Nell Gwyn's painting and saw John Wilmot's painting as well, which was pretty cool since we got to know all of the people involved in the Restoration rather well with History of Theatre II and Playhouse Creatures last year. Major bonus! We also got to see the "blood head" - a "self-portrait" of a man that is his head completely made of his own blood, frozen and casted and everything. It's really gross, creepy, intriguing and cool all at the same time! Then that afternoon, we visited TARA Arts, the studio in which we're going to be performing Vanities. It's a really really REALLY small space, which I knew already but it's so intimiate and unique. I absolutely fell in love with it and I can't wait to start working down there. We also met Jonathan, who is one of the creative directors for the theatre itself and a good friend of Gary's... he's really amazing as well. So that was really beneficial and great for Thursday afternoon!
Friday, it was off to another day trip... Blenheim Palace this time, which is owned by the line of the Duke of Marlborough.
Taryn on the bus. Can you tell she still likes her scarf over her head?
The outside gate of the palace. It's pretty incredible. Unfortunately, we didn't get to take pictures inside because the rooms and everything were so amazing, but you can get a sense of the money, power and everything really, from the outside pictures. Winston Churchill was born there, and he has strong connections with the palace since he actually is in the line of the family, so that's an added fun bonus too. There was a ton of information on Churchill that I could have gone back and seen, but unfortunately, I was kind of halfway out to space all day on Friday honestly, so I went with going through the maze instead. Maybe for a future trip down the line!
The palace itself.
The back gardens.
One of the statues in the back garden.
The palace again.
The current Duke of Marlborough was actually home that day and they were having a dinner later that night. How many people get to say they visited the palace when the Duke was actually there? And yes, the family still lives there and whatnot. There's a section of the palace that's closed off to visitors because that's the family's living area. Somewhat like the White House.
Taryn, Sam, Krista and Ben on the small train that goes out to the Pleasure Gardens.
Ben, unsure about his suave new look.
I guess he quickly accepted it. PS. Ben is a really amazing photographer, as you can see by his equipment there... we'll see him be really dodgy around London when we're out, as he's taking a picture of something that's completely out of the ordinary scene. I can't wait to see his pictures when they finally get developed because I'm guessing they'll be pretty brilliant.
Just the name Pleasure Gardens alone makes me laugh.
Model town! It reminds me so much of Hot Fuzz.
The giant chess and checker boards.
The entrance and explanation of The Marlborough Maze, which is the 2nd largest in the world!
The ending/center of the maze from one of the lookout decks.
The end!
The lavender gardens. Absolutely breathtaking - and smelled so good too!
Can I just say, I love my new camera? Thanks Grandma! But seriously. I love this picture. Can you spot the bee?
One of the gazebo trellises.
Taryn, Krista, Rachel, Ben and Sam in the Butterfly House.
Me, Taryn, Krista, Rachel and Sam in the Butterfly House.
One of the butterflies, who just wanted to be taken a picture of really since he sat there and posed.
The locomotive of the small train that goes back and forth from the main palace to the Pleasure Gardens.
David as he thinks about getting a cone of luxury Blenheim Palace ice cream... completely worth it, it's melt-in-your-mouth-to-die-for good.
The grounds of the palace. Doesn't it look like a painting?
Closer on the bridge and tower.
Saturday, Gary, Ben and I went to Ikea in Wimbledon to look for pieces for the set for Vanities, bright and early. It was kind of like being back at home again when we were there. But first off, at Waterloo station as we waited for Ben, who happened to miss his alarm clock, Gary and I met a pigeon who had no right foot and his middle toe was missing from his left foot. It was really sad, but he seemed to get around all right. He would just stare at Gary and I for food. Gary affectionately named him Gus, which he said he wanted to write a story about him. We'll see how that turns out... but meet Gus!
Saturday night, after Ikea and hanging around Wimbledon, we all went to All's Well That Ends Well at the National Theatre. It was a really well done production - technically, acting-wise, costumes, everything. Personally, I didn't really understand the concept that they were aiming for because it didn't exactly fit the show in my opinion, but despite all that, it was still terrible. It's just a bad play all around. Everything was great except for the script. So it wasn't the actors faults or anything like that... it was like, in my opinion, when Sam and I saw By The Bog Of Cats with Dr. Bouler last March. Great acting, great technical aspects, great everything... awful awful script. So it was kind of a bomb, but what can you do? It was cool to see the vast ends of the spectrum, from seeing Shakespeare at the Globe, to this production at the National. Very cool in that aspect at least.
Which brings us to today... at last! Today, as a typical Sunday, is rehearsal and homework day. I actually got all of my homework done (at least what's due tomorrow, but I'm working on Tuesday's as well) which is why I'm blogging now and napped earlier. But at rehearsal today, we got the girls dressed up and took publicity shots for TARA to use for the show. These are just some of them that I personally took with my own camera. Enjoy!
Krista.
Joanna.
Sam.
Sam, Joanna, Krista.
Sam, Joanna, Krista.
Sam, Joanna, Krista.
Sam, Krista, Joanna.
Sam, Krista, Joanna.
Sam, Krista, Joanna.
Sam, Krista, Joanna.
Can you tell they're cheerleaders? I don't know why, I just really like this shot.
Sam, Krista, Joanna.
Ben, our wonderful lighting designer/tech guy/bitch, really.
1968, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Krista, Joanna, Sam.
Krista, Joanna, Sam.
Krista, Joanna, Sam.
Krista, Joanna, Sam.
I actually think this picture is my favorite. Krista, Joanna, Sam.
Joanna, Krista, Sam.
Joanna, Krista, Sam.
So! There you have it! This past week, pictures and all. But, since it's 2:19 in the morning here, two hours after I originally started this entry, I think it's definitely time for bed, yeah? Cheers, all! Hope everything is going well back home with everyone! Much love!
Linds
