Today was another busy, yet amazing day! I started my morning bright and early at 6 am. After getting ready I made my way to Starbucks. I’ve been looking forward to the new menu items they have available in the UK, and was pleasantly surprised at all of the unique and delicious flavors. I got an orange mango refresher, as well as a chicken pesto-aioli focaccia sandwich, and I’ll definitely be back there to taste even more of their menu!
After breakfast, our group went on a wonderful bus tour of London. Thankfully I sat on the side where most of the monuments/historic buildings could be seen best, and our tour guide was well equipped to give us any and all information on them. We learned about the Tower of London, the different guilds and unions that could be found in London, and even learned about the telephone booths and the man that created them (William Gray!).
We got off of the bus and walked past Buckingham Palace to get to Piccadilly Square. Here we were able to see many different theaters, and we even stopped for a lunch break. I went with two others from our group, Andrew and Hailey, to a Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown called rasa sayang. I had nasi lemak, which is actually the national dish of Malaysia! The food was spectacular, and it made me excited to try new dishes in Chinatown, as well as for when we go to Borough Market as a group.
When we regrouped after lunch, we went on the terrifying tube. I mentioned in my previous blog post how I had a bad relationship with the tube, but today we made amends. Although very crowded, I found that the tube was so easy to navigate! It also gets you to where you need to be both quickly and efficiently. We did have a bit of trouble on the tube and lost five people, but I’ll blame that on the fact that we had such a large group at such a busy time of day. We got off of the tube at King’s Cross (think magic and Harry Potter!). I was so happy because I was able to go to a Harry Potter store and bought a scarf and keychain. I’m excited to use the tube and see what the other stations have to offer as well!
We walked back to our hotel, but I was NOT done exploring for the afternoon. I went to the Zoology museum with another group member, Brendan. This museum was fantastic, and the walls were lined with specimen. I will definitely be back to this museum since one of the workers, Graham, offered to give a personal tour of the place on a less busy day! The museum itself was quite graphic, so I’ll include the more tame photos if that helps to put your mind at ease.
Finally, our group went to the most awaited event of the day: Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre. Straight Line Crazy is about Robert Moses (Ralph Flennes), and his coworkers Finnuala Connell (Siobhán Cullen), and Ariel Porter (Samuel Barnett). It follows their construction of an expressway across Long Island much to the dismay of those living within the city. This was a play about how unwillingness to change results in loss, which is seen in the classist nature of Robert Moses. Throughout the play, Moses is very critical of those around him, even those he holds dear. Because of this, we see him lose hold of his wife Mary, his coworker Finnuala, and even his life’s work (which was his control over the expressway). I think this loss is very well personified through Moses’ shadowed monologue that is seen in both the beginning and ends of the play. At the end of each monologue, he talked about how he would swim too far. In the first act, he said he would be fine after swimming out too far; however, in the second act, he goes silent and gives no indication to his wellbeing. This silence was only after the audience has seen just a glimpse into what his persona truly was.
Straight LIne Crazy was definitely a hit for me, and I would highly recommend seeing it! Something about it I particularly enjoyed was the witty banter between characters. What I would like to see differently is in regard to the insight given into the lives of the different characters; however, after talking to my roommate Tabby, this may have instead given the audience insight as to how Moses viewed those around him– which was with little regard and little interest in their personal lives. Despite this view, I would have loved the opportunity to compare the characters to figures found in real life (aside from Robert Moses) with more specific attributes than what we as the audience were given.
Overall, today was another great day! I’m glad I got to see my first play here at a beautiful theatre, and that ultimately, I ended up back in my very comfy bed. I’m ready to sleep and for it to be tomorrow– we’ll be off to the Tower of London!
Theatre in London U of A 