We started our REAL first day in London with a guided bus tour of much of the city. Including The City. While I figure out how to use this forsaken website, this is the best proof I can provide of Piccadilly Circus (though I can assure you that we also saw it from the outside of a bus.)
We had intended to see Buckingham Palace, were it not for Jubilee construction, so instead, we took the opportunity to learn about THE LONDON UNDERGROUND!!!! We started our trip not far from this photo (after being given a good hour to just wander and explore). At one point we ended up at Kings Cross Station and I wasted my first good chunk of cash on a wand from the Harry Potter shop inside. I learned that while the underground might be accessible alone…. in a group… not so much. In the process of our first time down there, half of the group ended up having to take a separate train. Eventually, we all ended up together again, but it was an interesting first lesson in public transport for me: the doors can and will close on people. don’t be the person it closes on.
In the later portion of our day, we took the opportunity to learn more about the underground (this time changing trains) on our way to the first official show of the trip.
Straight Line Crazy, written by David Hare and directed by Nicholas Hytner, is a powerful drama surrounding the life and work of Robert Moses (played by that ol rascal Voldemort). It shows his beginnings, stubbornly determined to improve the lives of the masses of New York, and compares it with his fight against a citizen lead grassroots campaign against his plans for the city (in particular, the last park he needs before his real scheme kicks in)
The draw to this play for me is its ability to find a historical figure fully worthy of all and possibly more than his fair share of criticism, and humanize him to some degree, showing the layer of nuance in his person so sorely lacking in most public understanding and conversation of history. Of most particular note for me is the performance of Ralph Fiennes as the lead, finding the delicate balance between hypnotic wit and unyielding arrogance so strong, that he manages to drag along the audience just as much as his companions with paradoxical intimidation and charm.
Theatre in London U of A 