Hello again! Today was a pretty laid back day for me, but it also kicked off my free weekend of the trip. The day started with an outdoor class meeting. We all walked over to a nearby park and talked about The Glass Menagerie, The Corn is Green, and The House of Shades. Whenever we get back from a show, I usually talk about my thoughts with my roommate. This being said, it was very nice to see what everyone else in our group thought about the productions. They brought up some interesting points, and even lingered on certain characters that I did not expect. This gave me a lot of insight on character construction, and the different ways in which characters can garner sympathy. I do wish we had talked about The House of Shades more, or even The Father and The Assassin because those are by far my two favorite plays we have seen! I could listen to discourse about and discuss those plays for a while. Maybe for our next class session, there will be more on these two!
After class, I went back to the British Museum for cream tea (yum!), and was kept company by some of the other group members. When the cream tea was all gone (which ended up being too soon after it arrived) I went back to the hotel to rest up and get some small chores done so my arrival home is less stressful! I also had a lot of time to kill before my fringe show, The Haunting of Susan A, so I got nearly everything done.
When it was time for me to head towards the theatre, I got myself dinner. Dinner ended up being Chipotle and some raspberry truffles I got on the way there. I noticed that the portion sizes are a lot smaller here, which was even more apparent at the Chipotle. I was happy about this because I always feel too stuffed after eating it in America, it was perfect this time!
The show for tonight took place at The King’s Head Theatre. The King’s Head Theatre is in the back of a pub, and has very limited seating and space. Audience members could even reach out and touch the stage if they wanted to. This made the experience of The Haunting of Susan A feel much more personal, and the show itself also had a few interactive aspects to it. The Haunting of Susan A follows the acting career of Susan, and her chilling experience while performing in The King’s Head Theatre. She tells the story of her encounters with the ghost that haunts the theatre, and helps the audience understand its origins. The show was fun, and it was better than I expected it to be! It was definitely clunky, as the main actress forgot her lines quite a bit, and she even paused the show to ask an audience member for their water; however, I think that the jump scares included in the production made up for this. The play was slow in the first half, but quickly sped up as we learned more and more about why and how the theatre was haunted. Despite the slowness of the first half, I noticed it was necessary to sit through because it tied in so well with the ending. I would say that it was not a waste of time to see this show, but I don’t think I would see it over many of the others I have attended thus far! It was better than Lift for sure, and it stands well enough on its own as a show. I think that if anything, the production could benefit from being longer to flesh out its plot even more.
That was my fringe experience of the day! Now I have the weekend to look forward to. Tomorrow I am taking a day trip to Brighton, and I’m also going to see The Cursed Child on Saturday. Can’t wait to tell you all about it!
Theatre in London U of A 