Welcome to the final show! I hope you’re wearing your best clothes!
I can’t believe that I am writing my final blog post. Before I went on this trip, in fact before the application was even posted, I poured through the blog posts of those who had gone last year. Naturally, I came upon the final posts first. Hearing how the trip had been life-changing, freeing, and artistically impactful excited me for this trip even more than I already was, which I didn’t think possible. So many people I loved loved this experience, and I was excited to get to try it myself. I knew that if I even found 10% of the joy they did, I would be over the moon with happiness. As the months crept on, a lot of life happened, and though we would periodically meet as a group, everything else took up time and mental space. Then, somehow, we were in class and leaving in just a few days’ time. I won’t go into too much detail about everything that has happened since being here, because I have talked about most of it in blog posts, but this trip turned out to be greater than I imagined.
I am not sure what my expectations were for this trip, but they surpassed them. I absolutely loved our routine of getting up and going to breakfast, having my toast and fruit, and then meeting in the lobby. We would go on a walk, tour, or museum visit, and then break off for the day. My dearest friends and I would find something fun and awesome to do, and then we would meet back up as a class for a show if we had one. I cannot think of any day that sounds better. I am going to miss that being my normal infinitely. Even now, I can’t believe that that was what I had the privilege of doing for a month straight. I didn’t take a single second for granted, and soaked up every moment we were in London together.
Obviously, a large part of our trip was theater, and trying to think about how many shows we saw is overwhelming. We saw absolutely brilliant theater, and some less-than-brilliant theater. I will think about our My Master Builder class for the rest of my life, and laugh about how much people just tore into it. It definitely got everyone’s opinions flowing. Or when we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and we were all sobbing and came into class without a single note. On my own, I was able to see 7 shows, and I think every single one was a hit. The peak of them being The Great Gatsby, Stranger Things, Wicked, and The Crucible. All of them were true bucket list shows, and each was entirely different than the one before. Honestly, I can say that about every show we saw. I don’t think there were any two that were supper alike. Especially when we saw more experimental shows like The Frogs and Here We Are. Maybe experimental is a stretch, but definitely not traditionally constructed shows.
Throughout this trip I have shed many tears. Inside theater, in parks, in hotel rooms, and outside of airports. But, I have also had a hundred times more smiles and laughs. The joy that I found in this trip is what I walk away from it holding onto. Yes, I am different than I was when I got here, but to me what matters the most is I have true, genuine happy memories that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I am indebted to the wonderful professors who put this together, and of course to my friends who made this trip what it was. Thank you to all, I love you forever!
I’ve always loved the prequel Star Wars movies. Sure, they have some flaws, some less than great performances and script choices… Jar Jar Binks. But there was some good in there too! To me, one of those main highlights was Ewan McGregor and his portrayal of a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. When I heard that we’d be able to see McGregor on stage on THE WEST END, I was ecstatic. On top of that, I had never seen or read Ibsen before, but was excited to finally get to see, even an abridged, version of his work. As can be seen by the picture beside this text, I was excited enough to buy a playbill before even sitting down. For reference, the only other play for which I bought a playbill in advance was Cabaret. Suffice it to say, expectations were quite high. Even if the play sucked, I would get to see one of my favorite actors, who would surely be a highlight of the play, and maybe even meet him after (I even found the stage door in advance).
To be blunt, the proceeding play was one of the most boring and frankly just un-artistic pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen. The selfie here was the actual reaction image I sent my family at intermission. I will expand on what aspects caused that reaction, however, I’d like to start on some more positive notes.
I thought the set was really phenomenal. Being the “master builder,” McGregor’s character is an architect with a new big project. This project is a refurbished church made into a center for art (all largely a conception from this new play and not Ibsen’s original). This production shows the project through a large crystalline staircase of sorts. This shift from the more brutalist towers by the original Henrik (main character of “The Master Builder”) to the modern and artistic McGregor’s Henry (“My Master Builder”) felt like a natural way of bringing it to “now.” The other set – Henry’s home – was a perfectly great looking modern home that felt fit to be the home of an architect.
I found the costumes largely fitting to the characters. Elizabeth Debicki’s character had a silver dress in the second act that felt accurate to Henry’s view of her, being his glowing beacon in a way. The rest were very nice, the protegee, Ragnar, having one of my favorites with a colorful outfit in the first act. I believe the costuming for Ewan McGregor’s Henry was much too casual. I thought perhaps at the party of the second act he would come out with something very refined to challenge the other characters and show some of his ego (a prominent aspect of the original). As matched the rest of the productions portrayal of Henry, his costumes never lived up to expectations. With this, we move on from positive notes and more onto my main thoughts of the play.
Kenobi vs. Ibsen!
A question that might be coming to mind is “Why the change to ‘My Master Builder’ from the original?” This question was certainly on my own mind before watching it. That name change is one of many shifts that to me signify the way this playwright really dulled down the original story. In Ibsen’s play, Henrik was known for being a great architect. HIs continued ambition despite all else, even the death of his own children, is what makes the character who he is. This ambition is also what kills him, as he climbs his own tower and falls from the top. In the original, this death is also slightly ambiguous, possibly an accident caused by his vertigo or a suicide caused by the pressures surrounding him. Like his death, many past events in the lives of the characters feeling towards each other are somewhat shrouded in ambiguity. Henrik seems to almost have some jealousy towards his own protege, while his relationships with the women in his life are largely manipulative in nature. One of these women are even the one to coax him into climbing his tower. Altogether, though the original script is not perfect, it has many aspects that make it a complex and thoughtful take on the story of a flawed man. My Master Builder puts an emphasis on the “My” above most all else. The story and Henry (this play’s Henrik) are defined almost solely by his relationship with the women in his life. These two women are his wife Elena and his former student, Mathilde. While the original play is told over an extended period of time, this story is told in one night. In it, the plot (if one could call it that) is largely taken over by scenes of Henrik arguing with Elena and then immediately fawning over Mathilde. Other than a few short mentions, this text keeps none of Henrik’s original focus on architecture and his ambition.Instead his only goal seems to be to rekindle his relationship with his student he had an affair with while he was a professor at a university. Except, he also makes no choices or moves towards achieving any goals, just talking aimlessly about the past. Henry’s death is also made into a complete accident as he falls after fireworks set off his vertigo after he climbed his crystal building as a show of love to Mathilde. Additionally, the playwright made the death of Henry’s son clearly and totally his own fault. Henry’s relationship with his protegee/apprentice is nonexistent as that character’s entire purpose was to be sleeping with Elena’s assistant, Kaia, and then have the wife hit on him. As I hope these details have shown, the plot and character relationships of the original hardly survived the shift. I would love to use some fancy words and analysis to describe the dialogue, but as the playwright seemed to lack any tact or knowledge of human speech, I’ll match their wit. Each character said exactly what they were thinking and what they wanted. The dialogue lacked any color and not just in the sense that it was dry, just that the characters seemed to have no internal thought to allow for them to converse with each other with any complexity. This was also likely due to the lacking performances of the TV-famous leads. Perhaps if I were a few feet away from their faces, the performances of Ewan McGregor and Elizabeth Debicki (as Mathilde) would have felt somewhat human. However, from the upper section where only dialogue and body movements are seen, both seemed quite lacking. The way the lines were said sounded like a first reading, pre-analysis, by two actors who got drunk the night before and forgot to pre-read the script so they are underprepared and hungover. The rest of the performances really weren’t bad, Kate Fleetwood had a real energy and grief to her performance as the somewhat unstable wife. The protegee and assistant both kept me engaged in their scenes and were quite entertaining. They were only held back by the script. Truly McGregor and Debicki were the weak links.
My biggest excitement was that, no matter how the play was, Ewan McGregor would be the highlight. I was let down. The stage door experience was also quite unpleasant, McGregor signed a very limited number of things and left quickly, though the crowd was (for a roped off stage door) not very big. The main pleasant part ended up being talking to the actress who played the assistant who was super pleasant. Then, a few of us stayed to discuss the show with a few Londoners at the stage door. This ended up being the perfect cap to the evening as they had the exact same thought that our group and I and Squirt had. A thought I’ll end this review off with – “What the hell?”
Stratford upon Avon was the perfect destination for a restful weekend getaway before departing from Europe this summer. If Shakespeare had taken a trip to London, he would likely have traveled by horseback to his hometown of Stratford, possibly passing through Oxford. The journey from London to Stratford-upon-Avon, which is roughly 101 miles, would have taken several days, depending on the mode of travel. A horse-drawn carriage would have taken about 10 days, while riding horseback would have taken around 4 to 5 days. Walking would have taken approximately 5 days.
The small historic town served as a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city of London. Visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s cottage perusing the markets in front of the Royal Shakespeare Company and lying beside the river sighting the swans was an extreme enjoyment. The bed and breakfast was a perfect 5-minute walking distance from the main avenues of the town. My room was neat, cozy, and extremely comfortable.
I felt like a poet or novelist going away to find inspiration somewhere far away from everywhere they’d ever been. It was a tiny adventure within a chaotic yet amazing, life-changing trip.
I would just like to say that the town of Stratford-upon-Avon is absolutely lovely. Its small size vaguely reminds me of my home town, and while it’s still a lot larger than Mount Ida, I felt very at home the whole time we stayed here. The slower pace, beautiful architecture and greenery, and cozy bed and breakfast made for a wonderful end of the trip.
For once I won’t end with art, because all I have to offer is a small portrait sketch. I did it on the bus ride to the airport so it’s not the best, but whatever. This sketch made me realize how little I understand technique for portraying hair. I think that’s something I need to spend more time on. Anyway, here it is!
Alright, now for the rest of the blog post.
I went into this trip excited, but not entirely sure what to expect. I had never been outside of the country before. Would I be anxious? What if I somehow managed to not learn anything?? What if I hated everything??? What if a random guy stole my phone out of my coat pocket while I was taking a selfie??!? Yet none of that was ever an issue. I honestly felt a lot more comfortable with the new circumstances I’d been given than I thought I would. I figured I would hate it at first, or at least be homesick, but I think I adjusted pretty quickly to being in a new place (AND with people I didn’t really know all that well).
I set three goals for this trip (besides, y’know, learning about theatre): make art, explore places on my own, and learn more about people. And I do believe I’ve succeeded in all three. With art, I’ve had something to include in every blog post– with little doodles I’ve additionally drawn along the way. This is genuinely the most art I’ve made since, well, last summer, and it has absolutely made me a much happier person. I feel as if I’m more willing to take the time to learn new things in art, rather than strictly sticking to portraits as I’ve caught myself doing this past year. I’ve also not only explored London on my own, but I went to Cardiff as well. I mostly had a goal to do that so I could force myself to improve my horrid directional skills, as well as gain a little bit more independence. And the people!! I’ve talked to so many people here and had so many lovely interactions. MUCH more good than bad. Based on those interactions alone, I’m pretty convinced that if I ever moved to the UK I would be just fine.
Overall I regret nothing, and I’d like to believe I’m coming home with plenty of experiences, a deeper appreciation for the world of theatre, and a slightly better understanding of this big ol’ world we live in (and a newfound love for the tesco meal deal). And what more could you possibly want?
I sat down to watch this play without expecting literally anything from it. I didn’t expect it to be good, nor did I expect it to be bad. Rather, I found that I simply had a curiosity for how the show would mix Radiohead with Hamlet. And, honestly? I think it was amazing. I really liked it. In fact, this trip in general has shown me how interesting Shakespeare performances can be. I say that as someone who has an embarrassingly restricted amount of knowledge in regards to Shakespeare’s work. Psychology major, what can I say? But I really enjoyed the way music was used. It allowed for the use of dance, which in turn could be used as a vessel, allowing for a new way to convey events and relationships. Or, at least, that’s how I interpreted it. Overall though, I wish I had done more research before going into the show. I would’ve liked to have a better understanding of the music used. Without that, I feel like I couldn’t have a full appreciation for what I was watching. BUT, of course, it was still great.
Okay. Andddd art!
While in Shakespeare’s New Place, I did a VERY quick sketch of the man himself!! Listen, there was a pencil and paper put right in front of me, I couldn’t help myself. Not much to say about this one, just because I did it fast. Obviously he wouldn’t be perfect. However, I was surprised about how quickly I did him. Usually it takes me a long time to be able to capture what a person looks like. It’s always weird noticing your own active improvement in a skill.
The pigeon was just a quick sketch I did on a napkin at Nandos. Nothing special!!
I technically have more art, however it’s mostly just a lot of really bad attempts at landscapes in watercolor. I’ve been trying, and I currently have about four attempts in my sketchbook, but something is just not clicking for me. I think, mostly, I’m just being impatient. If I added more layers and really put the time and care into it, I’m sure I could produce something far better than what I’m making right now. But currently, I am VERY bad at landscapes. I’m having such a hard time. Please help.
The markets in London are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The wide variety of foods, dizzying pace of the crowds, and constant bombardment of new sights and smells is foreign, but definitely not unwelcomed. I believe I mentioned this in my first blog post, but I am amazed at the variety of culture that can be found in London. Obviously I was aware that other cultures existed before coming here, but there’s something about being in it, about seeing different foods and clothes, hearing different languages and dialects, etc. that expands the mind. Or at least, it expanded MY mind. I’ve never craved to understand different perspectives more. Does that make sense? Like, seeing all of the different people with different backgrounds made me more aware, almost. I’ve never been more inspired to read about different religions and cultures. That could also be the psychology student part of me. I want to understand people, I suppose.
Okay, art!!
I did a quick painting of a stuffed animal that Hadley bought, and I won’t lie, I kinda dig the texture I gave him. I think I did an alright job of making him actually appear to be round as well. He’s not perfect, but he is whimsical, and sometimes that’s all you can ask for with art.
While at the Tate Modern museum, I also sat down in the Tate Draw room to draw for fun. I attempted to sketch a fox, but gave up almost immediately. I got some of the face done before deciding I no longer wanted to sit in there, so I left him behind with a rough sketch for a body. It was also weird drawing on those screens, because it wasn’t the most advanced pen and tablet ever. 4/10 drawing experience. Anyway here’s the fox (please don’t look too closely at him).
Stratford upon Avon is the most polar opposite to London while still being a big tourist location in England. While London is big on night life and staying out late, Stratford upon Avon is pretty much closed by 6 P.M. while London is always fast moving and crowded, Stratford is relatively calm and slow. What they have in common is an abundance of delicious gelato, which I will dearly miss.
I am also going to miss some of the cultural aspects that are different in England than in the U.S. the biggest of these is definitely the meal deal, which is at almost every convenience store in London and I have not seen at all in the U.S. the mix of convenience and variety. I also really liked the culture of mostly take out versus eating in. There were many restaurants where eating in wasn’t an option, and there was often a surcharge for eating in the restaurant. Having the option to just grab some food from pretty much any spot in London was great during busier days so I didn’t have to halt my plans.
The biggest difference I noticed culturally was the way that customer service worked. I am used to in small stores in Arkansas being somewhat greeted at the door and at restaurants have a waiter regularly come over to check on me. In London, most restaurants would leave you alone after ordering your food, maybe checking on you once or twice if you were there for a while. As someone who sometimes gets anxious talking to new people, I appreciated the conversations mainly being on the customer and not being assumed. I also feel like it is better for the workers in London because they don’t have to constantly pretend to be super happy and talkative like they do at many businesses in the U.S.
The biggest take away I got from this study abroad came from My Neighbor Totoro. I often have a frustration, especially within the last couple of years, that I have had trouble describing. Even now I have a hard time putting words too it but the best way I can describe it is a desire for accomplishment or closeness to a particular idea. Be it a design, character, or abstract concept I would want to express it in a way I did not know how. Creative projects would help with the frustration, and sometimes sated it somewhat for a time, but more often than not it would lead to half finished projects or dropped hobbies trying to get close to the idea. Recently with the frustration I have had a fear that it may not be something I can fully get rid of, that the desire for closeness and frustration for being unable to achieve it may just be something I have to live with. That changed when I saw Totoro. Everything about the puppet, it’s stage presence, the way it moved, the way it felt alive, blew me away. It scratched that itch at the back of my brain, that frustration, in a way that nothing else has quite been able to hit. I still can’t place specifically what it was about Totoro that hit that mark, but just the knowledge that it exists, that the frustration can be stopped, has been deeply calming for me. Next time that frustration and anxiety starts to rise, if it does, I feel like it will be much easier to manage because while I don’t know exactly what it is, I know there is a concrete solution, and have at least a jumping off point to replicate it.While the production My Neighbor Totoro certainly had its problems, and was not the best show we saw objectively, it definitely had the most impact on me and I believe will lead to long term improvement to my life as a theater maker.
Before this trip I did not really believe in a singular life altering experience, and to a certain degree I still don’t. People are such a odd combination of experiences and genetics and I don’t think one month can fully change a person, but I feel like this study abroad has definitely caused a shift in me, and I am excited to get back to Arkansas and get to work.
Walking into the past home of such important people was an odd experience. I’ve only ever known a low-income life, so thinking about a more “luxurious” lifestyle than mine is rather difficult. I think, mostly, I find it hard to appreciate the beauty behind the privilege. Learning about all of the luxuries brought about a very familiar, sticky feeling in the pit of my stomach that can only be described as a mix of envy and hate. Okay, maybe not hate. Perhaps distaste? Yeah, that sounds right. I’ll save my “eat the rich” rant for another day, though. You’re welcome.
Anyway, walking through the various rooms also made me think about how strange some of the etiquette and daily rituals were. There are so many weird rules to meeting royalty, and I’m personally not a fan of all the pomp and circumstance. “Kiss the king’s hand” no thank you, that is a grown man!! I do not know where bro’s hands have been!!! Seriously though, it was really cool to get a look at everything in person and learn a little more about how they went about their lives.
Alright, art. While in Cardiff, I stayed at an airbnb that was also the residence of a delightful cat named Ziggy. He had to be one of the softest cats I’ve ever pet, and he had the prettiest fur. It was different shades of brown, which I thought would make for an interesting painting. I did a very quick painting of him while waiting for the time to get on the bus back to London, so it’s not my best work, but it was a fun exercise. I did not sketch him out beforehand, and this time that did NOT go well for me. On my first attempt the proportions were all off, and I had to rely on layering to slowly fix the way he looked. I’d definitely like to try again when the trip is over, that way I can put more time into it.
For our last few days across the pond, the Theatre in London group stayed in Stratford-Upon-Avon at two Bed and Breakfasts run by sisters!
I was in “The Hathaways,” pictured here. The other half of our group was next door. Every morning we would eat breakfast in our respective places and then leave all together to explore Stratford.
Saying goodbye to London was heartbreaking, but our visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon was so beautiful it almost made me forget we were nearing the end of our trip. The hustle and bustle of the big city of London was very different from the small, sleepy city of Stratford. Most days, the streets wouldn’t begin filling with people until close to 10 or 11 am, and a full street in Stratford was like a quiet morning in London. The streets were vacant again by about 6pm each night.
Most of what made Stratford attractive was its natural beauty paired with the fact that it is Shakespeare’s birth place and where he spent most of his early life. During our time here, we visited both Shakespeare’s childhood home as well as his wife Anne Hathaway’s. We also visited Trinity Church where they are both buried. I had been telling Shawn Irish the day before that I missed my running route at home that went past a graveyard so when I discovered a graveyard on my run the next morning I had to take a picture. Unbeknownst to me, I was passing through the Trinity Church’s graveyard on the morning before we were planning to visit!
Stratford-Upon-Avon is a small town that wakes up late and goes to bed early. This meant I was able to take pictures of Shakespeare’s home with nobody around! During our visiting time, it was a different story. We explored the house in all its glory and learned about how it had changed through the years. Much of the house was not part of the original when Shakespeare was born but was added on by his family when Shakespeare was much older.
We walked on the very same floor that Shakespeare and his family walked on hundreds of years ago. Can you believe it? Back then, the floors would have been mostly the dirt of the earth, but there was one room where they speculate the stone is the same that was there back in Shakespeare’s time. The walls were also made of a mixture of mud and horse hair and the covered in a lime plaster. There was a lot that had probably changed to help preserve the home and make it a museum, but it was still the same location and a lot of the original house where William Shakespeare lived. He slept, ate, played, and thought in this house. I think I am still in shock right now.
Shakespeare’s Birthplace and Childhood Home
After we had gone through the house, we exited into the courtyard behind the building and were met with two actors performing several shakespearean scenes including the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet! During one scene, our very own Reece and Jack got to be a part of the show!
The next day, we trekked about a mile to see Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. Although we were there at a very busy time, I was able to snap the picture below with only a few people in it! It was super cool to walk around her cottage and learn about Anne and Shakespeare’s relationship, including all of the scandals! It turns out, Anne was almost three months pregnant when they were married! This was common at the time since many women would be betrothed for a long while before actually getting married, but they still had to marry quickly before Anne began to show.
Anne Hathaway’s CottageBees at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
During our short visit, I spent a lot of time just exploring Stratford-Upon-Avon. I got up early each morning to go for a run or walk along the River Avon, and one morning I took my camera with me. That morning, I was able to captured some of the beautiful Stratford (and its inhabitants). On our last day I spent nearly three hours taking more pictures!
Note to readers: this is being written with tears in my eyes
Stratford-upon-Avon was the final stop of my super fun and cool theatre in London extravaganza. I am distraught, to say the least. However, I do think, as sad as I am, Stratford is the perfect place to end this study abroad.
I am a certified Shakespeare freak. I was always the one kid that was actually excited when our teachers forced us to read his plays. I am nothing if not dramatic, so I have always appreciated Shakespeare’s dramatic flare. I am honestly kind of surprised Merritt and I were able to make it through the stay without combusting from excitement. Not only did we get to stay in the place he lived, minus the time he left (but we do not talk about that) we also got to literally walk in his footsteps. All of the buildings and artifacts from the Shakespeare estates truly made me feel like I had been teleported back into time. It was also a nice change of pace and scenery (and I enjoyed blowing my nose without it being black from pollution). Stratford allowed me a chance to slow down after such consistent activity. Finally, I know I already wrote a blog post about it, but Hamlet: Hail to the Thief was such an incredible play. It was so incredible to see the legacy of Shakespeare’s work in real time.
Now, a little spew about the trip as a whole. Thank you so much Shawn and Susan for allowing me to be a participant of this incredible program. I have truly had some of the greatest and happiest moments of my life on this trip. I have gotten to meet so many incredible theatre nerds that have allowed my ascend to my true form. Jk. On a more serious note, I have met some of the most amazing people, and had the opportunity to bond with them in a way that I never would have otherwise. London is such a beautiful city with excellent food, theatre, culture, buildings, museums, etc. I wish I never have to leave, but alas…. So long, London. I will yearn for you for the rest of my life.
Theatre in London U of A 