When first strolling through the museum, I was desperately looking for clocks so that I could talk about Back to the Future: The Musical, which is one of the best musicals I have seen since Kinky Boots. Instead, I found a painting called “Still Life with a Dead Stag” and as soon as I saw this, I instantly thought of PunchDrunk: The Burnt City. I was a little disgusted, once I took a step back and realized that it was a painting of a gutted deer carcass hanging among other dead animals, but that quickly faded when I thought of The Burnt City, and specifically Artemis. Artemis was one of the twins in that show, who wore matching outfits with her brother, Apollo, and I followed her around for a large portion of my time in the experience. While I never followed her to Troy, I did follow her back to a quieter room, where the actress was (more or less) able to recoup for a moment before beginning the loop again. In this room, there was a small cabin that one would be able to crawl through, and this cabin was adorned with lots of animal skins and hides. The inside of the cabin was similarly decorated but had animal tusks and horns strewn around the floor and on the walls as well. This is what made me realize that I was following Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. This painting reminded me of that room in particular because when I approached it, I actually thought that it was representing Artemis in some way, however after reading the plaque, it is more representative of “worldly pursuits” and “fleeting pleasures.” That line really spoke to me regarding hunting in general, and how it can be seen as a sport, rather than a necessity and that people treat the killing of these animals like a game and, personally, I feel like that is very against – for lack of a better phrase – how nature should be interpreted. Anyways, there is a funny little monkey in the corner of the painting too that “represented greed” but I just thought he was a funny little guy. The End. (classic ending).
Today we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum–a name I only remember because I got a gift from there in Pokemon Go–and it was overwhelmingly huge. I do not think I saw a third of this place before I left. This was a museum for people who are in the arts that do not get museums. There was a section for metal workings like fences and gates. There was a section for fashion. There was a section for keys and bookshelves. It was just a museum of things. One thing I liked a lot was a 3D-printed prosthetic hand that was themed like Ben 10. All in all, it was a neat place it was just massive. So massive…and yet…no Paddington exhibit. Hmmm much to think on.
There was a room in the Victoria and Albert Museum that just showed old-timey black-and-white films which made me think about how people would come to see these films like they would come to see a magician. Film was a magic show to them. When film was first invented there was nothing like it and so it was insane to see a picture move. This is how I felt seeing Back to the Future: the Musical.
To quote Dancing at Lughnasa– “Wow wow wow wow.”
Back to the Future: the Musical is a two-hour-long magic trick. The stage was incredible and the whole show felt like a cartoon. The stage was composed of three parts in my opinion– the foreground (a translucent screen that they could drop down and put projections on), the play ground (where the actors acted), and the background (another screen for projections). When the DeLorean went back in time they did the most incredible effects I have ever seen in a show. They had the car on a part of the stage that moves and they wiggled the car just enough to make it look like it was moving on the road while the background and the foreground placed buildings and trees around the car to make it look like it was moving through a city. The show was insane. The way that the actors would seamlessly switch out with doubles fascinated me to my core. The grand finaly of the show… the classic “where we’re going we don’t need roads” line set up the biggest trick of them all… the DeLorean flew. They flew above the audience. A whole car with Doc and Marty in it.
I mean I understand how they did most of the effects but t was still an absolute trip to see. Also, Marty’s voice was spot on to the movie’s. This was the most fun I have had in a theatre ever. I even bought merch.
As stated in How I Met Your Mother–a magician’s best friend is a drunk audience and by golly, there were some drunk folks in that show. A lady a few rows ahead of me stood up in her chair to get a better view of the stage and the guy next to me leaned forward to tell her to sit down (put his whole butt in my face and this man needed to pull up his pants if he was going to be doing that). The lady started to cry and she and her friend left for a bit until they came back out and sat to the side of everyone on the stairs and a bunch of staff came and ultimately kicked them out. I bet they think that anyone who happened to see it go down would eventually forget it happened but now it’s here and I will remember it forever.
Today we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum! I was so glad it was connected to the tube stop, because my feet were still hurting from the HS concert the night before. Upon arrival we had to pretend we didn’t know each other again, so we went in a couple people at a time. I walked in alone and started to wonder for a while. At the beginning nothing stood out to me, and I couldn’t relate any object to what plays we saw. After being alone for like thirty minutes I found Jackson, Alex, and Madison and we went into the jewelry exhibit.
Inside the exhibit there were tons of crosses. When I saw these I got reminded of 2:22 when Jenny wanted to hang a cross above their baby’s crib and Sam refused to. It kind of looked like the one they had on stage in the kitchen cabinet. It definitely wasn’t made during the play’s time period, but the aesthetic fits with the show. The cross teaches us how religion has been around in everyones life at least one time. In the show Jenny use to be catholic and use to have multiple crosses in her home. Since being with sam she feels like she has been forced to believe in science and not God.
There were also some items relating to the concerts I’ve seen since being here. Inside the jewelry exhibit had a butterfly ring and it showed that it was apart of Beyonce’s personal collection from twenty- fourteen. Relating to her since I saw her at Tottenham Stadium back in May. Also in the fashion section, one of Harry Styles’ sweaters was apart of a display in the men’s eightys fashion. Went to Harry’s concert last night, also London is coded with One direction things. I was starstruck when I saw his sweater. I was staring at it for a good second before I realized it was his. Silly Day.
Today we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, and I was completely blow away by how large this museum was. I still don’t think I saw even half of it after walking around for over two hours, and there seemed to be new experiences hiding around every corner waiting to be explored.
This trip has meant a lot to me getting to see how every production handles their sets. From the smallest of sets including only a table and a few chairs as seen in Jules and Jim to a whole layering technique combining multiple mediums of design seen in Back to the Future. We were asked to look at artifacts found in the museum and find ones that we felt related to some of the theater we’ve seen.
Naturally, once I realized there was an architecture exhibit, I tried to make my way to that area of the building. On that journey, I ran into a lovely space that had been converted from an outdoor alleyway into a useable museum space. Inside this space, there was a set of circular wooden stairs. They were quite beautiful, and it made me think of some of the shows we had seen like 2:22 and The Mousetrap. Both of these shows have some sort of upstairs area that is hidden to the viewers. Of course, there’s not physically an actual upstairs, but the allusion to a staircase gives audience members the ability to imagine what might be on another level. It’s quite fascinating to think about how everyone accepts that there is an upstairs even though we all know there isn’t. That’s the beauty of crafting a good set.
Another artifact that I found that relates to this idea of “everything is not as it seems” or sets create the playground for a story to take place was this model of the crystal palace. If you notice in the first photo below, it’s an impressive detailed model, but take a closer look. Does anything seem out of place? Then look at the second photo. Our mind does a good job of interpreting what is supposed to be there, even if it isn’t actually there.
Once I finally made it to the Architecture exhibit, I found a really simple model showing the difference between a plan, section, and elevation. On their own, each drawing tells part of the story, but when you start layering them together, the fuller picture is created. This idea became apparent while I was watching Back to the Future. The set was captivating mostly because the designers did such a wonderful job of layering details, physical elements, and projections that it made the stage feel full and the story seem real. I look forward to one day implementing these same strategies to my designs.
Directly accessible from the tube, the Victoria and Albert Museum is full of beautiful collections that will put one in decision paralysis. There are six floors full of history curated over the last two hundred years.
My favorite exhibit was the Photography Centre. There were slides you could flick through using a light table machine. One of the four stations included old aerial shots. It was so cool to see the development of photography from its birth to now all in one room. I was kind of shocked to find an iPhone in a museum! It seems crazy that the popular smartphone debuted sixteen years ago.
I also really enjoyed the Fashion room. The room was circular and featured outfits from the late 18th century; the newest pieces in the collection were from 2016! The inclusion of contemporary clothing as well as the iPhone are good reminders that history is always happening around us. Our lives are just the most recent chapter in the book. It also contextualizes truly how quickly trends change today. The 2016 fashions are quite out of date, but in the 18th century the style did not change for decades. The material used in the 1700s determined who was on trend. Material helped show off wealth. Also, once cotton started being used, the most fashionable in the room was the one in the newest cotton print.
It is interesting that the clothing included from 1905-1915 is dubbed “The Cult of the Kimono”. From this decade, the museum included three women’s clothing items inspired by East Asia. Jim and Jules (partially set pre-WWI), which was set mainly in Paris, manages to reflect this style through how the script is written. There is a worldly philosophy to the play that reflects the taste for East Asian art that was occurring at that time.
Surprisingly, the museum lumps the 1940s, 50s, and 60s all together. To me the 20th century is really when fashion begins to be incredibly distinct each decade. This display showed the trend for perfectly tailored clothes. A men’s suit and three women’s jacket and skirt sets make up the display. This style matches the fit worn in The Mousetrap. The Mousetrap is set in the early 50s and everyone at the guesthouse is buttoned-up in nicely tailored styles. As the show has been playing for 71 years, it serves as a unique time capsule to both theatre styles but also what was once contemporary clothing. The clothing of the period is more elevated than our own day-to-day clothes often are. In many minds, this style has been closely linked to Agatha Christie’s work. I think the styles of her day complement her writing well; a slightly posh outfit lends itself well to mystery, at least to modern audiences.
A fun piece of art that made me smile was a group of three metal lions. I did not pause long enough to do anything more than snap a picture, so I am not sure if they are pewter or silver or something else. Although, actively thinking about the theatre I have seen, I couldn’t help but smile and think of Snug, the joiner, with the non-frightening “rawr” in the play within the play of A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.
Looking at Shakespeare, all his stories had been told before throughout history with the bard just adding a slightly new spin and creating words. The Neoclassical period of the late 18th century reminded me of this. Shakespeare set plays in ancient Athens (Midsummer) and Ephesus (Comedy of Errors) unwittingly looking back to the classical period over a hundred years before the rest of Europe. There were of course items from Shakespeare’s life. A nice note on the wall mentioned how Elizabeth I set the trends during her reign. One item that showcases finery during Elizabethan England is a lavish bed decked in red and yellow. The color scheme kind of makes me think of Comedy of Errors for some reason. Maybe red and yellow are the comedy due of colors. In London, how can you hear of the “globe” without thinking to the famous theatre? There was a wooden installation called (drum roll please): The Globe. The Globe is by the Cuban art collective Los Carpinteros and serves as a response to the themes associated with the Enlightenment. The shape leaves the structure up to interpretation, but provides an excellent space for conversing between our fellow humans.
Of course, if we are speaking of the connections to plays I have seen, I must mention clocks. There were gorgeous, handcrafted clocks throughout the Europe 1600-1850 collection. Clocks, or more accurately time, are integral to both Benjamin Button and Back to the Future. Both musicals use the phrase, “matter of time” throughout their songs. Clocks are the most tangible symbol we have to consider time so they definitely made me think of these two musicals that are time-centric.
Lastly, shout out to the inclusion of Spitalfields Silk because I’ve been there!
So far we’ve been able to see two fringe shows: Jules and Jem and How to Succeed and Business Without Really Trying. I found that compared to the West End shows that I saw, Fringe Theatre matches or almost exceeds their level of talent. Both fringe shows had at least one popular name/ television or film actor as well which was interesting to see their performance on a smaller scale. In How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the stage was small, the theater was extremely hot, and the costumes were colorful. With a small stage and limited playing space, I felt that the actors were still able to exhibit their talent and take advantage of their blocking space in a positive way. The vocals were brilliant, some much better than some I saw in West End shows, and their movement, choreography, lines, and timing were rehearsed very well. The script was kitschy, and some songs weren’t necessarily needed, but I thought the musical as a whole was enjoyable. You could easily tell that the story was developed in the 1960s, but the use of non-traditional casting did well at turning around any controversial or old-fashioned jokes and tropes. The use of non-traditional casting and gender-bended roles in both of these shows make the plots feel fresher and give new meanings to the outdated scripts. However, though the scripts feel refreshed because of the actors, the words are still the same, and some of the words just don’t transfer. No matter how adapted some shows are, some scripts will always feel dull or confusing, or problematic.
On this trip I saw many fringe theatre shows. What is fringe you may ask, fringe is a show that is off West End or Broadway and normally has a smaller theatre. On this trip I had two favorites from our list of fringe. “Jules and Jim” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”.
“How to Succeed in Business” was my favorite of the two. The casting was very untraditional and I think that why I enjoyed it. It was preformed on a thrust stage so they were moving all around. It was interesting how everyone had a mic on them but the theatre was small enough that their voices projected just fine without them. They had maybe six movable set pieces and they made due for what they could fit on their tiny stage. The lighting was very interesting, lots of older lights with lighting gels on them. I enjoyed the simplicity of the colors in the show. I kept trying to figure out how they got that pink to light the stage, but I couldn’t find where it was coming from! The blocking was very aesthetically pleasing, because there were lots of triangles. I would LOVE to see it again!
My second favorite was “Jules and Jim” at Jermyn Street Theatre. The set was so simple and I think that had to of been the SMALLEST theater I’ve been in. I loved being able to see all of their facial expressions, and even when they were talking soft I could still hear them. The set was interesting because it was all painted blue and the bathrooms were on the stage. They used a sliding glass to tell the changing of setting. I also noticed they stopped using the glass slide halfway through the show. After the show we got to meet the cast and that was very fun.
Overall, I think I like fringe theatre more than other theatre. It feels more intimate and I just feel more connected with the characters. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed the West End shows here that much. I feel like fringe shows is where you go to get real theatre.
The Victoria and Albert Museum was an expansive, history-rich museum that I enjoyed strolling through this morning. Although I wasn’t able to hit every section of it, as there was so much to look at, I saw some really cool exhibits and learned a lot about many different civilizations and cultures.
One piece I saw reminded me of the musical I wrote about in my last post, Gloryride. It was a collection of high-ranking and decorative armor from the 30-Year War, which was the first Europe-wide conflict. During the war, the arts suffered as churches, cities, and palaces burnt down, but as the plaque at the museum said, “the war also stimulated artists to champion causes, commemorate leaders, celebrate victories and record the terrors they witnessed.” These pieces made me think of Gloryride as the musical is set during World War II, another large-scale war. Gino, the main character in the musical, is championed as a leader of the people as he rose to fame bike riding. The people of Italy looked up to him and put his opinions on a high pedestal. The armor I saw was worn by heroes of the 30-Year War, just like Gino was a hero of his war in a different way, as he helped hundreds of children escape death in Italy. These pieces of armor are art that capture a historic moment in time, just like Gloryride does as well.
Even though the theatre portion of the museum was closed, it was still really interesting finding ways to connect works of theatre with the works of art on showcase at the museum. All mediums of art can be connected and I think that they enhance each other in a really thought-provoking way. Art is inherently collaborative and helps bring ideas and people together.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum today, and there were far too many floors in that building. There were so many pieces of history inside the building including things like: sculptures, costumes, jewelry, architecture, weaponry, and more from all over the world. But the thing that stood out the most to me was a small model clock tower. It was lined with silver and gold and its hands were forever stopped at one specific time, 12:05. On its own, the clock is a very well made and beautiful piece of art and architecture, but it stood out even more to me because of how much it related to a couple of the shows that I have seen while on this trip. The two that I’m thinking of are Back to the Future the Musical and Benjamin Button the Musical. Two very weird movies to make movies out of, but two musicals that have significant themes of time. Time is the only element we can’t control, it will always be in control of our lives and determine when and where we go. In Benjamin Button, the main character is always fighting the clock and forever dreading the day that his own clock stops. His battle with time gives him purpose, but sometimes forces him to ignore where and who he is in the moment. In my head, this golden clock tower resembles his fate. Ominously ticking onwards and forcing Benjamin to count down his life. In Back to the Future, Marty is literally racing against time to return to a life he cares about and the people he loves. He is always running out of time throughout the show, and I see the golden clock tower as the symbol of his success once he finally beats the clock. In a more literal sense, the golden clock tower also represents the clock tower they used in the show. All in all, time is a scary concept, but if we cower and fear it then we will be able to grow, learn, and create the wonderful things of life. Time is a reminder, but there is no rule of nature saying we have to listen to it all the time. Sometimes it’s good to just live in the moment.
On Monday we saw the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Southwark Playhouse! Before coming on this trip to London I didn’t really know what fringe theatre was, but throughout the last few weeks I have learned that fringe theatre is just a smaller space like a blackbox theatre or a bit bigger where a musical or play is put on. I have seen a few fringe shows during my time here in London, I have seen Jules and Jim, The Curious case of Benjamin Button and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
While watching all of these show I have noticed some similarities, their space is really small compared to a show on the West End or Broadway, which I think helps the actors build a much better connection with the audience because they are so close to the audience and sometimes even in the audience, also because their space is so small I was able to notice every part of the set whereas in a big show you sometimes miss some set pieces or props because there is so much to look at in a bog space. Also, because it is such a small space they don’t have room for a lot of sets and props so they have to make do with very little to bring the show together. Somethings else that I noticed in Jules and Jim and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is that because the space is so small that they need every part of the space and so before the show started we would enter the theatre space in places where the actors would be performing or if we needed to go to the toilet in Jules and Jim we would walk across the stage and basically backstage where the actors were because the space was small, and In How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying there was a women who sat infant of me in the 2nd act but not the first act because she arrived after the show had started and she couldn’t enter because she would have to walk in exactly where the show was happening and she would have been in the way of a dance number, scene, set change or a blackout.
I really enjoyed the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, I loved the dancing, singing, and the plot of the show. I think that everyone did great in their roles and like I said in a different post I enjoyed how multiple people played various characters in the show. The only thing that bothered me was the height difference between the two leads, Finch was played by a women, but was supposed to be playing the character of a man, and the actor playing Rosemary was very tall. Which is all fine, but I guess it just took me out of the musical a little bit because it just looked very awkward to me, again all the actors did great it just felt like a weird choice. I really liked the Uncle I thought the actor playing him was very funny, and what made it even more interesting was the a women was in that role, I really enjoyed it.
Overall, I really enjoyed all of the fringe shows that I saw and it made me want to go back to the states and watch shows in smaller spaces and see how they compare to fringe in London. I definitely wish that we were hear longer so that I could go see some more fringe shows, but they need to work on getting some AC in buildings before I stay too much longer because Southwark Playhouse where we saw How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was SO hot. I was sweating from the time we walked in to the time I stepped out the building, I feel so bad for the actors I can’t imagine how hot they felt especially under the lights and not having AC. But who knows they might be ok with it by now.
Theatre in London U of A 