June 3rd, 2022

This afternoon, and this entire day really, is one that I will remember for a long time to come. I started the morning attending a fancy brunch where we unknowingly spent 10 quid on water. However, the waffle and bacon I had were absolutely incredible, and I genuinely want to know their recipe for their whipped cream that sat on top of the waffle. The chocolate syrup was a nice touch too. 

After taking a several long hour nap, I woke up ready to watch Legally Blonde! Upon arriving at Regents Park, I knew I was going to love the atmosphere. Through walking around the park and gazing at the plethora of flowers ranging in different colors to watching other people pass me by, I began to understand just how beautiful that park is. It was a picture perfect day, and on my walk, I was fortunate enough to see tiny glimpses of other peoples’ lives and the joy that surrounds them. A birthday party picnic. A boy on the shoulders of his father. Siblings arguing while their parents followed behind them. Friends reclining back together in white and green chairs and talking about their days. All of these tiny moments meant so much to me, as they were able to capture such a picturesque moment in time. 

When it became time to go inside the play, I honestly did not know what to expect. I had watched a video of another play being performed in Regents Park, but when I walked in I was pleasantly surprised by the open air theatre. Once the musical began, I was mesmerized by how grand the production was. It was truly spectacular how over the top the play was, which I think just heightened the experience all together. I think had it not been so grand, Legally Blonde would have fallen short and left the audience wanting more. 

In terms of the space itself, I liked the open air theatre. There were specific moments where the wind caught a cast member’s hair just right, which made me think “ah yes, I am glad we are outside for this.” However, there were other times, like when the musical had to be paused for the stage to be dried from the environmental conditions, when I thought “ehhh, I wish this were inside.” All in all, I enjoyed the outdoor experience, as it offers a unique take to a production. While there were bits and pieces that could have maybe helped the cast and directors more had it been inside, I feel like with this being shown outside, it provides an opportunity for individuals to obtain a unique experience, where they will remember when they saw Legally Blonde and how they felt while watching it. At least for me, the space will make me remember a time of happiness and joy. 

-Maggie Martin

Blog Post 6: Legally Blond

By Isaac Overman

June 3^rd 2022

Today we went to see a open air production of Legally Blond. The play was gripping from start to finish. It was a musical and that was a fantastic choice. The music was phenomenal which really aided the entire production. The band was skilled but the actors were also superb and really embodied the characters. To me the standout performance was by Emit. He was funny and had one of the best songs with Elle. Every single thing felt like it was planned and executed perfectly. But was the Amphitheatre a good choice for the play? And my answer is no. Mostly because I really wanted to see a crazy set and that just was not there. The difference between the set of Harvard and the hair salon was a single stool. I think if they were inside the acoustics would have been better and the set would have been more in-depth. This was a great play but even great things have chinks in the armor. And for me the biggest flaw was the open-air theatre. The band was so flawless but it felt like with proper walls the sound could have been just that much better. I personally loved it and compared to Lift this is a master class on how to put on a great musical. It still does not take the best play spot from Life Of Pi which was one of the best plays I have ever seen. I loved Legally Blond and I think it was really fun and maybe I will get some flack for this but I felt like something was missing. Do not get me wrong it was really good but something was missing. I wonder if it was the fact that it rained a little and that the play was outside. But, I think something else was missing. It felt a little too corny. The original is a classic and I think it just missed a little for me when it comes to speaking to my heart. I loved this play 9/10. I just feel like it was so close to being something as special as Life Of Pi.

June 3

Today we adventured all the way to Regents Park. Established in 1811, this park was designed by John Nash & James and Decimus Burton by order of the Prince Regent, whom it is named after. It is now home to the London Zoo, Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, and the Regents Park Open Air Theatre.

Being that the show was preformed in an open air space, I was interested in how the show would play out. I have only seen high school and college productions done outdoors, never a professional theatre company so, I was stoked to see what tricks they had to bring Hardvard and the courtroom to life. First thing I noticed, is most productions of this show have real dogs playing Bruiser and Rufus, but being outside, even the most trained professional show dogs could react to a squirrel running by or pigeon who just happens to watch the show. It is to unpredictable, so this production the dogs were played by humans, which was very clever and a very new take to see.

I also thought the crew did a good job of prioritizing the safety of the actors. Walking in, and being a dancer, my first thought was if it rains are they going to slip. And being that this show is a spectacle of choreography, that is a huge concern to be valued. Luckily when the stage got a bit too wet before a huge number, they stopped the show for a second to wipe the floor.

Overall, I didn’t think the show was dampened at all for its outdoor location. Granted, it was not pouring outside where there would be probably a different response. They were even clever in giving the girl with a perm an umbrella so that it would follow the whole plot of the big revel at the end. I really enjoyed this performance and truly think Courtney Bowman is an incredible Elle Woods.

Legally Blonde- Regents Park

June 3^rd

Before I jump into the musical performance I saw today, I wanted to share the delicious brunch I had at the British Museum. Isaac and I had cream tea service which they presented in a gorgeous set. We had earl grey tea, cream, sugar cubes, raisin scones, strawberry jam, and clotted cream. It was an amazing introduction to cream tea, and I look forward to the many more I shall consume. We also explored the Printmaking in Prague exhibition, and it titillated my love of ink and paper. The British Museum is in an expansive, historic building and many hours could be spent exploring various cultures and ages.

This was my first outdoor theatre experience. Regents Park is a beautiful garden area and had some of the sweetest flowers I have ever smelled. It was made memorable by the slightly disruptive weather. On the bright side, it added drama and we were able to see people mop up the stage. In some ways, I think the outdoor atmosphere added to production, but it also limited it. It was especially affected when the sun was still up; it caused the set to be really exposed with few availabilities with lighting and affects. The air was refreshing but I do not think Legally Blonde was at its best outside.

Onto the play! It is a classic story and the directors dialed up the spunk and camp to their version. My favorite part was the songs. The live band set the tone and the guitar had some amazing melodies. The jump rope scene really cemented the energy in the second act. I loved every scene with Paulette and even though it was over the top I found the random Ireland information hilarious. I thought this musical was easier to understand than Lift and the cast nailed the American accents. I would have liked a few more serious moments to add deeper emotions to the characters and the dogs were a bit too bizarre for me. Overall, I enjoyed seeing a play that was fun and upbeat with songs that stick in your head and get you moving in your chair. I think everyone should experience an outdoor play and enjoy the ride.

-Tabi is Booked.

My walk of the National Gallery was a bit short for reasons I will get into later. I chose two portraits of the Crucifixion of Christ. 

In the first portrait we see a close up on Christ’s face as he is carrying the cross. Interesting things to note about this painting is the black background. There is nothing but Christ in this frame. I believe this was done to add even more emphasis into the emotions that are being portrayed. Another interesting aspect to this piece is the robes that are being worn. In many other depictions he is shown to only be wearing a tunic of some sort. Christ’s eyes are where this art piece thrives. You are able to see such pain, such sadness through the eyes. It is a powerful portrait because in this moment it truly portrays Christ as alone. No background, no others, and a single light source on Christ’s face gives the impression that he is walking in a tunnel toward the light.

The second painting has much more going on. It depicts the crucifixion of Christ with Gestas and Dismas on his left and right respectively. It also shows a massive crowd of romans and nuns alike crowding around the recently strung up son of God. In the background we can see Jerusalem and along the road more prisoners being taken to the same hill. The Christ depicted in this portrait is skinny, scrawny, bloody, and dead. We see no emotion on his face besides rest. He looks although his body has been through pain and suffering. Unlike the very zoomed in style of the previous piece. 

My walk in the National Gallery was cut short due to me becoming very fatigued and cloudy minded. In fact after an hour I was so tired and so sore I almost could not walk on my own. I was helped back to the hotel through the tube system and decided to take a covid test. Low and behold, I tested positive. I am now on day 4 of my quarantine. Luckily I feel almost fully recovered. Today was the longest day because I was awake for most of the day. The last 2 I have slept for 14-18 hours a day. Waking up only to use the bathroom, eat, or drink and take more medicine.

Photos By Austin Bomkamp

After traversing the many, many paintings at the National Gallery in London, I started to notice that I was pulled toward certain types of art. The paintings that was pulling my attention was painting of landscapes or of ships, especially those lacking the presence of people. I am Fascinated by the painters ability to create such realistic feeling depictions of thing. I also saw a few paintings that included as the main subject a dog, of bird. The immense amount of detail and presences those paintings were displaying was amazing. I am not very interested in portrait painting usually however there was several painting of portraits that I did enjoy mainly because they felt simple and beautiful. After figuring out what type of paintings I liked, I looped back to review a few paintings that I quickly skimmed over for a better look. One of the paintings that I came across was painted by Willem van de Velde (1633-1707) A Dutch Yacht Saluting. The center ship is a ‘statenjacht’ (a vessel used by Dutch Officials). Willem was the leading Dutch marine painter of his age. This painting depicts many ships that sails are lacking wind with amber grey clouds in the distance, a calm sense of stillness with only light breeze on the flags signaling any kind of movement. The painting it self feels warm and soothing, as if they just arrived after a journey. I love how much detail is in the ships and how thy sky can be filled with large clouds but yet feel calm.

A similar painting the was created by Jan van de Cappelle (1626-1679), A shipping Scene with a Dutch Yacht Firing a Salute. The paintings have similar feeling in stillness with its mirror water and the flags falling without a breeze. But yet they have a different mood to them, there is less amber and more dark tones in this painting. The sky feels likes it has more energy in it even though it has less movement than the painting by Willem. Both of the paintings show Dutch vessels in a sense of stillness, the one by Willem feels like the movement just stopped while the one painted by Cappelle feels like the movement is about to start. It is interesting how they both have included the clouds as strong narratives to their paintings. Art continues to fascinate me by how much that can be told by still image created over many hours of hard work. I am happy to have had the opportunity to be able to view all these amazing works of art!

On our seventh day across the pond, the group took a break from absorbing theatrical and architectural art (as well as some sculpture and mosaics inside of St. Paul’s Cathedral) to instead absorb some visual and sculptural art. To be specific, we made an early afternoon visit to the Tate Modern Museum, one of the largest galleries of modern art in the world. The building used to be a hydro-electric plant, aspects of which are still recognizable, such as the prominent chimney still attached to the top and the massive steel girders running up and across the walls in the main entry hall.

Shawn had pointed out the building sitting on the south side of the Thames River a number of times during previous excursions, but the size of it never registered in my head until I went inside. The ceiling was very high in the entry hall, and, given the number of galleries I never saw despite spending __ hours there, the square footage used to showcase both permanent and temporary exhibits is surely nothing to scoff at.

I got an excellent look at three displays: the Start Display, the In The Studio display, the Artist and Society display.

Funnily enough, because I walked into one room instead of the other after entering the first room (which showed a video that is part of the Start Display) I looked at the Start Display closer to the end of my tour, so its advisory plaques on ways to look at and think about art went largely unutilized! The pieces in it were interesting enough, most of them being explorations of color ranging from inventing new colors, like Yves Klein’s IKB 79,to reflecting on the historic usage of certain color, as is done in Maria Lalic’s History Painting series.

The In The Studio display consisted of twelve rooms that were divided by various themes; some were dedicated to specific artists, some were dedicated to specific artistic movements, and some were dedicated to specific time periods. But, as one may glean from the display’s title, the placards that accompanied these works gave a great amount of insight into the motivation and methods behind the pieces’ creation. Knowing the origins of the artworks helped me see deeper meaning in them, learn new methods of creating visual art that were previously unknown to me, understand the tenets and founding of movements of art (specifically monochrome with white and Surrealism), and, in the case of a few Cubist paintings, even enabled me to know what the painting was supposed to be of.

Among this display, I found what I believe to be my new favorite painting: Eluhim by Leonora Carrington, created in 1960. Inspired by the folktales told to her as a child, several of the figures in this painting are of a clearly supernatural nature, given the haloes and other symbols of light that rest above their heads as well as their massive wings. But their shapes are only suggestively humanoid; they exude a sense of danger, power, and otherworldliness that strikes me, especially in comparison to the normal animals that occupy the lower portion of the piece. This painting also captivates me because of all of the tiny detail work in it. So many of the brush strokes, from the rays of light coming off of the mysterious source in the center of the scene, to the individual whiskers of the lion’s mane, seem like they could only have been created by a single hair dipped in oil paint, and the level of control required to create that effect is jaw-dropping!

The Artist and Society display functioned as a combination history lesson and art observation to me. All sorts of events, from the Spanish Civil War, to the Nazi regime, to colonialism and its lasting influences in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are regaled and argued against in these artworks, and stand as strong evidence against those who would claim that art has no meaningful impact.

A part of me feels bad for not seeing more of what the Tate Modern has to offer. But my aching feet combined with the alarms set off by unaware tourists stepping over a gray “Do Not Cross” line on the floor that still pierced my ears from two rooms away overwrote my curiosity. But what I managed to see improved my artistic frame of mind, something that, as a theatre maker, will surely come in handy!

Also, an unfortunate update on the debit card situation: someone did manage to spend a good amount of money before I deactivated my card, so I will have to go through the process of disputing those charges as soon as possible. Wish me luck!

The National Gallery was the most traditionally beautiful art gallery I had ever seen. I personally don’t love baroque, still life, portrait style paintings but just to be in the presence of art made by names like Da Vinci, Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso is an unreal experience. Still, I didn’t enjoy the actual art as much as I did the Tate. Modern art is just more fun for me, I feel engaged with it while trying to understand it whereas at the National Gallery I’m just walking around looking at masterpieces disappointed in myself for not knowing the history of every painting and artist. I felt like I was looking at art made by Gods. That type of art is just so impressive, especially for how old it is and I can’t possibly relate to it or the people that made it. Amidst all the seriousness on display, I came across one painting that I found to be intentionally funny. The piece was “The Idle Servant” painted by Nicolaes Maes in 1655. This piece depicts a sleeping maid who has dropped pots all over the floor and her Mistress looks directly at the viewer smirking as if she finds it funny. Meanwhile in the background of the piece there is a cat stealing food. I thought this piece was so fun and interesting because it was one of the only paintings I found that showed an intentional sense of humor or even joy. It feels like a picture that I would have of my friends today and I love the mischievous kitty.

A second painting that really stuck with me was A Girl with a Kitten by Jean Baptiste (1743). What I loved most about this piece were the gentle colors. The blues, whites, and greys are all so light and soft to look at and all complement each other so well.  I have conflicting opinions about the actual girl in the painting. At first glance I see a cute little girl, but the longer you look the older she starts to look until she begins to look like an old lady. She for some reason has cleavage and grey hair. The gallery taught me that these old artists as amazing as they were, weren’t great at painting people who weren’t adults. These two paintings are a little under 100 years apart in age and I think that shows most in the clothes worn by the people in the paintings. I guess they have in common that they are both cat oriented. So yeah… cats 🙂

The National Gallery in London is one of the most captivating art museums I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing. The gallery plays host to countless accomplished artists such as Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. Its halls are vast and towering with enough beautiful architecture to be considered even greater than the art held within. The first paintings I came across were incredibly realistic portraits painted in the 1500s. The portraits were like a glimpse into the life of people that I had no chance of knowing, yet through the canvas I found myself imagining what their lives were like and who they loved. There were many women featured in the portraits, which I loved. These women weren’t painted to be dainty, either. They were shown to be strong and towering with a striking gaze. I found myself empowered by these women who lived so many years before I was even a whisper in this universe. I wonder if their spirits feel those who are touched by their portraits. Do they know that they are honored by those who witness their likeness? I hope so.

The first portrait that struck me was painted by artist Lorenzo Lotto around 1530.

It is titled “Portrait of a Woman inspired by Lucretia” and depicts a seemingly Venetian noblewoman holding an image. The image in the portrait is that of the heroine Lucretia who killed herself after being raped and left a note in Latin containing her last words. It is said that Lucretia was a common example of the virtue of a woman. The woman painted, however, has her bust exposed and her wedding chain is stuffed down her bodice. This contrast to the “virtuous” image of Lucretia mixed with her intense gaze is haunting. It is almost like she is taunting any man who dare trifle with her or show one ounce of contempt. She is in complete control of her audience, ready to strike down any man who challenge her. In a time where women were often overlooked, this painting is especially unique and powerful.

A painting that I thought had very similar vibes to the previous one was a portrait of the heroine Judith, (or possibly Salome?), painted by Sebastiano del Piombo in 1510.

The portrait contains the image of Judith holding the head of the Assyrian general Holofernes who had threatened her and her people. If it is Salome, it is John the Baptist’s head that she is holding. Whether Judith or Salome, the image is incredibly haunting, and I was completely transfixed by her gaze. The eyes are said to be the window into the soul, and her eyes indicate that her soul has been battered and broken by life, yet she stands victorious. Whether she is correct or not in her actions of having this man killed and holding his severed head on a platter, one thing is crystal clear: she is a woman who holds incredible power. Her gaze seems like a warning. I would dare say she didn’t want to commit this act, but the actions of men have forced her hand.

The two paintings are completely separate in content; however, their messages are similar. Both of these women held an inner strength that is expertly translated by their artists. Their eyes speak of tragedy-induced power that should be feared by any man. As a woman myself, I look up to the women in these paintings. I mourn for their hardships in the unforgiving world of men. I commend them for their strength. Their eyes will forever live in my mind and heart as a reminder: hold your ground against those who seek to harm you.

Until the next time,

Dru