January 4, 2013
Hi! My name is Deanna Sell and I’m
a sophomore pre-optometry student here at CSS. I chose to come on this trip
because it combines two of my favorite things - theatre and travelling! I don’t
even know where to begin with how wonderful this trip has been, but I suppose I
can sum up today for a start. We began
the day like all others, a quick breakfast of Frosties in the hotel and headed
up to get ready for the day. After Alicia and I once again arrived late to the
lobby (never again, I promise!), we split into two groups and headed out to start our day. I am part of
the theatre group here in London so we began our day by travelling to a studio
of the National Theatre to participate in a directing workshop. When we
arrived, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as our group leader, Curtis, asked
us to form a circle on the floor. He then introduced himself as one of the
puppeteers of the play War Horse, which we are attending as a group next week.
We were also introduced to one of the actors in War Horse who sat in to watch
our workshop. We began the workshop by doing a walking exercise that forced us
to open our minds to spatial awareness and eye contact. The object was to fill
the entire room at all times without leaving any gaps. After many failed
attempts, we finally managed to conquer the exercise once and for all! We
continued to do a few more similar spatial and voice exercises before we dove
into acting. Curtis handed each of us a script and asked us to split into small
groups and decide as actors how to interpret the scene. We then had to present
our work in front of the group. It was very interesting to see that the same
exact scene could be interpreted in so many different ways. After we finished
the acting portion, Curtis handed us a different scene and asked us to
interpret this scene from a production stand point, with one person acting as
director, one as designer, and one as voice and movement coach. It was amazing
to see the different directions the scenes took! We had scenes from a post-apocalyptic
world to an arranged marriage, and a few in between. I feel that this workshop
truly enlightened my view of theatre, not just from an acting standpoint, but
from a directing standpoint as well.
After
the workshop, we split off to have a bit of free time. The people I was with
decided to grab lunch at a cute Italian restaurant and then headed to Waterloo
Station to do some shopping. We found some really cute stores and spent a few
hours exploring.
After shopping, we headed over to the National Theatre to take
a back stage tour. We were shown the three theatres in the building, along with
the backstage section connecting the three stages. Our tour guide explained to
us how they are able to change entire sets in a day, and swap between two shows
on the same stage every other week. We were shown the storage rooms where some
of the sets are kept, and learned that there is an additional storage space
below one of the stages. I found this tour fascinating because I thought it was
so interesting to learn about how these big theatres are able to accomplish so
many set changes in such a short amount of time.
To end
the night, we traveled to meet up with the literature group, and as one large group attended a production of the
musical Top Hat. On our way there we crossed Waterloo Bridge in London and I
was able to capture this striking view of the London Eye and Big Ben.
The show was about a tap dancer, Jerry Travers, and his
quest to catch the beautiful leading lady, Dale Tremont. Alicia, Becca,
Caitlin, and I couldn't help but notice the striking similarities between our
own Daniel Porter, and the leading man Jerry Travers, who both seem to have an
endless ego and tireless drive to win over the ladies. The show displayed some
beautiful dancing and singing and was truly enticing to watch. The costumes
were phenomenal and the set changes were flawless and never-ending. Overall,
the show was beautifully done and I would recommend it to anyone in a
heartbeat. At the end of the night we returned to our hotel to finish some
homework and watch movies together while avoiding a second noise complaint as
one big, happy family!
Top Hat was absolutely amazing!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you guys had a lot of fun with your workshop today!
I have to agree, Top Hat was wonderful. It was a very fun show to watch!
DeleteTop Hat made me so happy! I danced the whole way back to the hotel!
ReplyDelete