Theatre Workshop, Theatre Tour, and Top Hat!

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!