Firstly, our favorite lunchtime pub, the Fitzrovia (shown above), is no longer offering their £5 lunch specials.
Secondly, my favorite UK beer, called Strongbow, has just recently been revealed to me as being a cider. I don't understand it...you have beers like Früli, which is a (I shit you not) pink stawberry beer, but you have to classify Strongbow as a cider? I need to get in touch with the brewers in hopes of changing their manufacturing process to produce something that isn't as sissy.
Anyway, now for some positive news.
Bonus Play of the Week: Twelfth Night @ the Donmar West End in Leicester Square...
featuring Sir Derek Jacobi as Malvolio!
Unbelievable production. There was only one actor who didn't amaze me and he wasn't given that big of a role anyhoo. Hysterical (for something written 400 some years ago) and everything a Shakespearean play should be. I wasn't too fond of the fact that Sir Derek was center stage for the curtain call, however. Malvolio is only a minor character in the play, but he was given the center spot above the three lead actors because he was famous. To be fair, though, he kicked his fair share of ass in that production.
The next day, we experienced a class on what some of the other RADA-NYU alumni liked to refer to as "Facebook Day". The class was entitled "Elizabethan Costume"...and the curriculum was playing dress-up.
Tommy, Valerie, Phillip, and Jarret: The Council of Silly Hats
The Council of Silly Hats (after a much-needed period of reformation)
Anna had never worn a corset before, so the expression on her face at the moment is a mixture of utter surprise and moderate discomfort.
Then, the teacher added the other four, immensely heavy layers of clothing to produce something to the effect of Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
When she gave her a collar, the transformation was complete. I believe this is Anna's new Facebook profile picture...hence the name "Facebook Day": all you do is take pictures of yourselves in these costumes.
Now, when the teacher went to dress a man, we ran into the issue that she did not have any stockings or tights for the men to wear, so she suggested that the men just slip the clothes over their pants. Unfortunately, Joel was wearing baggy jeans, which did not facilitate that plan.
The teacher said that in all her years of doing this class, she's never had a man take off his pants to put on the costume. We were so proud of Joel.
The traditional Elizabethan couple...
...and the not-so-traditional Elizabethan couple.
Jarret and Doug were the next of the men to try on clothes. We remembered discussing that the whole point of the stockings on a man was so that he could show off his calf muscles. Discussions were had and based on Joel's precedent and the fashion goals of the time...
...none of the "Elizabethan men" had their pants on. All save Doug. Funny thing is, though, he's a pretty short guy, so all the clothes seemed to work really well with his height, as most people of that era were smller in stature.
I'm a fan of this picture because it looks like something you'd find hanging in the dining room of an abandoned mansion somewhere in woods.
Sooner or later, everyone got to try on some piece of Elizabethan costuming.Everyone exept Nathaniel and myself. We weren't going to fit into any of the men's clothes the teacher brought. To paint the picture more accurately, look at Jonathan in the picture with the men and their calf-muscles (he's the slightly pilgramy one). Jonathan is 6ft tall and pretty damn thin, but he said the clothes were really tight and they were quite short on him. Now, I am 6ft tall, but much broader than Jonathan. I would have gone Bruce Banner the second I tried to move my arms. As for Nathaniel, he's slightly broader than Jonathan, but he's nearly 6ft 4in tall. There was no way in hell he could have worn the doublet without it turning into a belly shirt. We were both slightly disappointed, but we found solace in our own special talents and abilities...like being able to reach things on very tall shelves, or the freedom to shop at a Big & Tall and find something that doesn't make us look like little boys trying on our fathers' suits.
After that, Brigid (our Sonnets teacher...do try to keep up) took us on a field trip to the National Portrait Gallery via the bus.
Unfortunately, we accidentally left Nathaniel at the bus stop when his Oyster Card (that's British for "Metro Card") ran low. This photo was taken shortly after that realization.
Fortunately, he met up with us shortly thereafter at the gallery (at which, no photgraphy is allowed). If you're wondering what the portraits looked like or which ones they had, use Wikipedia to search up British people from before the 1900's. Chances are, the picture you se at the top of the webpage is the picture they have of that person in the gallery.
We were pretty much kicked out of the gallery at 6pm, but our show for class didn't start until 7:30pm.
We found a little "American Italian" place near Trafalgar Square. We thought, "Why not?" Joel said it best: "My mind is saying 'yes', but my stomach is saying 'fuck yes'!" It was the first time in a while that any of us saw fries listed as fries on a menu. Nostalgia...
Official Show of the Week: "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" @ Trafalgar Studios right by Trafalgar Square..
The play was written by Joe Orton, so it was a pretty dark comedy. I'm not sure if I should give anything away plot-wise, but it's damn good. It's one of those plays where the playwright leads you down a road, stops halfway, keeps going in a direction that you never thought you'd go, but then you realize that you've been going in that direction from the start. Does that make any sense? I don't care...it makes sense to me.
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One thing I will say though is that we got two unexpected surprises from that show.
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1) The female lead was played by Imelda Staunton, the actress who played Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies.
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2) She appeared in a damn-near transparent negligee at one point during Act One...and nothing else.
I don't think I can watch "The Order of the Phoenix" ever again. What has been seen...cannot be unseen.
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Also, a few updates with new classes:
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Speech (with Adrienne Thomas) - So far, this seems like your run-of-the-mill Voice & Speech class, only you focus more on diction than anything else. No strong feelings about it at the moment, but that also means I don't necessarily dislike it.
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Language & Style (with Gregory de Polnay) - This man is not only the single-most knowledgeable Shakespearean actor/teacher I've ever met, and not only do his pearls of wisdom shimmer like diamonds, but the man is so British that I'm convinced he can piss Earl Grey. Absolutely brilliant man. We had him from 7pm-9pm tonight, but no one gave a damn what time it was. He could have been teaching at 4am and he would have seen full attendance...and not just because we'd risk deportation if we miss classes.
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One final note: Geoff Bullen has revealed to us the second round of performances after the "Arts of Shakespeare" showcase in a week. We knew that half the group would be doing The Tempest and half the class would be doing Joan la Pucelle (a mixing together of the Joan of Arc scenes from the Henry VI plays). Today, Geoff told us that in a moment of genius, he would have Joan la Pucelle done with an all-female cast of 8, and The Tempest done with an all-male cast of 8.
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The men have all held council on this matter.
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We have decided unanimously.
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Our performance of Shakespeare's island-based tragedy will be called The Tempenis.
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PS - I had to do the period-thing again. Blogger can suck it.
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