Aug 04, 2009
1. Pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. The cars/double-decker buses will hit you!
2. If you want to shop, do it early. Everything closes by 6 p.m. — most likely to give the shop workers time to go home and get ready to go to the pub.
3. Anytime after noon in London is a good time to start drinking. Pubs are full by 7 p.m. and there is no law against public drunkenness. Pub parishioners spill out into the streets mixing and mingling with the neighboring pubs and creating a kind of street party.
4. Men in London are quite forward. While walking by a restaurant, before asking my name or anything, a guy asked me "Can I have your information?" Translation: "Can I have your phone number?"
5. Just because it's summer in the rest of the world doesn't mean it's summer in London! Yesterday, while walking around the Bloomsbury district, checking out the University of London, I was caught in a downpour of rain... in my flip flops!
6. London is a beautiful, yet dirty city. Walking down the Thames there was trash strewn everywhere, even on a statue by Salvador Dali. There seems to be no public trash cans, which is unfortunate as the trash really does take away from the natural beauty of the city. Yet, it still looks nicer than Los Angeles!!!
Aug 05, 2009
When you meet Ethan Hawke,
get a bloody picture!!! So at our first Shakespeare performance on Monday night
of The Winter's Tale, my friends and
I were standing around talking after the performance and just happened to stand
there so long that the actors started to emerge. I spotted Ethan Hawke, who
played Autolycus, the lovable thief, and pointed him out. One of the girls was
brave enough to get a photo while Ethan politely said "Hey, how's it
going?" to the rest of us. He was very polite but didn't seem like he
wanted to stand around and chat so I didn't ask for him to take another. =(
On a side note, Shakespeare
performed live is amazing. It was the first Shakespeare performance that I've
seen live, and I was kind of hit during the middle of the play by the
realization that this play has been performed on stage for the last 400 years.
The combination of the talented actors and live audience was extremely
powerful. I can't wait to see more!
Aug 16, 2009
So Stratford-upon-Avon has been an interesting experience. The whole town is a bit of a mix between old and new. There are just as many seniors (if not more) walking the streets of Stratford as there are UCLA students. There are Tudor-style buildings erected during Shakespeare's lifetime and modern buildings. There's the White Swan, an old Tudor-style home turned hotel. And there's the Stratford-upon-Avon modern chain hotel (where we are staying)! There are brick-lined streets and cars racing down them blaring the rapper Pit Bull. Everywhere you go here, there seems to be that stark contrast between old and new.
The same rings true for the performances of the Royal Shakespeare Company. While the director keeps the setting for Julius Caesar in the time period for which it is written, she uses devices of the 21st century such as projection screens to generate the massive amounts of people needed for the crowd scenes after Caesar's assassination, and the war scenes of the second half of the play.
Classes have also been more varied here. We've heard from the costume designer for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the assistant director of As You Like It, and the actor who played Brutus in Julius Caesar. As I write this on Thursday, we are also scheduled also to hear from two more actors within the week. It is nice to be able to hear their perspectives on the play and the preparations that go into the productions. I like that we are getting a more hands-on experience here in Shakespeare's home town!
Aug 20, 2009
Jude Law surrounded by fans after his Hamlet performance. Look at all the cameras! Amanda's analysis: "The hottest Hamlet I've ever seen!!!"
Yesterday was our much-awaited matinee performance of
Hamlet featuring Jude Law in the title role. We were all worried that he wouldn't show up to perform, since he hasn't been performing in all of the matinees. However, I was relieved and surprised to see the curtain rise on his bowed head. I could tell straight away from the hairline that it was him.
As the play has been sold-out, we had really horrible balcony seats, which reallllyyy sucks when you've been lucky enough to get used to the front row!!! We were basically viewing the top of the actors' heads rather than their faces, which I found really took away from the emotional connection the actors generally have had with the audience in the other productions we have seen.
Since Hamlet is my favorite play by Shakespeare, I really had my hopes up to see a moving and intense production. I enjoyed Jude Law's portrayal, but unfortunately, the bulk of the performance fell very flat for me. The costumes and the sets were all very drab in gray and black. This made Gertrude's telling Hamlet to "Cast thy nighted color off" completely irrelevant, since it looked as if the whole court were still in mourning rather than just Hamlet. The actors did not seem to have any chemistry with each other.
There were some stand-out individual performances. Kevin McNally as Claudius did a good job. But it was pretty much The Jude Law Show. He even had his own individual curtain call. Some in our group didn't enjoy his performance, but I enjoyed it very much. He played Hamlet in kind of the same air as Mel Gibson's Hamlet. I felt he was a very active and animated Hamlet. And if nothing else, he's at least the hottest Hamlet I've ever seen!!!
Read on: Getting Jude Law's autograph.
Aug 24, 2009
Cool things seen in the last four days:
- Platform 9 ¾;
- The Reptile House at the London Zoo where Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was filmed;
- Evensong inside Westminster Abbey;
- The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace;
- Buckingham Palace;
- Jane Austen's original manuscript of Persuasion;
- The Gutenberg Bible;
- John Milton's handwriting;
- The original copy of Alice In Wonderland handwritten and illustrated by Lewis Carroll;
- Charlotte Brontë's handwritten Jane Eyre;
Read on: There's so much to see here!
Amanda Pluskett-Turley is a 24-year-old UCLA senior, majoring in American Literature and Culture. Amanda comes from Sacramento, Calif. and this marks her first trip to England. "I've always wanted to travel and this will be my first opportunity to do it! I'm looking forward to seeing the plays performed and seeing the sights of London."