Week 6-Birthday Week

Might I add as a preface; I turned 21 this past Wednesday and the term is almost half over.

On my birthday, we went to see "The Grand Tour" at the Finborough Theatre...small blackbox at the back of a bar...underneath a sign that said "theatre & toilets." It was a good diversion, entertaining, but that's all I can say about it.

This week's theme/lesson-people who perform theatre, are good, and are around my age do exist in London. I only say this because we are all cooped up in class all the time it is very easy to forget that we are outside of America...even with teachers who have British accents. We went to see the third year students at Guildhall School of Music and Drama perform "Twelfth Night" on their campus. It was a good show, albeit, a peculiar ending-but I really enjoyed myself. The students were having a great time on stage, and that was so infectious. Then, the next say in Shakespeare class, we all got a taste of that actor-audience relationship that is so prevalent in a lot of Shakespeare's comedies. We did this exercise where, while performing our monologues, our peers shouted out questions on lines they didn't understand or words they didn't hear. It was a bit like heckling, but it was helpful, because it pointed out words that I never would have thought-were important to hit, as well as ideas that are fully formed in my mind-but not as apparent to the audience. Really forced us to find the best way to explain using the words of the monologue-our thoughts to our confused peers. It was so much fun. I was once again reminded of the luxury and privilege that I have here-to be young, to study what I love, in a place that is unfamiliar and exciting and increasingly dear to my heart.

Then, this Friday-I took a trip to the Globe to see a friend perform in his showcase. Walking into the space for the first time was breathtaking. I was skipping around, gaping, weeping (inwardly.) Granted, it is not the original-of course-but it still breathes history. I felt proud to be a member of a long lineage of actors, a tradition, a way of life, family, etc, etc. I never did feel as proud or as aware of this in America-in New York, I feel like it is just necessary. Like theatre is something I have been a part of, I've found my niche in, for a long time-and to back out of it now would be foolish. But, oh, those doubts are still there. But for the two hours I was standing in the freezing cold watching the showcase, I forgot all about that...maybe because of the cold but I like to think it was because of my newly enlightened state of being. On to my favorite part of the post:

my friend Allie, the bridge, and a tempestuous London night

Me before La Traviata! 

Pilgrimage to the Globe Theatre. 

Well-deserved bow after a great performance!

In front of the Globe stage

The London Coliseum is exquisitely beautiful.

A good week. Will spend tomorrow having brunch in North London and catching the Chinese New Year festivities in Chinatown. Happy year of the sheep, everyone!

cheers,
M.Ang

Week 5: A sequence of shows

I really am horrible at blog titles. *cringes*

In any case, this week, the LDA students had the opportunity to see three shows in succession-the first was Macbeth at The Vaults, How to Hold Your Breath at the Royal Court Theatre, and La Traviata at the London Coliseum for the English National Opera. Three vastly different shows. And I wanted to touch on all of them because I realize I haven't really talked about theatre shows on this blog in depth-and I should! These shows we are seeing is an extension of the classroom.

For Macbeth-we had to walk from a station to an underground tunnel-the space they performed in is underneath the tube system, in a mysterious, cave-like, graffiti covered atmosphere. I thought it was refreshingly nice...something different than the usual, indoor proscenium stage. Although, I must say-there is a specific audience that come to the Vaults for art galleries and shows produced by the hottest independent theatre company of the time...namely 20/30 somethings milling about in man-buns, high-waisted jeans, white, casually posh-that sort. We kind of stood out, but I was inspired by the space-it was unconventional, which is what I crave. The show itself was very conceptually driven-they weren't trying to present Shakespeare's Macbeth but rather, a show of their own that takes place inside of Macbeth's "heat-oppresed" brain. They had some moments of brilliance, but failed to set up their ideas in a holistic way, I thought they could have repeated some sequences to fully flesh out certain ideas. I also disliked the actor playing Macbeth. He sped through most of his lines and swallowed the rest of them. But the fact that they used their own concept to drive a production is inspiring. I will give them that.

The show at the Royal Court is by Zinnie Harris, and starred Maxine Peake. She is excellent. It was a lesson to watch her work. Again, I thought this play brought forth a flurry of good ideas, what happens when you fall into hopeless poverty, the consequences of a one night stand, ideas from opposite ends of the spectrum-all crammed in there. Besides the lead actor's work, I was not much moved by anything else. The set was interesting-a huge space that they covered pretty well. The writing is good, of course, but the plot itself-I didn't care for it. Perhaps a play that needs to be taken back to the rehearsal room, reworked, and then presented to an audience.

The opera, however, blew me away. Whoa. We talked about it in my Dramatic Criticism class, and our teacher (Christopher Cook) waxed poetical about the German director, Peter Konwitschny. Apt, and of good credit. Because I thought his vision for the opera was...mind blowing and "original." This was my first opera and I don't have a "traditional" La Traviata to keep in mind, also I do not know anything about the traditions of opera-so I guess I can't really speak with authority. In any case, the set consisted of a series of blood red curtains and one wooden chair. It was done in modern dress, and performed in English. I loved his concept-how we really got to focus on Violetta's character, her struggles, and her arc. I think if I saw a "traditional production" of this, I would be less touched-because it is so contrived-a beautiful woman who died for love. Instead, we followed the story of a less perfect love story-a beautiful woman, yes, who is dying from her exuberant party girl lifestyle, finds a man who claims to love her for who she is-but maybe just loves the idea of her. She decides to love and depend on him, and ends up meeting her death because of it. The curtains corresponded to her psyche, and they would open and close based on the characters present, and the scenes-there were some instances where she would mime closing curtains and opening them, but she pulled at air. In the end, for her death scene, she is left alone on stage in a pool of light with no curtains, her wig cast away, her hair undone, her dress disheveled-I got the sense that we the audience was in a way-responsible for her death too, we willed her death, watched her and slowly poisoned her as well as the other characters on stage. It was invigorating to see one strong idea drive an entire show-the idea of this woman and the curtains that she holds inside of her and that truly adorn her life-having to be the life of the party and perform for her peers 24/7. Brilliant. Could have sounded totally campy when it was first proposed, I think, but then again-he is a respected director-and he definitely followed this idea to the end. Favorite piece of theatre I've seen thus far. A great lesson.

In terms of my actual classes, a lot of internalizing is being done, I think. What I mean is-my teachers for Acting and Shakespeare talk alot about physical gestures, and then internalizing them, and speaking with the same force and conviction as we did when we said the words with the gestures. As well as looking at animals for our characters, and internalizing their characteristics. Then there is another aspect of the word, we now have the raw knowledge of how to speak well, how to warm up our voices and bodies to perform, the dances for Period Dance, the choreography for Stage Combat, the phonetics for our Speech & Dialect class and RP accents...now our task is to apply ourselves to the concepts so that we may perform effortlessly. Let us see this coming week, shall we?

Managed to haul my camera to school and take a couple of pictures of the space...

The Alban-lounge space for students. 

The Shakespeare Room 

The Library

The Shaw room

learning a lot, until next week's post;

M.Ang

Week 4

I wish I could come up with more imaginative titles. But as it is, numbering the weeks will have to do! This week, LDA went to see "The Changeling" at the Globe (in another playhouse, not the actual globe.) It was a thrill to walk across Millennium bridge at night and admire the Globe all lit up. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the production itself because we were standing after a long day of classes for nearly three hours, could only see a sliver of the stage, and the language that I heard (after giving up trying to crane my neck every which way to see the action) was confusing. The playhouse itself is a beautiful space, but curiously built-because it is said that these plays are meant to be heard as well as seen. I don't think you can apply this concept as easily to a modern audience. Bless the words, but I want to observe more than just the language of the play. I couldn't observe the direction or even much of the acting...in any case, it happened, and now I know more about what I don't like. Good or bad, the experience is valuable. I am currently reading a play for one of my classes here, "Space, Place, and Text" by the same author (Thomas Middleton/and Thomas Dekker) called "The Roaring Girl." So far, I'm in love with it. The production must have been insanely good, but they did it this time last year. Shame. 

As far as progress in classes go, I think that I am doing well and keeping up in all-Space, Place, & Text with Varsha is the most "academic" of all my classes, so I've been trying to apply myself more in that module. I am really thankful for my Alexander teacher, Dee, who-apart from giving the best back rubs-has opened my eyes to my bad habits. Alexander technique can not only help with performance, but with general health-so it is assuring to realize that I am working on my craft as well as my health. Voice was also a breakthrough this week, when our tutor-Simon-gave us an exercise sheet to increase our vocal/breathing capacities. I am slowly starting to recognize the fullness of my voice, its ability to expand, once it has been properly prepared. 

We are continuing our object exercises in Acting with Aoife-which teaches me a lot about the importance of concentrating on the moment, and focusing like a laser beam on one's objective. Shakespeare with Yolanda is always great fun, because not only is she brilliant, but also adamant on working through physical gestures. I find her methods to be incredibly helpful, in the last class, we divided our monologues into beats (or switches, as I think of them) and paired different but relevant gestures to each beat (of thought). At the end, we are to dance our entire monologue before speaking the speech. She is focused on teaching us how to internalize these grand gestures we create, so that speaking "normally" will have the same intensity of intention as speaking with these gestures. Ingenious. 

I am starting to build a repertoire of monologues in my audition seminar, which is fantastic-because I need to start preparing for senior showcase now...and reading all of these new plays and learning this new material will help the process. Sure, I am tired most of the time-but always thankful that I get to go to these classes, see these shows, explore this city. I have learned more about what I like and don't like in terms of theatre, (by "like" I mean-what I would also like to produce, what is important for the times we live in today-in my opinion.) I have also had conversations with fellow students, about race in theatre, film, and society, about the thirst for success in our field, the narrowness of such success, the pitfalls of fame, the power of our craft-goes to show some young people do have hope for change and the minds to go with it. To pursue theatre in earnest, to believe in it, is that courage or lunacy? Someone said that she does not think one term could exist without the other. I really hope she is right. Because I am still questioning myself every morning. 

And then, the next day, Kathy Pogson (director of the program) sent out an email to all of us, starting off with "Dear Bravehearts..." 

It's like she knows. On to pictures... 

Visited Oxford with friends this past Saturday :)

most definitely squealed in delight when I saw this staircase, used in the Harry Potter movies. 

Oxford is lovely. A bit sleepy, but very charming. Here I am at Christ Church! 

peaceful moments walking down High Street.

all for now, will take my camera to campus tomorrow for pictures/videos! 

ta, darlings, 

M. Ang 

Week 3 Recap!

Flat 10 at a reception given by Fordham alum, William Loschert, at his home in Cadogan Square!

couldn't resist the grand piano...

Fordham Theatre '16, LDA Spring '15-represent!

We started off this past week with a play at Trafalgar studios called "The Ruling Class" by Peter Barnes-most obviously a star vehicle for James McAvoy, but it is still a great piece of work. James performed phenomenally, as did the other actors-although I could not really care for their characters because they were barely fleshed out in comparison to McAvoy's character. I got to meet him afterwards too, and that was a great inspiration. He really is a humble guy, must have been exhausted after the show, but he met everyone in the queue. We also got to see "Bull" by Mike Bartlett on Thursday at the Young Vic-and that was also fantastic. A happy coincidence because A. Mike Bartlett's "Cock" was the first play I ever saw in New York and B. David Tennant was in the audience.   I find myself inspired, not just by the acting showcased in these plays, but all artistic elements-set, lighting, direction, the script itself. Most shows we have seen thus far seem to have a preoccupation with class/societal structure...a pattern in the English collective consciousness?

At Trafalgar for "The Ruling Class."

The Young Vic for "Bull." Very diverse audience in terms of age and race.

Classes are becoming more and more rigorous, people are starting to sniffle. One day, one person sneezes, the next day-everyone is sick. Trying to keep myself mentally and physically fit. Maybe it is just my imagination, but I think I am starting to notice a slight difference when I am performing. I haven't performed for anyone besides my audition tutor yet, but when I rehearse my pieces on my own (and apply the lessons I learned in Alexander, Voice, Shakespeare, Acting) I can note a slight but significant difference in the freedom of my body and the clarity of my voice. Trying to tattoo everything my teachers tell me onto my brain, which is just as well-since we must have reflective journals for every class we take. Also, don't let the first couple of pictures fool you. Most of the time, we are all unkempt and sweaty in leggings and t-shirts for classes. Learning a lot, but there is still a long way to go.

'til next update, cheers,

M.A.