[this is slightly dated]
sunday, september 14, 13:07 (they use military time here, just go with it)
weather: happily sunny and temperate (this is rare)
location: bedroom, flat 12, landward flats, westminster, london, uk
mood: relaxed, lethargic, happy
first of all, i miss my friends like hell. i think that needs to be said. i walked by a cafe yesterday called "cafe arizona" and laughed/cried a little, not because i miss az, but because i miss them, duh. i'm in the process of trying to move the atlantic ocean so that az is closer to britain, but so far, no luck. will keep you posted.
so now, with that in mind, here's my [quite lengthy] update on my first week and a half in london, uk:
i arrived at heathrow airport on friday, september 5 feeling quite bedraggled and rather idiotic carrying 2 monstrous bags by myself. it was humbling. and i couldn't help but realize, in my state of pathetic disarray, how american i must've appeared. luckily, i survived that embarrassing experience and made it safely to 14 gloucester gate, regents park - the location of the british american dramatic academy.
upon my arrival at BADA, i was greeted by two fabulously british old(er) folks - one of whom i recognized as ian wooldridge, the dean of the program. the other was carolyn, a very warmhearted woman who i'd like to shrink and put in my pocket. i later realized that she's the program director. also, she's very precious.
i spoke with them for a bit, ian told me he remembered my audition video (and i couldn't help but laugh a little to think that this very proper englishman had seen me do a horrifying rendition of irene cara's "fame." why did they let me in, again?) all in all, talking to them was a welcome relief since i hadn't spoken to anyone with a heart for over 14 hours at that point.
anyway, after our little meet-and-greet, i was taken to my flat at the landward on harrowby street in westminster, about a 10 minute drive from bada. henceforth, i met my flatmates, who, luckily, are quite fabulous (for the most part). more on that later.
our flat is great - very warm, comfortable, and spacious (which was a pleasant surprise). the toilets are tricky. and our washer is also a dryer. but other than that, i really love it. we have great windows, anyway.
BADA: wonderful. very different from asu, for obvious reasons. noteably less movement-based, which i'm undecided about. although we do have a great stage combat class and a pretty swell movement class, it's very academic so far. but i don't feel like that's necessarily a bad thing, especially now. brits teach theatre a whole different way out here, i've come to realize, but it's actually very refreshing. so far, i've learned a great lot about the practical performance of shakespearean work, which means not trying to find subtext, because there isn't any, and really meaning what you say because that's how he wrote it. that's sort of a cheap summary of what i've learned so far, but what we've been working on is dissecting text (for shakespeare, high comedy, dramatic criticism, theatre history, etc.) it's very fascinating, and i sense that i'm going to learn some very valuable things this semester.
the way the program is designed is we are in class mon-fri from 9 am until 6 pm. our schedule is different every day, and on friday afternoons we have master classes (i.e. our class with fiona shaw. i'm hoping to god for a class with alan rickman, but that's tba...). we work this way for 8 weeks, and then for the remaining 5 weeks, instead of class, we do a show. there will be 3 separate shows with casts of about 15 each, since there are approx 45 people in the london theatre programme.
my professors = very brilliant, very british. for instance:
a) sheila, our shakespeare professor, is a renowned british actress (and was also in harry potter 4 as a ministry witch). she's a little insane, but in an endearing way. goes off on very random tangents. reminiscent of mrs. doubtfire. we still take her very seriously. she means business.
b) christopher, our drama crit/history professor. adorable. an older gentleman. quite proper, very well spoken and brilliant. wears cute socks. very witty. even in 2-hour sessions of theatre history with him and 14 students, i remain quite engaged, if that's any indication of his teaching charisma. has made it mandatory we keep theatre journals, so i love him already.
c) mick, our modern physical/clowning professor. very funny, entertaining, silly. an older man who consistently cracks the most darling jokes. carries a children's drum that he beats to start or end games, etc. a kook.
d) natalie, our combat instructor. gorgeous, intimidating, very "girl power." very unlike david barker. a younger woman, incredibly hot. yells at the boys. commands respect and attention. intense like laura croft. insanely sexy. doesn't buy any of the "macho" shit from the bros. did i mention she's a hottie? god i hope she's gay.
that's just a small sampling of some of our professors. as for master classes, we've had one so far - with fiona shaw. she was stupendous, very down-to-earth, funny, a big obama fan. wore yellow clogs. she had an incredible amount to offer about shakespearean performance. i love her.
alright, shifting gears. let's talk about something that's very near and dear to my heart, a vital part of my love of the theatre:
the gays.
ok, first of all, where the deuce are they? so far, we've counted just 5 gays out of roughly 60 students currently at bada (between the shakespeare programme and our programme). 2 men and 3 women (including lindsay and i). there's blake, who's a very energetic but not overwhelming gay. jason, a more reserved but just as fabulous gay. molly, slightly in-your-face but not bombastic gay. and then, lindsay and i. all 5 of us are determined to weed out a few more before the end of the semester. because 5 out of 60 is sad and wrong. and a lot of the dudes here (the straight dudes) are such bros and it's totally disgusting. i mean, most of them are legit, but none of them are as awesome as my asu boys. there's this one guy named greg in my small group (for classes) and he's such. a. douchebag. he puts on this ridiculous macho-guy front, which i think is directly related to the fact that he probably has short-man syndrome. he also thinks he's god's gift to theatre. he's a jackass. and rude. and puts on all these wacko accents when we read plays in class. it's ridonc. i'm trying really hard not to hate him. sigh.
anyhoo, me and some of the rad people went to this fabulous gay bar in lecester square/soho called the g-a-y. they played spice girls songs. it was glorious. but super crowded. we're going to try somewhere more club-like next time so we can dance. i'm determined to get some british action. like, soon.
yesterday i went shopping in oxford circus and spent too much money. i got some ridiculous american apparel clothes - don't judge me, please. also, we went to topshop, which is like the british equivalent of century 21/h and m, i think. it was a clusterfuck, though. also, not cheap. i didn't buy anything from there. it was too scary.
everything here is very expensive. it's killing me.
we haven't gotten the chance to do anything really touristy yet. we did a bus tour, saw buckingham palace, and saw "merry wives of windsor" at the globe, which was phenomenal. but i still wanna see tower of london, tate modern, british museum, etc. so i have a to-do list. keep you posted.
**since i wrote this, many things have occurred. more on that later.**
