I Know This Much Is True

Ok, Final Tally:

Number of plays seen: 16
Number of Tube trips: 30
Number of bus trips:7
Number of times my towel was changed at the dorm: 3 times a week
Number of times I took a bath during the heat wave: at least twice a day
Number of times I ate breakfast in the dorm: once
Number of chocolate croissants from the bakery I ate for breakfast: maybe 10
Number of packages of Maltesers I bought: 4
Number of times the Maltesers melted in my room because of the heat: 4
Number of pints of Guinness I drank: 8 (really, that's all)
Number of minibar items I consumed: that's kind of a personal question
Number of minor flirtations: 2
Number of minor flirtations with bartenders: 4 (is anyone surprised by this?)
Number of times I went to Harrod's: 1
Number of times I thought about going to Harrod's: everyday.
Number of times I was lost: 3
Number of times I lost my sunglasses: 2
Number of times I lost my tube pass: thankfully none
Number of minutes spent on the London Eye: 30
Number of minutes I wished I was not on the London Eye: 30
Number of times I asked people if I could take their picture: about 20
Number of people who said no: One, a scary guy on a motorcycle.
Number of times I was told to put my camera away: 3, ok 4 or maybe 5
Number of pictures I took: over 800
Number of very nice, interesting people I met: at least 100
Number of times I will think about London when I am home: infinity

It was a great adventure and I had a fantastic time. To see more pictures go to my British Museum page.

Who Could Ask for Anything More?

On Sunday I was up early so I walked down to St. James Park to take pictures of the ducks. On the way back I passed the Queen's Chapel just as the Sunday service was about to begin and so I went to church! The chapel is beautiful, but I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to get thrown out of church and fortunately my camera was flashing the dreaded: "change the batteries" so I wasn't tempted. I went back to the park later in the day to take a picture of The London Eye. The band was playing I Got Rhthym.

All I Want Is A Room Somewhere...

At The Ritz Hotel, forever.

Ok, not forever just until I die, then they can pry my fingers off the minibar door, gather up the tiny bottles scattered on the floor and cast me aside. I love the Ritz!
Although I will always cherish my three lovely weeks at the University of London dorms and the drunk teenagers outside my window every night until 3 AM, I was sooo happy to check into the Ritz on Friday afternoon. This hotel is the perfect combination of security, service and luxury. And there are three bottles of champagne in the mini bar, and the toiletries are by Floris, and they put fresh fruit and sparkling water in your room everyday, and Coco is still working in the beauty salon and... OK I'll stop. Just look at the pictures.

Two Brilliant Minds

In case I forgot to mention it, seeing 12 plays in 3 weeks was my not my brilliant idea but rather the brilliant idea of the UC Berkeley Extension Travel With Scholars program. The course is called: Inside The London Theatre Scene and as you can tell from my blog is it an amazing opportunity to immerse yourself in London Theatre.

The picture above is of our two fantastic lecturer/theatre critics: Matt Wolf and Mark Shenton. They led our discussions and interviewed our guests as well as giving us background information on the plays we were seeing.
Matt writes for the International Herald Tribune and Bloomberg News Service as well as teaching for NYU in London, writing books and making Television appearances and probably 10 other jobs that I don't know about! He has been reviewing plays for over 20 years and has an amazing command of knowledge about the theatre.
Mark is very prolific as well. He writes for The Sunday Express, Theatregoer magazine, the BBC, is a contributing editor for Whatsonstage.com and writes a daily blog for The Stage.He is both a great interviewer and a very enthusiastic theatre aficionado, always willing to answer questions.

On the last day of class we voted for our favorites and Matt and Mark announced the Berkeley Awards. The link above to the International Herald Tribune lists the results at the end of Matt's column.

Celestial Navigation

Our last official play for the program was: The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht. Simon Russell Beale gave a tour de force performance as Galileo and it was an honor to see him in the prime of his career. For many of our group this was their favorite play. The temperature had cooled by the time the play was over and some of us walked back from the National Theatre which is on the south bank of the Thames. It was a beautiful night.

The pictures were taken at an exhibition of Beatles photographs at the National Portrait Gallery (before the guard made me put my camera away).

Bawdy Parts

The heat wave continues. The bad news is the humidity makes everyone sticky as well as hot. The blessing in disguise is that everyone in London has slowed down, people are walking slower, there is less rushing and crowding onto the Tube and everyone is eating ice cream!

On Wednesday night we saw The Canterbury Tales at the Gielgud Theatre. It was naughty as well as nice or as Dame Judy put it "It's quite rude!" The ensemble cast was great, the staging was inventive and really how can you go wrong with sex, greed, jealously and chicken puppets?

The pictures were taken in a Tapas Restaurant near Covent Garden and in Soho.

The Bliss of Dame Judy

On Tuesday night we saw the Noel Coward play Hayfever starring Judy Dench. She led a superb ensemble cast, playing Judith Bliss of the awful and yet delightful Bliss family.
On Wednesday, Dame Judy was our guest in class!

We were all a twitter and one person remarked that it was like waiting for the Queen. I have to say she did not disappoint,
she was lovely and engaging and very gracious. It was definitely one of the highlights of this whole experience.

The picture is of Venus reclining on her lover. It is from the British Museum.

You had me at hello

On Tuesday we had as our guest Maxine Peak who was the lead actress in On the Third Day. She was delightful!
She had a very cute northern accent (think Julie Walters in Educating Rita) and talked openly about her career and the experience of making On the Third Day. The play was the result of a competition for a reality TV show called The Play's the Thing. During rehearsal they went through 19 scripts and were still revising on Press day. It sounded grueling for everyone involved. Maxine used a great expression "tears and tantrums" which I think I'm going to have to borrow. It changed my opinion of the play somewhat, it was still a mess but I admire all of effort of the cast.

The picture is from the fountain in Trafalgar Square.

What if God was one of us?

What if Jesus was some guy you met in a bar and brought back to your flat but you couldn't have sex with him because you weren't really over the incest that happened with your brother after your parents were both dead so you spent all of your time cutting your arms and freaking out on your new job as a guide in a planetarium, but then as it turns out Jesus is a really nice guy who gives his shoes away and can cook (fish naturally) so then you wash his feet.

I could go on but why? This is the partial plot of The Third Day which was a train wreck. It is so hard for me to believe that at some point someone did not say: If we have incest and orphans and cutting and Jesus, maybe we don't need the last supper scene with Elvis and the birthday cake.

The picture is of people eating lunch in Bloomsbury Square yesterday.

Dance, Dance

On Saturday I went shopping on King Street with Cathy who is in our group. We were very good partners in crime which can be both good and bad. I stopped her from buying a black purse and I think her good taste rubbed off on me (I didn't buy anything pink).
After shopping and a great lunch at the Peter Jones department store we of course went to the theatre. The Royal Court had a student production of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill. It was written in 1982 so the feminist politics while still relevant seem somewhat dated. The production was very professional and it was nice to see a cast completely composed of women. I went to the British Library on Sunday. It was a little cooler with a nice breeze.

I know by now everyone is thinking: no one cares Denise. What about the pictures?
There was a big dance festival in London called: Big Dance. The pictures are from a rehearsal for an event in Trafalgar Square called as you might expect: Dancing in the Streets. By the way, in the first picture the girls in the background have pom-poms. That's just for you Steve!

Feed the Birds

On Friday night I went to a Vivaldi Concert at St, Martin-in-the-Fields performed by the Festive Orchestra of London. It was very, very hot on Friday. Before the concert I had dinner at the cafe in the Crypt downstairs. I know it is a crypt and dead people don't need air-conditioning, but it was unbearably hot. Everyone who worked there was surly and bad-tempered and I don't blame them. I am going to go back to take pictures when it is cooler.

The concert was very good and the two soloists: Adrian Chandler on violin and Martin Feinstein on the recorder were fantastic. They were all performing under difficult conditions (because of the heat) and there was a lot of extra tuning (again the heat) and a program change because of a broken string.

After the concert we had a drink in Soho at an outdoor cafe. By then it had cooled down considerably however I was still very happy to see my pint of Guinness.

The pictures were taken in Trafalgar Square. Don't worry they had just washed the pidgeons with anti-bacterial soap. And in case you were wondering I asked their parents if I could take their pictures. They said ok, I think they are kind of ok with everything.

A Voyage Round My Father

On Thursday night we saw A Voyage Round My Father at the Donmar Warehouse. The play was written by Sir John Mortimer who was a barrister and an author, most famous for the Rumpole of Bailey Street books. As the title suggests it is a memoir of the author's life with his father who was also a barrister as well as being a cantankerous, difficult man. The production is anchored by a lovely, heartfelt performance by Sir Derek Jacobi, who conveys the nuances of feeling that his character does not verbally express with a deft touch. The play was sold out for it's run at the Donmar and it was wonderful to see this play in such a small (250 seats) intimate space. The audience is seated on three sides of the stage. Every entrance and exit became part of the play, and the actors themselves brought the furniture on and off the stage with a grace and economy of movement that was balletic.

On accident I met Sir Jacobi after the show. As luck would have it there was a line for the ladies room, and when another woman from the group and I emerged after talking to two English women about fashion, he was standing in the hall. I won't go on with the whole story here, email me if you want details. Suffice it to say Sir Jacobi was gracious and self effacing, a lovely man.

On Friday we had as our guest in class Thea Sharrock who directed the play. She is less than thirty and already well launched
into a successful career. After meeting her I can understand why: She is brilliant.

The pictures were taken at Trafalgar Square at night. The closeup is of Pocahantas.

Be Cool

It was air conditioned in Waterstone's Bookstore on Piccadilly. In fact the fifth floor was positively frigid. It was lovely. Fortnum and Mason is not air conditioned and the Fountain Restaurant was deserted. I braved the heat and ordered a banana boat which is kind of a refined banana split. Instantly my mood was improved; funny how that works. The National Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts were both air conditioned and thus very crowded. The tube is not that bad. There is a breeze which is full of dust, but nonetheless it helps.

The pictures are from Waterstones.

Melt Egypt into Nile

On Wednesday night we saw Antony and Cleopatra at the Globe Theatre. It was hot and stuffy, and the seats are uncomfortable, and they charge too much for the cushions, but it was a Fantastic theatre experience. It is hard to describe: but the energy of the audience and the fact that everyone is so close to the theatre, and that it's open to the sky, makes it so unique. The groundlings who stood through the entire performance had the worst time with the heat and I admire them for sticking it out. Frances Barber was a lusty diva of a Cleopatra and although I would have liked to see a little more returning passion from Mark Antony I thought the production was great. The end of the play when she chooses to poison herself with the asp rather than be dragged through the streets of Rome, I always find very moving. They performed in Jacobean dress, including armor for the men! That is dedication.

On Thursday we had as our guest the Artistic Director of the Globe, Dominic Dromgoole. He was an interesting combination of the droll humor and plummy accent of a Cambridge graduate (think Hugh Grant) and the casual deshabile of a student. He was both discreet about others in the theatre world and candid and very funny about himself. A true diplomat, which must be very useful on the job. He has written a book about his love of Shakespeare called: Will and Me.

The pictures are from the Globe Theatre. Cleopatra is in Red.

Vertigo

Yesterday I went on the London Eye and it was a lot of fun. I bought tickets online directly from the British Airlines site. They give you a 10% discount for buying online and then you pick them up there (no line). We only waited in line about ten minutes and then the good news is the pods are air-conditioned! The better news is that the ride is very smooth and there isn't a feeling of motion at all. As you can see the views are spectacular. I was very skeptical, but now I highly recommend it.

We then walked along the South Bank which was breezy but still very hot. The Tate Modern was very cool and not that crowded but they were closing at 6pm, so I'll have to visit again another day.

As you might have guessed the pictures are from the London Eye. Eventually the people in the next pod did smile.

Heat Wave

I had a very helpful cab driver yesterday who suggested standing in front of the ice cream section in Tesco. Last night we saw a very funny farce about a 25 year college reunion called Donkeys Years. Two of the stars were familiar from films: David Haig who was in Four Weddings And A Funeral and Mark Addy who was in The Full Monty. It reminded me a lot of Noises Off which was also written by Michael Frayn and it was a nice break from the serious dramas we have been seeing. In class we had as our guest the actor Michael Simkins who was in Donkey Years. He was very funny and affable volunteering to answer any question no matter how inane or rude. Which he then did, rambling at great and hilarious length about his career. He has written a book called: "What's my Motivation?" which I am going to look for in Waterstones Books.
Today I am risking life and limb and invoking 3 phobias to go on the London Eye. If I survive, tonight we are seeing Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra at the Globe.

I wonder how it ends?

The picture is from a pub sign very close to the Russell Square tube station.

Music from Rock'n' Roll

The end of every scene is punctuated with an excerpt from a song. A black screen comes down in front of the set and the music title and credits are projected on the screen.

Here are the songs in order:

Be your baby tonight-Bob Dylan
All over now-The Rolling Stones
I'm waiting for the man- Velvet Underground
Break on through-The Doors
Astronomy Domine- Pink Floyd
Jug Band Blues-Pink Floyd
It's only rock'n'roll-The Rolling Stones
Chinatown Shuffle-Grateful Dead
Welcome to the machine-Pink Floyd
Wouldn't it be nice-Beach Boys
I still haven't found what I'm looking for-U2
Wish you were here-Pink Floyd
Bring it on home-John Lennon
Don't cry now-Guns'n Roses
Vera-Pink Floyd
Rock'n'Roll music-Beatles

Chocolate Croissant

How many pounds are in a stone?

The answer is 14 and hopefully I will not gain that much weight but I have started on my adventures in bad food and food that is bad for you. I love the smoked salmon, scones with clotted cream, fresh strawberries, and of course fish and chips. Many other things I don't like, so I find myself having: scones, Guinness, Chips (French fries), maltesers, Champagne etc. etc.
I think this might be the diet that Renee Zellweger used to gain weight for Bridget Jones!
And by the way: Jim Carrey, Jack White, Kenny Chesney... what?
Can anyone explain that ?

The pictures are of La Patisserie Deux Amis on Judd Street where I get coffee and yes, a chocolate or almond or raisin or pecan croissant, most mornings. They also have great baguette sandwiches for lunch.

Bloomsbury Sunday

We have been lucky enough to have beautiful weather and it was another sunny warm day today. I wandered around Bloomsbury and went to lunch in the British Museum and then to a few used book stores. Here is a link to my first photo album for the trip.
Russell Square

The pictures above are of a shop across from the British Museum that sells Greek and Roman sculpture replicas and an Art Nouveau clock in a different shop, I might buy tomorrow when the shop is open.

Luck be a Lady Tonight

I saw Guys and Dolls yesterday and It was a curiously raunchy production. Adelaide looked like Ellie May in The Beverly Hillbillies and sure enough during their first number: A Bushel and a peck, they stripped down to the same outfit that Jessica Simpson wore in the video for "These boots are made for walkin'". Instead of boots the dancers wore white anklets and red high heels, which basically had the same effect. Sister Sara looked very much like Virginia Madsen and was believe it or not "freak" dancing in the Havana scene.

Anyway the upshot of this was that all of the men who looked like they had been dragged out of the house were very pleased, and the women who had looked forward to seeing Patrick Swayze (he is out sick until the 24th) were justifiably disgruntled. There was a great deal of chat in the que for the Ladies Room on the lines of "no Patrick Swayze, and now we have to sit through that... oh and remember that scene in Ghost...."

The songs and the orchestra were fantastic.

I will be writing about the Tom Stoppard play Rock'n'Roll on Monday. It was brilliant, but I am still thinking about it and reading the script.

The pictures are of Piccadilly Circus.

Pyramid

On Friday we had as the guest speaker Vicki Mortimer who was the set designer for The Seagull. She has extensive experience designing for the theatre and opera. She said that she made her decision about which projects to take based on the piece, the director and the place where the performance is to take place. She has worked with the director Katie Mitchell for about twenty years and had to be persuaded to do The Seagull, because she had already done a production of it and because it is staged so frequently in England that there would be "associated imagery" for the play. Vicki said her passion was to work with living writers on new plays.
She thinks of the process as a pyramid that starts with her and the director and then gradually adds the other elements: the construction crew, the lighting director, the prop master, then the actors and finally the audience. She also brought a working model of the stage set which was interesting because at times you could see through the front "room" of the set to another room. The actors in the play had activities that they had to improvise off stage when they were not onstage, and at times you could hear or see them as you were watching the play. It sounds like a very intense and focused way to work. The director's purpose is to " give the audience a live experience every time". There are production images at the NationalTheatre website.



The picture is of ducks at Regent's Park

Dead In The Water

The seagull by Anton Chekhov was...terrible.
I was looking forward to it and it has one of my favorite British actresses Juliet Stevenson who was brilliant in the film: "Truly, Madly, Deeply" but the director Katie Mitchell's interpretation of the play was a frenetic, incoherent mess. And I'm trying to be diplomatic. My next post will be about the visit by the set designer, Vicki Mortimer.

The picture is of the juggler "busker" in front of the National Theatre.

Dot...

Is the name of Georges Seurat's mistress in Sunday In the Park with George. The musical was inspired by the painting: Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. With music and lyrics by the wonderful Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
There are two fantastic performances: Daniel Evans as Georges and Jenna Russell as Dot. The Dot role was originated by Bernedette Peters on Broadway in 1984 and Mandy Patinkin was Georges. Probably the most famous song is: Putting It Together, which was covered by Barbra Streisand a few years ago. My favorite song was Finishing the Hat, which is about the artist's obsession with his work, and how everything else in his life becomes peripheral to the point that the work replaces his life. It was a wonderful show and the innovative use of computer graphics draws you into the artist's process of painting. To see an example of this, the website for the play is: Sundayinthepark

Today we had as our guest in class the very charming and effusive (he's Welsh) Daniel Evans who played Georges. Even though he had two performances yesterday he was gracious enough to answer questions, chat about his career and the production and even sing a little. And yes I was charmed.

Tonight The Seagull by Anton Chekhov.

The pictures are of the Wynham Theatre.