Speechless

My time here in London is going way too fast! I only have a week left and it makes me so sad to know that in a week's time I will probably not see the friends I have made for over a year and that this journey is coming to an end. While I definitely saw more sites in London last summer, I have had a much richer theatre experience this summer due to the style of my class. A show literally everyday is such a weird concept. At first it seems exciting, then it starts to get a little overwhelming, then it flips again and all of the sudden I realized how intensive this experience is and how much I am really taking in because of it. There honestly aren't words to describe how I am feeling and what I am experiencing right now. All I know is that I wish is could feed my passion like this all the time!
Since my last post, I have had the opportunity to sit through a Q and A with Sam West who is a talented actor and very eloquent speaker. His answers to our questions were so well thought out and strung together that they seemed as if he had been thinking them through for months and wrote them down ahead of time. (I started writing down some of his one liners they were so good!) He knows this business inside and out and it was a once in a lifetime thing to hear from an insider like Sam who's family has been part of British theatre history.
Other than Sam, I mention that on Tuesday night our class was heading back to the National (my new favorite place in London) for Othello. It was an amazing production that was extremely well directed, of course, by the National Theatre's Artistic Director, Nicholas Hytner. Everything from the set and cast  were well thought out down to the sound and intermission. There was only one thing in question for me, but it cleared itself up at the end! I also appreciated that this was a modern take on Othello and due to this is emphasized certain themes. Shakespeare is truly timeless. On Wednesday we did somewhat of a marathon. We had class outside of the globe. We then got in line about four hours before Midsummer Night's Dream started since we were groundlings and wanted the best standing spots. We got right up on the stage and were able to lean on it the whole time. This particular version of Midsummer is the funniest that anyone in our class has ever seen, including our professor. There were so many great decisions that were clearly not in the script, but brought to the show through the actors' ingenuity. These things included the mechanics being clog dancers, amazing body language from Bottom and Hippolyta that conjured loads of laughs, to simply great acting that clearly established characters unlike any others in the show. The cast was also very interactive with the audience and we were in the perfect spot for it as they talked to us and gave us multiple props. What a fun experience. I honestly felt like I was in a fairytale movie. On Thursday was our last show of the week. We went back to the National, sadly for the last time, to see Liola. It was a decent show, not my favorite, but I likes the stylistic choices made with dancing and perfectly imperfect music.
I have learned so much in the last two weeks about the reality of my future in theatre, but also about everything involved in a production. Most importantly I have had the opportunity to day after day focus on actors, their choices, and their development throughout a show, in a wide variety of shows. I am sad, and bitter, that I am not able to go back and see my favorite show, Strange Interlude, because with the way the National works it is Liola's turn in the rotation to be on stage until the day I leave. Strange Interlude ends two days before I return to the UK. I don't think I would be so bitter if I knew that I could see the show again, but it is a show that is rarely performed and I also don't think anyone could do it justice quite like Anne-Marie Duff. Hopefully I get over it in time; my professor had something similar happen once, but she said she is still bitter...uh-oh! Anyway, I already know I am coming back down to London sometime this fall to see a show. Much Ado About Nothing is being directed by Mark Rylance and is starring James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave, so basically it is a must see! My professor kindly asked for a review of it too.
All in all, so far I have learned to really love Shakespeare now that I have seen it done right three times this summer and once last summer. I have learned loads about my future career. I have come to have hope for theatre as an art in the states. I have built up confidence about what life could be like as an actor. And last, but surly not least, I have come to have my life changed in this city by some once-in-a-lifetime experiences, shows, friends and the sweetest, most passionate, and caring professor ever!