More Theatre and New Friends: Part I

Yikes -- It's been so long since I've last posted! These past few weeks have been BUSY.

We recently went to see what I think has been the best play of the semester so far. It's called "A Disappearing Number," and it was devised by the Complicite Theatre Company (which is a more performance art/physical theatre sort of ensemble).

The narrative itself was absolutely beautiful, and the ensemble performed with an honesty that blew my mind. The show involved a lot of maths, and they were used really well: the mathematics definitely informed the emotional code of the play. Since my high school theatre director was also my math teacher, theatre and math have always fit together for me in a really strange and beautiful way -- so I really enjoyed the combination. All in all, it was a show that appealed to both the heart and mind, which I really appreciated.

(P.S. I bought the script in case anyone wants to read it!)



Goodness, other things that have happened...

We've been on several fieldtrips:

Shakespeare Walk

This is Mama Donna, who led the walk. She's also our Grinnell-in-London program director and surrogate mother.

We pretty much walked through a lot of pretty courtyards where Shakespeare's plays would have been performed before actual playhouses (like Shakespeare's Globe) were built.

Then we walked over the millennium bridge (also known as the Harry Potter bridge because it's the one that gets torn up by the deatheaters in the 5th movie).

Oh look, it's St. Paul's Cathedral.

We learned something interesting about these short pillars that keep the cars from driving up on the sidewalk. Apparently they have a duel purpose: This one dates from 1812 and was made to look like a cannon with a cannonball coming out of it. Silly tricks of wartime.

This is the oldest dock in the city.

P.S. That's the Thames River.

We passed by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.  Well, the rebuilt one anyway -- the original burnt down during a production of Henry VIII.

Some of the guys from the program.

This is where some bear-baiting, which is disgusting by the way, would have happened. Bear-baiting was like the Brit's version of gladiators. They chained up a bear and let wild dogs tear it apart. Not cool. But this is a pretty little area...

Another beautiful cathedral.

Tower of London

Trebuchet!

Tower Bridge.

I got a picture with some actors wandering around as townspeople. He even let me where his hat since I asked so nicely ;)

This is just a model of the whole Tower of London place, just so you can see what we visited.

Traitor's Gate. This is where people like Anne Boleyn would have been brought in and led to the execution block to have their heads chopped off. Poor Anne!

We went into the Bloody Tower, but my camera died so I didn't take any pictures of the torture devices. I'm sure you're all pretty disappointed about that ;)





We also got to see the crown jewels, which were actually really cool! But I couldn't take pictures because of the rules.