Stratford upon Avon

The end of another weekend. This one was both busy/lazy, but it was a great combination.

Let's start with Saturday morning. I woke up early...and by early I mean my body woke me up at 7:15 (when I get up for school), but I forced it back to sleep until 9:15. I went grocery shopping and got ready for Stratford. Sat next to Alina on the bus, but of course ended up semi falling asleep. Then we had to stop for 30 minutes half way through the trip because the bus was breaking down. It was okay though because Lauren and I bought Cadbury Eggs.

We finally got to Stratford Upon Avon around 2:30ish and we went straight to his birthplace. Most people refused to pay to get in, but I wanted to see it...I mean you can't go to Stratford and not tour his birthplace. There was a guy reciting sonnets, and one of the tour guides talked with Alina, Sean, and I for about 20 minutes about things in the house which was really cool. I bought the ticket that allowed you to go on the complete Shakespeare tour, but unfortunately everything closed at 4.

I walked along the rive to Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried even though it was closed. I also walked by the Swan theatre and saw some Shakespearian statues around. I met up with a larger group of people and we walked around the town a bit. It was so cute and European! We saw the oldest alleyway there that has been around since Shakespeare's time and we saw the school he went to as a boy.

We headed over to the Dirty Duck pub around dinner. That's where all the actors go before and after the show. Sheila said her picture used to be hanging in there, but we couldn't find it. I had an amazing burger and ate some of the delicious fish and chips! Alyssa, Rachel, and I decided we wanted frozen yogurt, so we left and the only play we could find was Mcdonalds. Which btw, they are all MUCH nicer here. This one was huge, 4 stories!

After we headed over to the courtyard theatre to see King Lear. I got a cool door knob hanger about actors and then sat through the 3 and a half hour show! The first act was blah. The actors weren't connecting with the text at all. I now know why Sheila teaches us line endings...if you use them, the audience can better understand your language and the story! The set was impeccable though! It was like a combination between 17th century stuff and WWII. And the set decayed as King Lear's mental state did. The second act got A WHOLE lot better and I understood the story way more. They actually had rain on stage, parts of the set fell apart, lights flickered and fell, sand came down. It was really cool visually. I have also decided that I would love to play the part of Regan in a show.

As soon as we got on the bus after the show, I was out. We got home around 1:20 and I went straight to sleep! This morning I forced myself to wake up later, around 10. I did some hw, worked on stage combat, watched Harry Potter 1 and Elizabeth, did laundry (upstairs since our machine is still broken), and ordered pizza! The pizza is a story within itself. The guy Erika talked to on the phone said he would give us a good deal since we were poor college students and gave us 10 dollars off. When we went down to get the pizza the delivery guy asked if he had the coupon, which we didn't. He wouldn't give us the deal. He called back to Pizza Hut and they said to charge us the original price. We refused saying we had gotten this deal and that was the price we had been told, and asked if we could talk to the guy we had talked to. He said no, pay the original price or he would take the pizza back. The guy that works in the lobby of the Landward was trying to help us out by saying it's a third party problem. Finally the delivery boy said, you can have the pizzas but we will block you from ever ordering pizza again... so we took it! Feel sorry for them, they just lost college kids money! But overall the day was VERY lazy, but much needed!

Now, I am talking to one of my best friends on Skype and it's making me miss home, but 2 months left! Crazy how fast this semester is going!

London things: Prams=strollers....there was a sign at Harrods that said no prams on the escalators. hehe.

Would you like to buy an elephant?

So this is my morning after response of Fridays events. I was very busy, and exhausted, but I had a ton of fun! Started off the morning getting to school early which was great.

Sheila was in a story telling mood and was telling us all about how the industry is chance and no matter where you go you will be fine. Then we ran one of the scenes and she brought us in presents because her back has been bothering her too much to make lunch and invite us over. The funny thing about these presents is they were things that were lying around her house that she didn't want anymore. She brought a grab bag, I ended up with a bottle of shower gel. Alina got the bottle of bath gel, and Sean got the bath salts....I'm pretty sure they were all one set that she broke up to make multiple gifts out of. A bunch of people got tea and the like, and Alyssa got a makeup bag to which Sheila said "I just have so many of those around my house when I get them free with my makeup." Oh Sheila!!!!! She is like another grandmother. It's just too funny. Me and Zack did our scene shortly after present time because we were so excited about it....she said it was terrific!! She said it was the hardest scene that she gave out, and that we did a great job with it. She said she wished she had another 2 weeks to make it even better. Yes! Finally earned a compliment in Sheila's class! She said I finally got out of my head and used my passion which I was grateful for. Of course, she loves the boys and they can do no wrong, so thank goodness I got paired with one.

Next we had voice class. Eh, as usual. We did some more say one line different ways and things like that, and then we did breathing exercises on the floor, which I like. Found out we have to make up the voice class we are missing on Friday on Monday until 6:30...grrrrrrrr.

I waited around for a little while before my high comedy scene had to go. It went well. Apparently we are performing them for some of the professors next week...should be interesting how that goes. I asked him if I still had to stay another hour for my one line, and he said no! Hurray! Emily was going to Harrods and asked me and Lauren if we wanted to go. We did.

Oh. My. Gosh. That place is magical. It's bigger than a mall, and it is one store, and has EVERYTHING in it. You can actually buy an Elephant in there. I don't think I have ever been so close to all designer clothes that cost upwards of 1000 pounds. It was incredible. We went to the food, of course, there are like 30 restaurants in the place...we got chocolate. I got some delicious fudge. I definitely want to come back and get a gelato sunday though. They also had the man making pizza singing Italian songs! We walked through a lot of it, and by a lot I mean like 2 and a half of the 5 floors. We say Pet Kingdom! They have puppies, cats, guinea pigs, and everything imaginable for them. We also went to the toy part, and it was wonderful! It was a very nice trip. Wish I could actually afford something in there. We were all getting tired, but we definitely plan on going back and looking in the cheaper areas and getting actual food.

Got back to the flat, and a lot of people were going to a party with LAMDA kids. So I decided to tag along. About 12 of us went, and it was way farther outside of London than I expected. We ended up going to this kids house that Livy knew. There was about 10 of them there, so we were pretty even. They were almost all british, and really nice. They are in a 3 year program and they have 19 boys and 8 girls! Completely opposite from us! I asked them about their semester program since I almost went, and they had no idea that it didn't require an audition, but anywho. We kinda hung out for awhile and chatted a little bit. Then they took us to the pub where all the LAMDA people go. It was SUPER packed, and some of us were getting tired, so we mingled a little, and decided to come home before the tube closed. Emily, Lauren, Alyssa, and I headed back so that we could get in some rest before today when we are going to Stratford upon Avon!

Speaking of which I believe this post is long enough already and I need to get ready and go shopping before getting on the bus!

~Lys

Money, some people got to have it!

Thursday! And my second to last one! Stopped at Costa today, and Pierre wasn't there. He hasn't really been there all week :( But the coffee woke me up, or maybe Chris Cook did. We talked about Midsummer Nights Dream, and yes he even made that fun, interesting, and new!

In Theatre History I got my paper back! And I did well! Which was great because I was worried. We talked about The Maids, which was awful! Genet is not my thing at all...I thought it was too talky and absolutely ridiculous. I mean I loved Chairs and that's theatre of the absurd too. But the class was still fun because Chris Cook is a genius...I wish I could better explain this man to you.

During break I worked on my Measure for Measure scene, which is getting really cool. I climb under the table, and he backs me into a corner, and like pins me down. It's intense. Then I decided to take a nice 1 hour nap. It was great.

Mick's class today was a little disappointing, but I think it is just because I didn't do as well as I expected, and he wasn't in the best of moods. We played El Stupido, and then did weird movement exercises including the one where we had to swing our arms opposite ways! Oh Julia's and 131! We sang Yando, and then did undulations and walked around creating different characters and also by moving the placement of our arms to make characters. Last we did masks, but he switched it up, and after we found the characters, he made our characters meet at a horse race. He was unhappy with everyone's characters. Apparently mine had two shrill a voice (I was an obnoxious southern type woman) and he wanted different levels, but he provoked everyone else to get quiet or louder, and he didn't help me at all, which was frustrating. I mean I want help if I can improve, but he didn't seem to want to help today.

Anywho, left that and went straight to the show Money at a warehouse with Nathalie....coolest fricken piece of theatre ever! It was FULL of the most amazing spectacle and it was interactive! It was creeping, and you moved through the show to different levels of this crazy machine. They had so many special effects-fireworks, see through ground and ceiling, a pool in the middle of the floor, people hanging from the ceiling, walls moving etc. They keep asking us questions that no one wanted to answer, which was hysterical, and we got to play with balls from ball pits (you know those when you were little). They also gave us free Champagne! And we got to take part in a voting process. It was just SUPER SUPER cool! The whole plot of the play was very futuristic. The message was that we will be so obsessed with money we will start forgetting about love, family, and the reason for living. Machines will take over our life, and eventually it won't be worth living. I mean the acting was good and so was the play, but the spectacle/audience participation was unlike any other. Probably the most interesting theatre experience in my life. On the tube on the way home, I lost Nathalie to a closing door, but I did end up siting across from a hot guy, or rather, he moved to sit across from me. He was wearing plaid! But I couldn't talk to him because he had his headphones in. I kept trying not to look right at him, and clearly he was doing the same thing because we ended up locking eyes and kinda smiled about it, and then I had to get off the tube :( who knows what could have been...lol

Now I have one more Friday of classes to get through, and that is tomorrow, so I am off to bed! Not to mention we have to make up a High Comedy class tomorrow till 4 and of course I am called until then for my 1 line scene! UGH!

I may have found my husband...

Today was another good day! I've decided I am really going to miss classes when we start doing a show. I love taking classes especially now that we have finally started doing scenes and performing them, staging fights, and in-depth mask work.

This morning we had voice, which was fine. I was burning up the whole first half because it was actually warm outside today...I wore a sweater with my sleeves rolled up and a scarf! Granted, I brought a north face and coat, so I was carrying a lot on the walk! We worked on placement of the voice and the difference when we are talking to people close to or far away from us.

In movement we turned on Zack's ipod and started dancing, so that when Jackie came in she just let us dance and then played the game where she tells us what to do. It was a workout! We then did some stretching. I felt so wonderful afterwards and very aligned. I was just slightly upset because my hair actually looked good today, but not after that class!

Alyssa and I worked on Stop Kiss during break, and then I worked with Zack on Measure for Measure. I finally did my big scene in High Comedy today. I forgot that as much as Norman annoys me with how he constantly stops you and directs every single word, he is absolutely hysterical! And he helped us to make it better, but I think he was over all pleased with it, which was great.

Mick's class today was fun (Shocker I know)! But a little different than usual. We played the game where you try to keep a ball up in the air. Then we played a variation of dodgeball with one ball. Now, dodgeball is really not my thing in the first place, but of course at the start of the game I run RIGHT into the radiator. That took me out of the game real fast! lol. We also learned a new song today that Maggie taught us. It was an Ingrid Michaelson song, and it sounded great in round. The next exercise we did is semi hard to explain, but basically you had a partner and you had to walk/sit/look/stand/walk at the same time. Then he added that one person was super happy and the other one was really mad, but when sitting down, the people switched emotions. When we came back we had to punch, kick, and head butt the air in that emotion. I started happy and went to mad. Apparently I looked like I was about to pop a blood vessel, and it was hysterical! Yeah for still being funny! We also did an exercise where we had to walk to the chair for a certain amount of seconds, sit for a certain amount of time, and walk back in a certain amount of time. I was really funny the scenes that were created. Last we did the frog game. I made it to the VERY end! I was up against Maggie and I lost because I forgot I was suppose to start, but oh well, clearly the practicing has been helping! We didn't get to d mask work today, but that was fine.

OH, but the biggest news of the day!! Jackie told us Mick has sons...and one is 19!!!!!! WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED OF THIS!?!?!?!? So of course I asked Mick why he had not brought his sons in! He laughed, but I looked at him...dead serious. If he is anything like Mick in personality...lemme at him!

Now I am home, and I have Shakespeare to work on, lines to memorize for Stop Kiss, a fight to practice/write a script for and a shower to take. However, in the mist of all that I may go to the pub with some people too :)

Fighting! I get knocked down, but I get up again!

Wow, I usually dislike Tuesdays, but today was SO fun! Once I finally made it out of bed, we rushed to the coffee shop, sadly, Pierre was not working today.

In Shakespeare we didn't have to go, so I just got to sit and watch. Though Sheila did make one underhanded comment when she was like "Remember when I had to tell Lyssa like 100 times yesterday to stress the word Yield" Okay Sheila, you only had to tell me like 4 times until I got it, but okay.

In movement we had massage day....my favorite!! I got paired with Emily, and she was fantastic! I felt so good, and awake! During break I worked on Provoked Wife with Kate, which went really well, and I read The Maids by Genet....that is some weird crap! I didn't really even understand what I was reading. I had to look it up on sparknotes...I still think it is crazy though!

Last we had stage combat, and we got taught an entire fight today!! It was SO much fun! I partnered with Trevor and he is so much taller than me. At one point in the fight I am suppose to choke him, but he was too tall, so Philip let me jump on his back, and then get elbowed and fall to my knees as he kicks me over. It is going to be awesome! Now we just have to come up with a scenario. Let me know if yall have any suggestions...basically I start onstage he comes in and pushes me, I push back, and the fight goes on from there, but in the end he wins...and it's brutal, but so fun! Philip used me as an example 3 times today! And kept adding stuff to mine and Trevor's which was awesome! He finally likes me! I'm so sad I only have one more class left.

And now I am going to rehearse with Alyssa, and go to bed. It's been a long exhausting day. Not to mention it keeps snowing/sleeting/raining every morning.

"For I something do excuse the thing I hate, for his advantage that I dearly love."

Today was a fantastic Monday...well, other than the rain! I walked to school in vicious weather! It started off just raining, and then the wind got so bad it was practically turning my umbrella inside out. Then towards the end of my walk, it started sleeting and ultimately snowing. RIDICULOUS! I got there just in time to go over my scene real fast before Shakespeare.

We were the second group to go, and our first time through it, it went fine. I remembered all my lines, but I think I spent more time worrying about my lines than acting it. Sheila, was wonderful though. She went through the scene telling us what we could add without really giving me line readings. Basically she just wants me to put more of myself in the character, since she knows I'm Christian and much have mentioned it like 15 times today. About half way through the scene, she let us actually work on it, and added more blocking. We just got to play. Now our scene has us running around the room and me lion taming him with a chair, and then pinning me to the wall. It's sooo cool! I love our scene! And the work was so productive today!

I had a nice long break before the all school meeting. We found out our third director and another show...we are doing Metamorphosis (and adapted version from the novel). I'm excited about it, but so far both shows are guy heavy...and we only have 10 guys so... Anywho, I thought I had to go in High Comedy, turns out I didn't so I got to come home early again!!

They were cleaning my room as usual, so I went grocery shopping and then hung out in Lauren and Alina's room. Came back to my room later and made dinner. I don't really have any hw tonight, which is incredible. I worked on my scene a little with Alyssa, and then tubed it to the theatre to meet Mara for Breathing Irregular.

Breathing Irregular was a 40 minute piece that incorporated a lot of dance and movement and was about different 911 calls about people who were calling to get help for a loved one that was fighting for life....they couldn't breathe...and the memories of the people's calls were fragmented, and just beautifully shown. It was amazing! It was very modern, very topical, great message, an so interesting to watch. I love that kind of theatre. It's sort of the kind I want to do, but with less dance. It definitely made me wish I knew how to do modern dance though. What was even better was that it ended early, so I have time to come back and relax with the roomies/watch movies, and then go to bed! For tomorrow is much busier than today!

It's the Year of the Tiger is the Thrill of the Fight!

Well I discovered today how to write my blog in different colors and fonts! So be prepared for some entertainment! lol. Today was a ton of fun and fairly productive.

I woke up fairly early, not as early, as I wanted to, but I was out of bed by 9:30. I worked on my theatre journal and then got ready for Chinese New Year. I went with Harrison, Micah, Maggie, Rachel, Kate, Logan, Lauren, and Nathalie to China town! It was SOOOO packed. I have never been so squished before. And as Logan put it "It is as if you are actually in jam packed China!" It is the year of the Tiger, and that's my year when I was born! So that was cool. We saw some people acting out the dragons which was cool. We went into a few stores, and then part of the group got really hungry so they went to eat, and me, Micah, and Lauren walked to Trafalger square. They had a huge stage set up there and they had people singing and dancing. It reminded me of Taming of the Shrew! I miss it! I kind of wanted to get up and start singing along. A little later we decided we were hungry to and so we went and got Chinese food, and I tried bubble tea for the first time. We split Sweet and Sour Chicken and a Duck Curry both of which were delicious. There wasn't much else to do, so we decided to walk back home.

We stopped at Ben's cookies which were DELICIOUS! We asked for the ones right off the oven which were chocolate chip and they were like dough. Really gooey, hot, and wonderful! Micah joked that when the two of us hang out all we do is eat, which is true. As bad as we are for each other, we split most things, so that helps us eat less!

When I got back I watched "I Know Who Killed Me" with the roomies. I was planning on doing hw, but it is such an awful movie, and it was on! I then memorized Provoked Wife, or so I thought. I went upstairs to rehearse with Kate, and I clearly didn't know it as well as I thought I did! But we worked for an hour and half and I feel much better about it. Zach was out and about so I didn't get to work with him, which stinks because we need to reblock some stuff before tomorrow morning. I am going in Shakespeare and High Comedy tomorrow! Heaven help me! I am preparing myself for the wrath, but maybe it will go better than I think.

If We Shadows Have Offended

Last night was a great success! We had a lot of people come, and we listened to 90's music and played games and chatted. It was a lot of fun! I also looked horrendous, probably like I did in elementary school, but we took Spice Girls pictures that were hysterical.

I woke up this morning and went to McDonalds with Emily and Livy. I was all excited for a sausage bagel when I realized they weren't serving breakfast anymore. I came back home and memorized my Shakespeare scene (yeah for accomplishing something!) Now I just have to get comfortable with the lines. I read the play Stop Kiss and found a scene I think I am going to do for my audition, which is a relief. I worked on some stuff for Miami, and before I knew it, I had to get ready for the show!

We left at 5 on a charter bus to get to the theatre because it was an hour away. I sat with Zack so we could go over our scene. We did a little bit, but I am still not comfortable with it yet. We got there with some time to spare, so a group of us went to a pub to get dinner. It ended up being me, Kate, Rachel, Lauren, Alyssa, Nathalie, and Alina. We had a really good time, and after we ate we got cupcakes from a super cute bakery.

We headed to the theatre to see Midsummer Nights Dream with Dame Judi Dench directed by Peter Hall. Our seats were way up in the sky as usual, but we still had a pretty good view. I thought Dench did a wonerful job, and the guy playing Bottom was the best I had ever seen. Absolutely hysterical. Puck overacted WAY too much, and everyone else did well. I mean it was good entertainment, but it wasn't anything to write home about. I think shows are going to be hard to beat after seeing Measure to Measure. Funny story though, Mac went to the bathroom during intermission and was talking to another BADA student about how she didn't like Puck, and the lady in front of her said, "Oh, that's my son." She felt so awkward/awful! Everyone found it really funny though. Apparently they started talking a little after that though. hehe. Lesson learned...never talk about the actors in the theatre! lol.

As soon as we got out, we had to head straight for the bus. I didn't realize how exhausted I was, but I'm off to bed because I am getting up early to do MORE memorizing and HW before the Chinese New Year Celebration!

Mmmmbop

Oh Friday! Long week, but I made it!! I didn't stop for coffee this morning, but I still stayed awake the whole day! Success!

In Sheila's class she worked with people that she hadn't seen. Zack and I just got to go off and work, which was nice. We tried to start memorizing since everyone else was off book for some reason. In voice class I did a monologue for Jessica. She said I had improved a ton (yes, because acting is different from reading a passage from a book). Anyway the notes I got were that I was talking to loud, and was still talking slightly too low (I think she needs to understand that I have a low voice, but I tried!) I definitely like individual attention in her class better than the group exercises. We worked on sending our voice to everyone but not getting louder or softer. It kinda helped.

For lunch break I went to Prett and then sat on a picnic table (in the cold mind you) with Zack, Kate, and Rachel. Shortly after I returned to BADA to have another 2 hours of Shakespeare. All the groups were suppose to go, but of course we only got through 4 of the 7 groups. Thank goodness we didn't go though because she never told us to be off book, but everyone was (except us and one other group that also didn't go). Sheila was in a FIESTY mood too! She was being her usual funny self squealing, and laughing and such, but she was also being really brutal. Like saying "when are you going to listen to me?" "Why can't you get it through your head?" "You're not trying" I just remember sitting there being like dang, Sheila! We went to talk to her about our scene after class. She was so happy that we were working on the scene and interpreting it correctly and that I was really making Isabel contemplate the idea of having sex with Angelo to save her brother...I just hope it comes across when we do it!

Then a group of us went to the Samuel French bookstore....a theatre persons dream! We stayed till it closed, which was only about an hour. I bought Copenhagen (a play about physics!) and a Neil LaBute play The Distance From Here. Alyssa bought a two woman play, mom sent me Crimes of the Heart, and I got another play online so hopefully we can find a scene tomorrow and start working on it for auditions!

Tonight our flat is throwing a party! I wanted to have a themed party and so Micah, Lauren, and I came up with 90's themed music and dress like we did when were in kindergarten (since it is last minute we wanted something fun and easy). I volunteered to have it at our flat! I bought markers and paper plates to color. I think someone else is bringing crayons...it's going to be epic! I'm sooo excited! I have never lived somewhere where I could have my own parties! So I am busy cleaning! I'll yet yall know how it goes!

~Lys

Being a Clown May Be My Calling....

Terrific Thursdays! They are definitely my favorite day of the week. I woke up earlier than usual so that I could get to school to print off my Hedda paper. I walked to school with Mara and Alyssa today and we stopped at Costa, and Pierre was working!

Drama Crit was slightly annoying today because we were talking about Dunsinane. A ton of people liked it, and we got on the topic of it being like the Iraq war which was just a huge politics discussion, and I was just over it. Especially when you are with all theatre people. Good news was Christopher thought the author and the director did not collaborate together at all!

Theatre History was wonderful because we talked a lot about WWII and Ionesco! Who I have decided I love as a writer! The Chairs was a wonderful play and had so many great themes. And we talked a good amount about how he is making fun of theatre and the rehearsal space and the idea of political figures trying to speak for all of us. It is an absurdist play, and I think it is just fantastic and requires some impeccable acting. I hope I get to do one of his plays at some point.

High comedy today was not quite as fun as yesterday because Norman was not in the best of moods. Though I found out for Cornet that she needs to be meaner and frumpy so I don't have to wear a corset. It went fine for the most part, but I just had a full day working in scenes for a small part.

Micks class was wonderful today as usual. We played El Stupido, Patterns (with a ball, names, and moving), and Bang. Both Bang and patterns reminds me of GET because I played those with my campers ALL the time, so I kicked butt! We sang Bella mama again, which is everyones favorite song! Then we did something where Mick gave us colors and we had to move and speak like that color and then he would talk to each one of us. Our group got Hot Pink and Deep Red. The first time I was a sexy dancer and then a pissed/angry thug. Apparently it was pretty funny, and I can dance! Heck yeah, I was raised in the ATL! lol. Then we did some mask work. I did my mask for my group, but I didn't have time to go for the whole class.

On our walk home Alyssa and I sang rhyming songs for like 15 minutes and then played the frog game the rest of the way home! We had soooo much energy. When I got back to the flat, I went crazy, like my characters from Micks class. Mara couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard and Alyssa was on the floor convulsing. I think I have decided my calling is Comedia Dell'arte or clowning. I literally went crazy for about 30 minutes before calming down, and I am told I was hysterical.

I went upstairs to practice high comedy with Kate and ending up joining in on an Olympics party, which was fun, but I couldn't stay long because I had TONS of hw to do by Monday. Now I am relaxing and getting ready for bed! 4 hours of Shakespeare tomorrow! I hope I survive!

Essence of Chicken

Started the morning off right with coffee and ipod music walk to school!

Voice class was "eh" as usual. We did some warm up type things that I can't really remember. Then 3 people did monologues for the class and Jessica gave them feedback on it. Last we did monologues to one another in the three different types of voice (High, middle, low) and from no speaking to whispering to full volume. It was actually pretty useful.

Then we had movement where we played the Essence game again. Livy did my essence, but I didn't guess it. I remember some of the things I was-- sneakers, a comfy sweater, VW bug, Stalking, chocolate dessert, My girl (the song), pop music like Corinne Rae, chicken take out food (which totally works because it reminded me of Chick-fil-a), a heart, and Love Actually.

During my break I wrote my stage combat notes and almost finished editing/adjusting my paper. I did one of my Cornet scenes in high comedy. We have to be officially off book now, so thank goodness I didn't have my Lady Brute scene today. He is still giving TONS of notes, but he is too funny. He told Emily today that "Strap light bulbs on your bosom. Show them off" and then he said "Relish the words, like covering yourself in whip cream." Oh, Norman! We definitely have some funny teachers.

In Micks class we played a jumping tag game which was really hard. We played frogs, and our group is getting so good! We get all the way up to like 8 frogs before messing up. And I made it to the final 3 people today! Guess my math brain was on. We also learned a new song about a boat, which I really enjoyed. We worked on ensemble work by going from 1-5 levels of intensity with the reaction of seeing someone you haven't seen in awhile and being scared. It was pretty fun. Finally, we started on more mask work. We broke into groups and then "interviewed" one person in our groups character before we all got back together and then Mick interviewed them. I didn't go today, but probably tomorrow. I'm excited/nervous about going because now everyone in my class expects me to be hysterical...hope I don't disappoint!

Tonight I had a delicious dinner of chicken, corn, and carrots and have just been hanging with the roomies. Now I must buckle down and finish refining my paper and memorizing Brute lines.

~Lys

Rain Rain Go Away

It was raining this morning, fairly hard, and I didn't wear my rain boots. It was disgusting. It caused me to get to school later than usual, not be able to stop for coffee, and my tennis shoes to be soaked all the way through and my jeans wet from the knee down. Needless to say, everyone was in a frenzy this morning.

In Sheila's class we were given an hour and a half to work on our scene. Zack and I blocked it and really started to understand everything better. We then got to workshop it with Sheila, who said it was good, but had a lot of room to grow, which I guess is good. She worked on just the first page with her. It took us awhile to understand what she wanted, but once we did, it seemed to improve.

In movement we did relaxation stuff, where we were allowed to fall asleep, which was wonderful. And it made me feel a whole lot better physically throughout the day. During the three hour break I read Chairs (which I loved). And then freaked out about my scene for auditions. I couldn't find the plays that I needed, or a good scene, and I want to have a good audition, and ugh, it was an experience.

Stage combat was a lot of fun today. Philip was in a good mood and complimented my work. We learned how to do falls, which I also really like. We are going to start choreographing fights next week. I am partnering with Trevor which I am excited about because he is a super tall guy.

Walked back home in the rain, which further soaked me. I spent time at home working with Zack on our scene. I just have so many scenes to memorize now and so much to worry about! It's crazy.

Dunsinae Needs to be Dunso!

Today was a fairly laid back day, which was great. I got McDonalds for breakfast, and saw Pierre in Costa, but I didn't have time to stop this morning.

Sheila brought Tessa in today!! In case I didn't mention this before, Tessa is her greyhound dog who she talks about constantly saying such things as "If I could be like Tessa, I would be VERY famous!" She was the most well behaved dog! And I finally got to pet a dog! In class she actually let us all work with our partners and then she came around to each group. It was nice since me and Zack didn't get to meet this weekend. We got to talk through our scene and just kept going over it in order to become familiar with it.

I had a nice long break before tutorial, where I tried to read some, and kept going over my monologue. Tutorial went really well! Except Ian wants me to learn another monologue for next time, instead of just working on the three we have already worked on. Ahhh the work load!

After the all school meeting I got to go home because I didn't have high comedy today! I went grocery shopping, came home to the cleaning ladies. I spent a long time on the computer, and then worked on my Hedda paper, and then fell asleep. So much for getting all the hw done! I did do laundry though.

Then I went and saw Dunsinae...it sucked...really bad. On the way there I passed Abbey Road though! I walked where the Beatles walked!! Anywho Dunsinae was suppose to be the after math of Macbeth (except Lady M is alive), but it was just long and boring. And some of the acting was poor, the writing was awful, and the themes were clearly like "This is the theme...listen now". I didn't feel for any of the characters. I could have cared less if they died, which many of them did. The blood and wounds looked REALLY good though. A good way to sum it up it was 300 on stage hundreds of years later with a sorry semi love story. Ugh, I struggled to stay awake, and if there hadn't been hot boys in it, I probably would have. Not as bad as Woyzeck, but worse than Misanthrope (a lot of my friends don't agree, but guess all you have is my word to take). They also had real fire onstage in the floor/trap door area. I think Steve Pauna has forever impacted me...that is NOT safe!!! I was worried for all the actors lives/ours. It would have been so easy to catch something on fire! It did look good though.

Well I am off to bed for a nice LONG day tomorrow. Ice packing my leg so hopefully I can do stage combat tomorrow!

~Lys

More Londony things: The side walk is made of huge cinder blocks that are really uneven...I trip about 5 times a day. Also, at shows they come out and bow, leave, and come back out again...always. It's also "Take Away" not "To Go". And you can't really find real mexican food anywhere. I miss it! Even chips and salsa. Also, a lot of restaurants don't know how to use American credit cards...they have a hard time swiping them. It's entertaining. I think I had more, but I can't remember them...

"I need you to be happy, romantic, and loving." ~Kathy Bates "You need Jesus" ~Jamie Foxx

This is going to be a fairly short entry because I need to go to bed! BUT I had an absolutely fabulous weekend, which is suppose to be rare for single girls, guess I'm an exception!

Oh yes, Happy Valentine's Day! I love you all!

Right so to finish up my wonderful weekend (possibly the best one since I have gotten here) I woke up early and spent almost the entire day doing HW, yep, but I was still happy! I got to talk to a lot of my besties from back home and almost finished my Hedda Gabler paper.

Then Livy, Alyssa, Emily, and I all went to see Valentine's Day at one nice theatre! Seeing movies is very different here than in the states. You can preorder your tickets online and you get specific seats. It's expensive (12 pounds) but it is so nice! They started the movie late because they waited for everyone to get there, but the seats were comfy and the theatre was huge! The concession stand sold ice cream and had a huge wall where you could chose your own candy. The ratings are also different here. Like our movie was rated "12a" meaning 12 and up, and I saw that a cartoon kids movie is rated "u" unrated or the equivalent of G. Funny how if you took a kid to an unrated movie in America it would be bad news!

Anyway, the movie was super cute, and we all cried. I have never seen SO many famous people in one movie. There was one point where me and Alyssa were uncontrollably laughing too. The only down side was that Taylor Swift CAN'T act! (Surprise Surprise) and Patrick Dempsey was a bad guy. But hey, I still went on a date with Patrick for Valentine's Day, so it's all good :)

Came home and memorized my monologue, and put up some pics from the weekend on facebook. Time for sleep! G'night Valentine's!

~Lys

"Whoopsidaisies. It's a disease I've got." ~ Hugh Grant, Notting Hill

Oooh my day was a trip in more ways then one :P Yesterday morning I woke up and was just kind of relaxing, and then decided to get in the shower. Well, I went to look in one of my drawers and realized I had no clean underwear left. Shoot. So I washed a pair in the sink and put them in our dinky washer/dryer to see if they would dry. I started to get in the shower, turned on the water....no hot water. Waited 5 minutes. Still no hot water. I had to call my friends upstairs and asked to take a shower in their flat. Came back after my shower and my underwear still wasn't dry, so I had to dry it with a blow dryer. It was the funniest thing. Needless to say my underwear finally dried!

Later in the afternoon Micah, Nathalie, and I all went to Notting Hill and the Portobello Market. We decided to walk there, which wasn't too bad. We saw some people taking a picture in front of a house and we couldn't understand why. We later assumed it was the house where they filmed Notting Hill, so we took a picture in front of it too...it's possible we just took a picture in front of a random house.

The markets were really cute and full of stuff. I spent awhile looking for a hat. The first place I found a cute hat it was 8 pounds and I didn't want to pay that much. I looked at some 3 pound hats, but they were all plaid (clearly my favorite) but Nathalie and Micah had to convince me that when all I have is plaid scarfs, I can't buy a plaid hat. Finally found a greyish/black one I really liked, and it was 8 pounds too. I was like "Ugh, I can get it for 4 pounds elsewhere" and started to leave. The guy goes, "Wait, wait. I'll give it to you for 6 pounds." And I said "Thank you very much!" I was quite happy with my purchase. When we got to the food section Micah and I split sausage rolls that were delicious and then we split a chocolate doughnut. We had a good time looking around and they both bought a ton of produce.

On the way back we decided to cook dinner because Micah is a chef! We stopped at the grocery store and bought meat. He made turkey burgers (since Nathalie doesn't eat red meat) with avocado, onions and mushrooms, and bacon. It was delicious!! I told him he could feel free to cook for me anytime! I thought I was just going to stay in their flat to eat dinner, but Micah, Nathalie, Ashley-Marie, Lauren, and I ended up just talking and enjoying each others company till 1:45 am! I had a great time though. It was nice to hang out with different people for awhile.

I am spending most of the day doing hw, but I will probably write another post later tonight, so I don't want to give too much away!!!!!!

Though he hath fallen by promture of the blood/ Yet hath he in him such a mind of honor

Sorry for another late post! I just was SUPER busy yesterday and had a wonderful day at that, so it's worth the wait :)

I went to class as usual. I decided to walk by myself instead of trying to keep up with everyone and I listened to my ipod. What a great way to get pumped up in the morning!

I had Sheila first. I got to do my speech for the final time. She said it was good and then told me I could put more emotion back into the scholarly aurora I had created. And start off by feeling my wrists as if he had physically hurt me before he left the room (I realize if you don't know Measure for Measure this probably means nothing to you, but basically Angelo wants to rape Isabel in exchange for her brothers life and my monologue is right after the scene where he has propositioned her). It got a whole lot better, and Zack told me he was almost crying! Yeah! I'm getting better at Shakespeare!

In voice we took monologues and performed them for a partner concentrating on different things each time: meaning, whisper/then full voice, consonants. It was helpful in some respects. I guess that class is just hard to get into. It's also hard when we all have different vocal problems to cater to all of us as a group.

I went to pick up lunch at Prett with Alyssa and then we came back to walk over to where we were having the master class with Henry Goodman. He was a really funny man and actually reminded me a lot of Robin Williams. He was all about teaching us to be in the moment and ready for anything. We did an exercise where we were touching hands and "having a conversation" and then every time he jumped down into this one position, we had to follow. It was interesting. He worked on three scenes from Comedy of Errors, but I wasn't in them, so I just watched....for 3 hours! LONGEST master class ever!!! He was a smart man, but I felt like what he was teaching us was rather juvenile or stuff that Lewis has already ingrained in me from acting realism.

Since it was 5 by the time we got out, me and Mara decided to head to the theatre early and get food. We stopped to pick up curlers and a headband for me to make caterpillar ears (I was going as the Caterpillar for the Alice and Wonderland party later that night). We got close to the theatre and went to McDonalds! lol. We got to the theatre fairly early, but we enjoyed ourselves playing mad libs and what not. Our seats were slightly obstructed behind a column, but we ended up moving to the second row! We saw Measure for Measure at a fringe theatre. It was PHENOMENAL! SO SO SO SO SO SO good. I thought I didn't really like Shakespeare, but I loved it! I am SO excited about doing a scene from it now!!!! They changed the ending of the play, so that when the Duke proposes to Isabel, she just stands there...she doesn't marry him! In other words, its all about woman power and keeping your morals and standing up for what you believe in! It was just ah, amazing! The acting was phenomenal too! It's my new favorite play. I am recommending it to EVERYONE! Okay, so that was my super excitement for the day. Not to mentioned I love spending time with my roomie.

We came back and got dressed for the Alice Party. I will post pics soon! My costume was great and I bought hardly nothing! We were all dancing (until we got a noise complaint) and then we played spoons, the frog game, and a couple of new games I learned. Needless to say I went to bed very late.

I'm hoping to go to Notting Hill today with some people and get some hw done!

~Lys

I Will Make you BEAUTIFUL!

Today was pretty fun! Once I actually woke up, I was ready for the day. I had coffee this morning (not from Pierre though). And Mara walked with me to school nice and slow because of my leg!

We had Drama criticism first. We talked about Greta Garbo and a ton of people just thought it was "okay" and had no themes. I was getting so frustrated! It had wonderful themes that had to do with irish colonialism and was one of the best shows I have seen here! But the discussion was still good. And after class I discovered a lot more people really enjoyed it, but they like me, didn't speak up as much.

Then we had Theatre History where we talked about Blood Wedding which is very much spanish poetry, and wasn't my favorite play because it was very symbolic, but I enjoyed the discussion. We also talked a little bit about the Golden Age in Spain, which we talked about in 291 so I felt good that I knew some of what we were talking about.

I did my Lady Brute scene in High Comedy today! It was really frustrating at first because he was stopping us every 5th word! But he meant well, so I just kept smiling and doing EXACTLY what he said. Then he let us run through it and didn't have to stop us but once! He said he thought it was really good (which is huge coming from Norman). He just wants us to work on being really good friends and talking about boys in the bedroom....please...this is real life for me.

Last, we had Mick's class! We played El Stupido, a rectangular movement game (which is too hard for me to explain), jumping at the same time and sitting down on one another at the same time (GHP much? It brought me back!) Then we did mask work again. I went today and....I kicked butt! (Not to toot my own horn...I had like 7 people come up to me and tell me how funny I was). I don't know where my character came from, but I started telling people why they were beautiful and how to make them prettier. I needed no coaching from Mick, I just went, for 10 minutes, which was HUGE! I coincidentally broke the ring my grandparents gave me which was super upsetting, but then I translated that to losing my own beauty. Shawn was my semi partner and she was talking about being stupid and so I came up with the brilliant plan to give her my brains and take her beauty. I did a magic spell and my mask accidentally flew off, but when I but it back on I was like "See, now I am beautiful!" It worked sooooo wellll! The key to that class is just to go CrAzY! I may need to look into training more in it because I love it! In a couple weeks we are impersonating other people in the class and I got Livy who is practically my flat mate, so it's going to be great!

After class got out I went to see Woyzeck with Lauren. We got a little lost, finally found it. The theatre was in the upstairs of a pub. There were only 10 people in the audience...it was the worst play I have ever seen...ever. They could not act, the set changes were longer then the scenes, it made no sense in their version, you couldn't hear them, they used a total of 4 lights with no gels that didn't light the actors, and there was no connection or cohesion. Need I go on? At intermission...we left. The first show I have EVER walked out on! I paid 10 pounds for that, but it was UNBEARABLE! Good news is I am seeing a show tomorrow to hopefully balance it out!

Came home and went to the pub since it was Livy's birthday! And now I am off to bed! Just have to make it through class and the master class tomorrow and then hopefully a good weekend!

~Lys

Fish and Chips and Vinegar Vinegar Vinegar!

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. It was a long day and generally a bad one, so I'll just cover the highlights of yesterday in todays post!

Yesterday I had Shakespeare in the morning. We were suppose to be performing our speeches, but we ended up working on them, so for 2 and a half hours (because we had to make up a half hour we missed) we worked on 5 peoples monologues! It was long and painful, so I did some sudoku...and paid attention of course :) In movement we learned a Renaissance dance that was fun. Last we had stage combat, and we started working on kicks and as soon as I kicked my right leg, the pain I had been feeling after last week shot right back in. It hurt so bad, so needless to say I couldn't do half of the class. The rest of the night is a blur of hw and being tired (what's new)....which brings us to today!

I had voice in the morning and we worked on relaxation and placing the voice. It was definitely helpful in some respects and juvenile in others. In movement we learned another dance that would be done in court for Queen Elizabeth. It was rather slow, but elegant and pretty easy. I didn't have to do anything in high comedy so I had a three and a half hour break where I tried to work on my theatre history paper. I mean I found a lot of good stuff, but I didn't start writing so I felt semi unaccomplished. Last, we had my favorite class! We played a race game and then a game where we had to keep a specific distance from our partner and if we failed to do so, he hit and pinched us. It was hysterical. Mick is crazy! We played the ever famous frog game and learned the one bottle a beer/fish and chips/muck in dustbin song. I knew the song, but with different words one bottle of pop/fish and chips/trash in my backyard, so I kept messing up the words, but it was fun. Then we worked on mask work and creating characters for the mask. Only 6 people went today, so it will be my turn tomorrow! It seems like a lot of fun, but also really hard. It's a little nerve wracking too because that's the class I am particularly good at, so people expect me to be funny. We'll see what happens.

I was walking home with Emily and on our way out we got caught by one of the year longs who were having a talk back about their show. No one was staying, so we felt bad and stayed. It was actually kind of fun, and I got to know the year longs better! They are having a party Friday night Alice and Wonderland themed! I am going as the caterpillar...we'll see what I come up with costume wise...

Well, I am going to attempt to do hw as usual. Some of the roomies are having a musical jam session in the kitchen so I may join that instead!

~Lys

Great Garbo!

Today was LONG! But good for the most part! This morning we got off to a late start, still made it on time though. However, I did not get my morning coffee. AND Pierre was working today! And it was snowing!!!!!! Not sticking though...I felt like I was in Ohio again!

Shakespeare with Sheila! We went through the final 4 peoples speeches. So I doodled and paid attention when I was awake. She started off the morning telling us that she likes Fiona Shaw as a person, but not at all as an actor. Shawn said "I saw her on Broadway and loved her." And she said,, "You would love her Shawn. Did you see what she did in Medea when it was the main guys speech?" She said she is too egotistical and takes the spotlight away from other people. Oh Sheila...her mouth is going to get her into trouble one of these days.

Then we had a break where I attempted to be productive to no avail. We had an all school meeting and found out 2 of our directors for shows, and one show that we are doing...Three Penny Opera by Brecht! So that was exciting!

I had high comedy, but I just had one line in the scene today, so I got a bit more of a break where I read some of Blood Wedding, and then fell asleep on the library floor. We had our make up voice class, which was helpful because I got to read my peace and she told me about my voice. Apparently I speak lower than I should...needs to be in the middle of my range. Though she didn't believe me when I told her I already have a pretty low voice. And also that I have a guttural stop. Thank you Ms. G! So I already knew that one, and I just have to keep working on fixing it. She said it's a matter of getting out of habit. But she had a I was good at telling the story and had good color to my voice, so that was nice. And she said nothing about me talking fast!

Then we had the bright idea to walk to the theatre for Greta Garbo Comes to Donegal. It was at a smaller theatre, not in the west end. It took an hour to walk there! In the snow mind you. We grabbed pizza when we got there. The play was phenomenal!!! I loved it! It was all in Irish accents! It was about a family and there were themes of the power of youth, gay love, family love, independence, and moving on. It was really easy to connect to. There was one story line about a girl who wants to go to med school, but her mom doesn't want her to leave her to go far away to school and the dad doesn't want to pay for it. The set was great! The actors for the most part were all REALLY good and did a great job having activities and motivation. The relationships were all believable, and it was just a great story. I cried! Yall should look it up! I really hope it comes to the US. The lady playing Great Garbo is CeCe on Gossip girl! The rest were British or Irish.

We took the tube back because it was just sooo cold. And while we are all sitting on the bus talking about the show, we notice that the daughter from the play is riding the tube! We told her she did a great job and then she was like "awww thanks, I want to take a picture with you guys" So we got a picture with her!!! It was really cool! It's nice to see that people still like their fans. I mean, here I feel like you aren't allowed to talk to the actors, but the lesser known ones still love when you talk to them.

Well now I am home, and it's midnight! I must get sleep! And coffee tomorrow!!!!!!!!

"Why do you speak other people's words?" ~Fiona Shaw

Oh Sundays! How I love/hate you. You are suppose to be relaxing and fun, but you are the last day for me to do lots of HW that I just lack motivation for. So I am writing this lovely blog instead.

Today I woke up at 10 reluctantly, but the roomies were being loud and crazy. I read/sparknoted Comedy of Errors because we are doing scenes from it on Friday in the workshop with Henry Goodman. Then I got ready to go to Fiona Shaw's masterclass! Me and Mara were the only ones from our flat going so we hand some great roomie bonding time on the way over.

Fiona was HYSTERICAL! She started off by asking us "Why do we speak other people's words?" In other words why we act. She gave us 10 seconds to think about it. Everyone had great answers. I said because I like being someone else and I think it helps me to be a more empathetic person in real life. I also liked Kate's answer "Because you just get this great feeling" but I felt that was more about why I act, not necessarily why I choose to say others peoples words. Then she talked to us for a little while about her theory. Like we speak in 5 beats as Americans and we tend to lean on the nouns. She also talked through some playwrights and when she got to Beckett, she was like "And we watch Beckett and as an audience member we think Help! Help! Get me out of this theatre!" And I thought, you go Fiona Shaw! That's exactly how I felt. She worked with 4 people out of the 20 of us that were in the workshop, so I just got to watch, but it was still really cool.

Me and Mara got some really great Lebanese food for dinner and walked around a bit. When we got back to an empty flat we got SO excited about decided to run around like maniacs and have a picnic in the living room. It was wonderful! It's so crazy living with 5 other girls. We watched the beginning of Get Over It, which was a good movie, and the Wendy skyped me and I talked to her for 2 hours...whoops. And now, it has come time to do HW. And I have a lot do next week, so it's hard to get the motivation to start it now, but I'm trying! Not to mention tomorrow we have a make up voice class from 4:00-6:00, and then a show, so I am going to be dead tired tomorrow and have no time to do any work! Ah, theatre!

~Lys

Waiting for THE END

I woke up earlier than I wanted to this morning at around 9:30. I got ready to go to lunch and Waiting For Godot with Nathalie, Abbey, and Monica.

We went to a restaurant that wasn't that great, but I got Shepherds pie, fries, and carrots. Then we went to Cafe Nero for dessert. I got the best chocolate muffin I have ever tasted. I could only eat half of it, it was so rich. We also sat next to a guy there that talked to the four of us about theatre because he thought it was cool we were studying it. I thought that was pretty nice.

We watched the first act of the play from the balcony, but then we got to move down to the stalls..second row for the second act! It was cool to see the show from two different perspectives. Everyone LOVED it (including Kate, Rachel, Harrison, Lydian, and Caulder who we ran into)! Everyone that is, except me. I thought it was boring, the characters had no purpose or motivation for their lines and the play itself was just uninteresting. I kept falling asleep. Guess I am not a Beckett fan. We waited at the stage door to see Ian Mckellen because he played Gogo, but he didn't come out. I wasn't that upset though...

I came home, grocery shopped, and watched Toy Story and Can't Hardly Wait with some of the roomies. I tried to do hw, but just couldn't focus. Which means tomorrow Fiona Shaw and HW!

Far Across the Distance and Spaces Between Us

Friday! You know how you can tell? My eyes wouldn't open this morning, that's how exhausted I was. Somehow I managed to stay awake the whole day, but my eyes were definitely drooping in class...whoops!

In Sheila's class we only got through 4 monologues...or rather "speeches" because Shelia says it is egotistical if you call it a monologue unless you are the only one on stage. It was LONG and I was getting sleepy. I also got mad at Sheila because she was making fun of the U.S government a bit and she seemed to think that since Alina is Ukrainian, she needed extra help with english...she is better at speaking english than I am!! But oh well. I also got my scene assignment. I am doing a scene from Measure for Measure with Zack, which should be really fun! I'm glad I got paired with one of the three guys in my group since I am doing a girl/girl scene in Provoked Wife.

Last we had voice class, where half the class was reading a book passage out loud, but not me, so once again trying not to fall asleep. But Jessica was listening to us read and helping each of us with our individual "voice" problems. I can't wait to go Monday.

After classes I went to eat Lebanese with Trevor, Monica, Emily, Rachel, Lily, and Mac. It was really fun! And an interesting group of people. Me and Trevor were planning on going to The Tower of London, but we found out it closed at 4:30, and by this time it was almost 3, so it wasn't worth it. I bought Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and then decided to go on a walk. No one wanted to go with me, so I brought my ipod and wandered...a lot. I started off on Oxford Circus. Bought post cards and stopped in at a few shops. Kept walking till it got uncrowded (because in the afternoon it is CRAZY packed on the streets with TONS of tourists.) Then I ended up going to Soho and walking to Trafalger square, and then towards Big Ben and the Calvary museum, then Westminister Abbey, and to Buckingham Palace, through Hyde park, and back home. I was walking for almost 3 hours!!!! I got a ton of excercise and saw more than half the city...I took half the bus tour on foot! It was actually pretty cool.

Came home and watched Titanic with the roomies. Ah, sad movie. And now I am off to a party upstairs!! Good Friday over all....oh yeah, and mainly because, it was SUNNY! That was the reason I went on a walk in the first place!

Gotta run! They are leaving without me!

~Lys

I Can't Fight This Feelin Anymore

So today started off not so good because I went to Costa, and Pierre wasn't working!!! I bought coffee anyway and an almond croissant for a snack. Don't worry it got lots better!

Thursday are my favorite! Started off with dramatic criticism and Christopher Cook once again amazes me every time we talk. Somehow he creates the most wonderful insights and I understand SO much more and can even think critically myself! Why couldn't he be my english teacher all throughout high school? After Drama Crit is theatre history. Where we talked about Brecht! I hate Mother Courage, but he made me understand its purpose better and how somewhat non Brechtian, Brecht's own play is! Ahhh, that man is amazing.

Next we had High comedy where we finished up the scene we started working on. I love wearing corsets! Even though you cant breath, you look so....voluptuous and it's appropriate! We finished our scene early, so I had time to do hw. I also got a play that I ordered in the mail to do a monologue from, so that was exciting.

Last we had my favorite class! We played "El Stupido", The eye killing game, and learned a new song. That was actually really hard to sing! Then we began working on walking with specific centers and evolving characters with voices and characteristics. At one point he called me and lauren out to have a convo for the class in our created characters because he liked us so much! Then he gave us newspaper and magazine clippings of faces, and we had to pick one and create a character around it. He really wanted us to take them to the extreme! I did a mischievous spy that was slightly crazy. It was really fun...I think I very much enjoy comedia. I really hope we do a Comedia show!! Next week we are working on mask work.

After class we went to dinner in Camden town and I was walking with a bunch of people and they began breaking off but Trevor, Sean, and I went to an Italian restaurant...and guess who came with us? MICK! We had a nice convo with him. He is a funny guy. We made jokes about us having an affair too. I have a feeling that is never going to escape me.

Then we went back to BADA because the year longs were putting on a show called "5 Kinds of Silence" It was really disturbing, but really good. They did a fabulous job putting it on. It was about a mom and two daughters that kill the husband/father because he is crazy, obsessed with killing and has sexual affairs with his kids. weird.... But contemporary which was exciting too!

Now I am home, and exhausted!! But I did get to skype Ian today, which was super exciting!!!! But now I am off to bed because my legs are KILLING me from Stage Combat. Stretching is in my future.

~Lys

Line Learning= Sleeping

Okay, well, unfortunately this is going to have to be a short post because it is late and once again I am exhausted and actually fell asleep on the floor with my legs propped up in the air at 9:00. So sleep is a priority.

This morning I had voice where we worked on floor work and saying consonants. Our teacher was not in a great mood this morning and our make up voice class is going to be Monday night! Our one day off! So that was upsetting, but class was good none the less.

In movement we played a game where one person thought of another person in the group and then everyone asked one question like "If they were a _____" what would they be...and you could fill in the blank with superhero, color, food, clothing etc. and then we got to guess the person. At the end of class we did some running around...it is movement after all!

For high comedy we started blocking our scenes. We blocked my first scene as cornet and I got to wear a corset/skirt/heels. The process was faster since we already knew how to say the lines.

Last, we had Mick's class! We played the frog game and an intense game where you had to touch people on the back without getting touched on the back. It was mayhem! We learned a new song that was really fun to sing in rounds, and last we did the tension/professing love exercise with the last group of people. He made Trevor sing all his love. Hysterical!

Made it home exhausted. I ate and spent way too long catching up on facebook and email. I tried learning lines for high comedy, but that's when I fell asleep! So instead of doing hw, I am going to get some sleep!!! Goodnight yall! Or should I say CHEERS!

~Lys

Harvard Law Student for the Day

Today was so long compared to yesterday, but a really great day!

I started my morning out with coffee, and Pierre was working!! (The cute guy that is a trainee). He was speaking in his native french language to the lady in front of me in line. I was a little jealous of her, but I enjoyed hearing him speak. I ordered my coffee, and he told me it was 2 pound 30 and then said thank you....this is the beginning of a fabulous relationship!

I had Shakespeare this morning, and Livy came in late, so we sang "nah nah nah nah nah" from the frog game that we play in modern physical. Sheila was confused and so she told us to play the game, which was a perfect way to start the morning. She was still so confounded by the game and she said "My whole day has been changed after seeing that game." Oh Sheila! I also got volunteered to do my monologue today, but it went really well! She said I did a really good job! And she told me to work on being like a Harvard Law student because Isabella is really smart. So I channeled my inner physics student :) And it got better, which was great! Class ended 30 minutes early because another class needed the room, which made Shakespeare so much more bearable.

In movement we did full body massages. I got a 20 minute massage, it was wonderful! I didn't realize how much my legs hurt! I wish we could do that every day. Jackie also told us about all her famous students she has taught like Damian Lewis, Daniel Craig, Ewan Mcgreggor, and Orlando Bloom. Dang!!!!

During break I read Mother Courage (again) and then discovered Lastminute.com that has all the shows in London that are 10 pounds. So I got tickets to see Woyzeck. Not the same as seeing it at Miami of course, but at least I will know what it was about.

Last class of the day was stage combat for 2 hours and 45 minutes...that class is exhausting! But he liked my note AND we learned kicks today and when we were doing them he came up to me and was like "Lys" giving me that quizzical stare that he does "Great job. Looks good." YEAH! He is really intimidating and I got a compliment! Guess it's from that 1 month of karate. But I actually enjoyed myself the whole class (my favorite move thus far is an upper but punch...it reminds me of Rosie the Riveter). But man, my legs are SORE! I'm going to have to stretch a lot tonight.

Came home and had Tuna Noodles and chocolate covered raisins...best dinner ever! Now I should probably work on some hw, but I'll probably be going to bed REAL early cause I'm tired and it's only Tuesday!

Taking Care of Pinter

Happy Monday! Got off to a bit of a late start waiting on the roomies so no coffee, but I stayed awake!

In Sheila's class we started working on our monologues. She said she wanted to get through all of them, but this is Shelia...we got through 3. And thank goodness too because I was not ready to go because I was so focused on my tutorial monologue.

Tutorial went well today. I was super nervous about it because it is just such a different monologue than what I am used to. He gave me a lot of great tips though, so I hope it definitely continues to improve. I now have to pick out a contemporary one. Ian gave me some suggestions like 4.48 Psychosis by Sara Kane and Happy Days or Not I by Beckett, but he told some other people that too, and I want to have a more original one. I ordered a play offline, and I'm going to explore the library some more tomorrow in hopes that I find a good monologue.

Then we found out our High Comedy class was cancelled! Which meant we had an all school meeting at 1:30 and by 1:50 we were done for the day!!! I have never seen London on a weekday before 5! It was amazing! At the meeting we were told about auditions for the plays! AHHH. We have to do a scene and if we have time a monologue. I'm working with Alyssa on my scene so that should be fun...now I just have to find one. We also found out that Sunday we have a master class with Fiona Shaw!!!!!! And next week we have a master class with Henry Goodman! Both of which are phenomenal actors! But for those of you who aren't theatre people Fiona Shaw was Harry's aunt in Harry Potter.

When I got back to the flat, I ordered a play on line, did laundry, finished grocery shopping, showered, and got ready for The Caretaker by Harold Pinter. We stopped by McDonalds for dinner, and I got my first burger since I have been here. Oh. My. Gosh. I forgot how good american fast food was! And American Cheese! It was so greasy and delicious! I felt at home! Sigh. We took the tube to the theatre (because I wasn't walking in heels). And then we saw the best show I have seen here to date. The acting was outstanding! Jonathan Pryce was the lead, but the other two actors were just as good. I was really enraptured in their performance, which helped to keep me in the story even when it got semi boring. I gave it a standing O! It just was so compelling and so frustrating at the end...oh Pinter! And now I must go finish writing about this fabulous play in my journal and go to bed!

~Lys