London Weekend
Hi
Had a fabulous weekend in London on a Stage & Screen Weekend. It was arranged through Hilton Tower Bridge which is where we stayed. (Very la-di-dah, lol)
We travelled down on the train and got there early on Friday to be able to spend the day doing our own thing before we joined up with our group later on. On the first night we had a group dinner followed by a show and tell with John Wischmeyer who works at the BFI (British Film Institute) and showed us London in film and chatted with us about films in general. He was brilliant and knew everything and was very impressive, a lovely man.
On Saturday we had a tour of Shakespeare's Globe which was fab followed by a behind the scenes tour at the National Theatre that was by far the best part of the weekend. We actually got to go on one of the stages in the Lyttelton theatre. Because they are a rep company they have to be able to change the play each week and in that theatre they have space on all three sides to slide one stage out and another one in. The current play was Phedre with Helen Mirren so we couldn't go on that stage as it was set for a performance that day, but we did get to go on the stage for the other play called Time And The Conways and the guide told us the secrets of the mirrors that they use for the performance. They we had a tour backstage of the different workshops where they make the sets and props and everything. They showed us some of the props including one of the horses that was made for Warhorse which is currently sweeping the West End. We also went into the other two theatres, the Cottesloe and the Olivier in which we actually got to see an Understudy rehearsal in progress as the Lead actor had fallen ill that day and the Understudy was having to practice blocking out his moves on stage (the actual performance started 30 minutes later!!)
In the afternoon we went to the Movieum which is the Movie Museum near the London Eye which had loads of props and pics, then back to the Hilton for dinner then we headed off to the IMAX and watched Thunderball on the massive screen which was awesome.
On Sunday we went on a coach tour around locations used in films and TV and then on to the Royal Albert Hall where we had a guided tour, sat in one of the boxes and got to go into the Queen's retiring room where she waits for the performances to begin. Our day finished off at the V&A museum where they have a theatre and film section which we explored along with all the other exhibits before a late lunch and the train ride home.
All in all a fabulous weekend - tiring, but full of interesting stuff that you wouldn't normally get to see. The Hilton runs these weekends three times a year and if you get the chance I can assure you it is well worth the experience.
TTFN
Joolz x
Had a fabulous weekend in London on a Stage & Screen Weekend. It was arranged through Hilton Tower Bridge which is where we stayed. (Very la-di-dah, lol)
We travelled down on the train and got there early on Friday to be able to spend the day doing our own thing before we joined up with our group later on. On the first night we had a group dinner followed by a show and tell with John Wischmeyer who works at the BFI (British Film Institute) and showed us London in film and chatted with us about films in general. He was brilliant and knew everything and was very impressive, a lovely man.
On Saturday we had a tour of Shakespeare's Globe which was fab followed by a behind the scenes tour at the National Theatre that was by far the best part of the weekend. We actually got to go on one of the stages in the Lyttelton theatre. Because they are a rep company they have to be able to change the play each week and in that theatre they have space on all three sides to slide one stage out and another one in. The current play was Phedre with Helen Mirren so we couldn't go on that stage as it was set for a performance that day, but we did get to go on the stage for the other play called Time And The Conways and the guide told us the secrets of the mirrors that they use for the performance. They we had a tour backstage of the different workshops where they make the sets and props and everything. They showed us some of the props including one of the horses that was made for Warhorse which is currently sweeping the West End. We also went into the other two theatres, the Cottesloe and the Olivier in which we actually got to see an Understudy rehearsal in progress as the Lead actor had fallen ill that day and the Understudy was having to practice blocking out his moves on stage (the actual performance started 30 minutes later!!)
In the afternoon we went to the Movieum which is the Movie Museum near the London Eye which had loads of props and pics, then back to the Hilton for dinner then we headed off to the IMAX and watched Thunderball on the massive screen which was awesome.
On Sunday we went on a coach tour around locations used in films and TV and then on to the Royal Albert Hall where we had a guided tour, sat in one of the boxes and got to go into the Queen's retiring room where she waits for the performances to begin. Our day finished off at the V&A museum where they have a theatre and film section which we explored along with all the other exhibits before a late lunch and the train ride home.
All in all a fabulous weekend - tiring, but full of interesting stuff that you wouldn't normally get to see. The Hilton runs these weekends three times a year and if you get the chance I can assure you it is well worth the experience.
TTFN
Joolz x