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Terribly sorry I am not an updating fiend. Aside from the fact that I have been rather busy, I have horrible internet connection and I've had difficulty finding the words to write about what I've been doing in my personal journal, much less the internet one.
London is fantastic. There is so much to do here and the theatre is incredible. So far I have been to the British Museum (the Rosetta Stone wasn't as epic as I had hoped, but it was exciting nonetheless. I was far more interested in the Greek sculptures. I want to go back for the clock exhibit), the National Gallery (whoamygod I had such a massive Impressionismgasm. Monet, Renoir, Seurat, and Van Gogh were in the three rooms next to each other. I was planning to go sit down and knit because my feet were killing me, but then I stumbled upon all four of my favorite artists in one place!), H&M (two three-story buildings in one block and they don't even have the same close. What the fuck), and Harrod's (I found jumbo-sized versions of the olives Mom buys from Rainbow. I sampled one and was so happy I decided it was okay to buy four pounds worth. I think that's maybe ten olives. I'm kind of disgusted with myself).
We've seen three plays so far: The Overcoat, Dancing at Lughnasa, and The Pitman Painters. I have enjoyed all three immensely (and I think I liked them greatest to least in the order I've seen them . . . I hope that's not a trend. I don't want to end up hating theatre by the time I leave). It's a lot easier for me to explain out loud my feelings on each play, which is too bad because I do want to share my experiences . . . So I guess you'll have to wait until you see me. Or you could always ask questions and I can answer them here. Or I could try to tell you a little about the plays . . .
The Overcoat was about a man who was in love with a coworker. He was one of the lower workers and people didn't like him. There was a fancy schmancy overcoat suspended above the stage and it was clear that if he got the coat, his life would be better. He did get the coat and he and the girl were together for a bit (though I'm pretty sure she liked him regardless), but then he died. Whoops. There was quite a bit of flying in this show, plus some of the most amazing lighting I have ever seen, and each actor spoke in a different language (I believe there were nine languages used altogether. God spoke Spanish. The boss spoke French. Akakki, the lead, was Italian, and the girl was English). There was very little dialogue in the play and, despite the many languages used, it was easy to understand everything. There was a ton of music and stylized movement. There was a Q&A after the show and we learned that most of the play was devised over thirteen months, and the composer and lighting designer were both actors in the show. I think I want to do this type of theatre. Forever. And some musical theatre. You know, here and there. In addition to my teaching at an elementary school. And owning a knitting store. (God, I have a busy future.)
I'm not sure I liked the story Dancing at Lughnasa (five sisters live together in Ireland and their lives kind of suck but they love each other a lot. One sister has a child out of wedlock and her not husband comes to visit every so often; the youngest sister has a mental disability; the oldest sister is kind of a frigid bitch (with everyone's best intentions at heart); the second oldest sister says a bunch of annoying riddles; another sister knits gloves for a living -- what kind of loser does that???; and their uncle, a priest who has Malaria, has just come to live with them) so much as I liked what was presented to the audience. The story is just so freaking depressing and that's fine, but I wanted the end narration to be something like, "then they moved away and things started looking up a bit" instead of "then they moved away, got drunk, and died, and my mom never knew that my dad was married to some other chick who had another son with my name, oh, and I never got my bicycle. Whoops! The end." I guess I'm a bit of a sucker for happy endings. Or sad-but-hopeful endings. Like Les Mis? I'm totally sobbing at the end of that, but at least it's hopeful! You know that the French Revolution ends and things start looking up and Cosette and Marius have lots of sex and babies and they tell Jean Valjean's story forever and ever and ever until someone decides to make it into a Broadway musical! Okay, not really. But everything up until the Cosette and Marius having lots of sex and babies bit. Anyway. This was still a beautifully done play. They took the Old Vic and cut it up and made it into an arena stage that a kitchen in the middle and and "outdoors" with a tree (!!!!!!!) surrounding the kitchen. The set was fantastic. Apparently Dancing at Lughnasa opened six days after the previous show closed, which means load in, tech, and dress must have been the literal definition of Hell Week. They also had to build extra seats behind the stage, and they added bathrooms with hand lotion that killed my soul (dude, my allergies hate me here). The acting in this play was some of the best I have ever seen. I wish I could describe to you how amazing the actors were, but I can't. They were beyond the most amazing of amazing.
As I said before, I also really liked the Pitman Painters. It was one of those plays that made me wonder what I'm doing with my life and also made me want to get out and do something amazing (the last time I felt this way was when I saw Milk. So pretty recently. I think I'm at that point in my life when questioning my ambitions is a fairly regular thing). It also made me half regret giving up painting and half think I should find all my paints and give them to Kathleen. Unfortunately, it was during this play that it finally hit me that I'm actually in London, so I had a difficult time concentrating . . . but at least I was having very happy thoughts. I think I will buy the script because a) it was a good play and b) I kind of really want to know what I missed.
Tonight we're seeing Kafka's Monkey. Tomorrow we're seeing 17 Again. Yeah. That's actually for Kathleen's birthday. Hopefully soon I'll see Les Mis so I can cry my guts out and get my musical theatre fix all at the same time (though we are seeing Billy Elliot next week (and we're seeing Spring Awakening with the group)). Other things on the coming up list are buying train tickets to Leeds and St Guiraud, visiting the Jewish Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, finding a recipe for matzo ball soup because I did buy matzo meal and it is Passover . . . and I'm going to St. Paul's for Easter. Don't judge me, I'm trying to do new things. For now, I think it is time to shower, nap, read, wander, eat, and go to the theatre.