Living in the Past

I like Mondays at LDA despite the fact that I end up totally and completely exhausted by the end of them. We have all but one of our movement classes, and stuck in the middle of the day is a two hour class called Dramatic Literature, which sounds interesting, but is really more like “learn how to subtly yawn” class “nap-avoidance” class. It’s a cruel test of will power in the midst of some very physically demanding classes. We have our class that is actually titled Movement, and honestly, you would all be amazed at the great physical feats I have achieved in this class. Backbends, handstands, handstands into forward rolls, handstands into backbends, etc. The thing I like most about Mondays though is that they allow me to pretend I’m in the past. On Mondays I basically receive the training that aristocratic children in England up until the 19th century would receive—dance and sword training. In the mornings I have Historical Dance, where we have learned dances spanning from the medieval period to the 1800s. I can now dance a fair Coranto, perform a lively Galliard, partake in a stately Pavane, and know all of Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot. I particularly like the 18th and 19th century dances because they make me feel most like I’m living in a Jane Austen novel. At night we have Stage Combat where I learn foot work (advances, retreats, pass backs and forwards), parries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7) attacks, trusts, slices, binds and other generally amazing feats of swordplay. While I tend to fancy myself a very lovely dancer and a deadly fencer, both tutors of these classes have pointed out that what we’re learning would have been taught to children of about 7 or 8. So, I’m in the remedial class, but I bet I can out-waltz you or surprise you with some clever deceptions and unexpected slashes of my rapier any day.

The THEATRE

Not much of note has been happening lately—going to classes, getting home late, watching the movie High Society (a very regular occurrence since it is the one DVD owned by an LDA student that plays in the European DVD players) etc.—so instead of a weekly round-up of my activities (although I would like to point out that this week I did my first handstand totally on my own in my life, shortly followed by a handstand going into a forward role) I think I’ll dedicate this blog post to the British Theatre. As was pointed out to me yesterday during a tour of the Tate Britain, rather than being a culture of painters or musicians, Britain has always been a theatrical country. Since Elizabethan times London has been filled with actors and playwrights and, other than the years under Oliver Cromwell’s rule, theatre has been at the forefront of British culture.
I have seen almost a dozen plays since arriving in London, and sitting amongst the Britons and hearing their conversations during and after performances, it is easy to recognize that theatre is much more a part of the national cultural consciousness than in America. That is not to say that all audiences here are brilliant—last night I was treated to a near constant stream of
muttering from behind me: “what are they saying?” “If they’re in Russia why do they not speak in accents?” “is he Stalin?” “Is Stalin in this play?” “That one, that one, I bet he turns out bad”—but certainly a much larger number of people seem to attend the theatre every night than in the US.
The shows I’ve seen have ranged from very small, hidden away theatres to the West End (England’s Broadway for those who aren’t familiar), and with only a couple of exceptions, everything I’ve seen has been impressively good. I sometimes worry that I might become one of those theatre students who, knowing too much about theatre, become too critical of every show they see and subsequently hate everything, and while I don’t think I will reach that point, I do come to theatre with a fairly critical eye. I have seen a few shows in Los Angeles, only one of which I thought was good at all. Every show I’ve seen here has been better than that one. Actors on stage here, generally, really want to be stage actors, they love being on stage and they love performing for an audience. Productions here have been more original and more inspiring to me than a lot of live theatre I’ve seen in the last few years. The best shows so far have been O’Hagan’s Be Near Me and Flannery’s Burnt By the Sun, and I hope to see War Horse soon. Since I will probably go into theatre withdrawal after this semester because I won’t be able to afford to see any shows, if any of you blog readers would like to take me to some shows, I will gladly give you in exchange my criticisms, critiques, insights and jealousies in return. Think about it.

P.S. Last night I went to the theatre as usual but to see a show starring Imelda Staunton called "Entertaining Mr. Sloane." Most of the shows we've seen we have been seated VERY far back in the theatre, so when I picked up my ticket and the seat assigned me was A3 I was understandably confused. I asked how this miraculous front row ticket had fallen into my hands and I was simply told "Oh, Imelda got us these tickets." Whoa. Front row in the West End is kind of a big deal. Imelda is also coming to teach us a master class next week. If she acts anything like Professor Umbridge, I'll add her to the "why my life is like Harry Potter" list, but I expect she will be delightful and lovely. Oh well.

A Weekend In The Country, How Amusing, How Delightfully Droll

Sunday marked the end of our first semester break. Many of my fellow students jetted off Wednesday evening to Paris or Dublin, but I took a much more Hobbity vacation*. For the first two days, I spent time in my empty flat, cooking, cleaning, reading, watching movies and generally indulging my home-body side. Then, on Saturday morning I took a train to Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire where Toby and Anthony Cragg, here for the weekend from Colorado to see the Carling Cup final, met me at the station and took me to their beautiful country home. Here we traipsed about the Cotswolds, played croquet, looked at pheasants and deer, had a leisurely supper at The Horse and Groom pub, and generally enjoyed the country life. Maybe not as exciting as a whirlwind tour of another country, but it was certainly a more calm and restful way to spend the break.

*Hobbits, of course, loving above all things good food, good company, their Hobbit holes, and a lovely countryside to walk in.