More of the weekend

Well its monday, so I thought I would update you on how the rest of my weekend went.

Friday, Amanda and I spent literally 5 hours in the Imperial War Museum. 5 hours! My feet were killing me by the end of it, and we didnt see all of the exhibits either! That museum is well put together, and I really enjoyed touring all the old machinery and learning all about the British point of view in the first and second world wars. My favorite exhibit I think though, was the Holocaust exhibit. It was two floors and covered from beginning to end about the holocaust and how we may continue to remember it in the future. It was interesting too because no matter where you were in the exhibit you could hear accounts of survivors describing their lives at that time, we walked through a cattle car, and saw a huge model of Auschwitz. What got me the most was the section of clothing and trinkets that were taken from the Jewish victims on their way to the camps, just to realize that these are real shoes of victims was quite jarring. I also got to overhear this touching moment between a young boy and his father. His father was basically telling him who Adolf Hitler was and all of the monstrosities that occurred during the Holocaust, and he did a great job explaining to him and answering all of his questions.

So Friday night I decided to lie low and catch up on some homework. Saturday we went to Portobello Market which was BONKERS! I have never seen so many people packed into such a small street before. Portobello Road is beautiful street in the Notting Hill section of London. Its lined with all these multi-colored houses and every Saturday they hold a big market filled with antiques, jewelry, clothing, and other knick knack type stuff. They also have musicians on each corner playing music: I saw a guitarist, a stand up base, and steel drums on alternating street corners. I actually picked up a new leather bound journal there because I am almost through with my first one, and it was neat to check out all the interesting stuff that was being sold. Though, at times it did get a bit too crowded and I felt like a sardine.

After that we went to the show that I have been waiting for since we got here Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, and believe you me it did not disapoint! First off the set was gorgeous, and so was the Theatre it was in. The set looked like a dilapidated theatre with a second proscenium arch and two boxes on each side, then the stage was raked up with large holes in the floor, and a tree growing from the floor boards. The back of the set was a large brick wall with a small wooden slatted door that was closed shut and they actually used some of the interior of the Royal Haymarket Theatre to be included in the set. The Royal Haymarket Theatre was gorgeous! It was very grand and was covered in ornate sculptures, marble columns, and a big elaborate ceiling, so a vast contrast from the set. The whole cast was incredible, and found moments and relationships in the show that I had never seen before.

Waiting for Godot is a Beckett play from the absurdest portion of theatrical history so basically the plot is (and get ready for it, its a duzy) Two men waiting for someone or something named Godot, THATS IT! They really do nothing the whole play, except for two other additional men come and visit with them on two different occasions. The men have no sense of time and during the whole play one of them constantly says "we should go" and the other one says "no we cant we are waiting for Godot." People try to find new meanings in this play but really its just two dudes waiting for something that never comes.

Now that all of you will never see a Beckett play, I have to say this production was just phenomenal and Stewart and McKellen together had wonderful on stage chemistry and I loved the relationship between their two characters. They were like an old married couple, with Patrick Stewart nagging at Ian McKellen about everything from his shoes to eating carrots! We were so lucky too, because you could tell that Patrick Stewart was coming down with a cold. He ended up not coming out to stage door because he was leaving and his understudy would be stepping in for him for the evening show, so our timing couldn't have been better.

So after that Chip, Amanda, and I decided to go to the National to see what was playing that evening, and we ended up seeing Time and the Conways. I have just decided that everything the National produces is just awesome. The National is this huge complex of theatres of the river Thames that is one of the last government subsidized theatres. Anyway, Time and the Conways was about a family in 1919 and then you see them in 1939 and then at the end back in 1919. The family consists of 2 brothers, 4 sisters, and a widowed mother. The lead character in the play is named Kay and when the play opens its her 21st birthday, she is also the character that ends up having these visions and thats how we fast forward in time to see what the future will be like for this family. The play was a bit confusing to follow, but interesting none the less. I actually thought this would be a great play for Meredith to do, because it had 5 women and 4 men, and all the conflict is balanced on the female characters. The COOLEST part of this play was was the design elements, especially during Kay's visions. The first vision we saw ended act 1, and Kay was seated in the living room reading a stack of papers and her sister Carol was upstage twirling a scarf in the air. At one point Kay took in a big gulp of air and then time appeared to stop on stage, the whole set rotated and everyone froze. And when I say everyone froze I mean Kays stack of papers that had shifted when she took in her breath froze in the air, not touching the ground by in the midst of falling, and Carol and her scarf froze in mid air. IT WAS SO COOL! It took me completely off guard too and for a second I thought I had either fallen asleep or passed out, it was just too cool. The second vision involved this elaborate ensemble they brought in for this one scene. This time Kay is almost 40 and at the end of this large family argument she walks to their fireplace and turns on a light. When she does this time stops again and the set pulls away from her leaving just this fireplace, then ten or so identical fireplaces come into view set diagonally away from her, and ten identically dressed Kay's step up to the fireplace just as she did. Then they did this elaborate dance where the first Kay would start and each of the ensemble would dance in succession, it was just so neat to watch. Then at the end Kay and her brother Alan did a dance as well but behind a hologram screen and they actually danced with each other as young people then as their older selves. I just cannot begin to describe how cool this was, and this write up probably doesnt do it justice at all.

Yesterday, Amanda Chip and I hung out all day in Leicester Square and then an neighborhood in London called Angel where we saw a dance play called "Dorian Gray." In the morning Amanda and I grabbed breakfast, and then we met up with Chip around noon. After we got to Angel and picked up our ticekts for the evening we went back to Leicester Square and roamed through the National Portrait Gallery for a bit. We saw the Gay Icons exhibit which was neat, and the National GP Portrait Awards. After that we walked through Covent Garden for a bit before getting Dinner and seeing the show. I don't think I had ever seen a whole play just in dance, and I really enjoyed it. Dorian Gray is based on the Oscar Wilde book, and revolves around this devastatingly handsome man who suddenly is thrust into the public eye. Lets just say that Dorian Gray throughout the play was also quite lucky with the women and the men in his life. Its actually quite a tragic tale at the end, but the dancing was phenomenal and all of the male dancers were quite easy to look at for two hours, and thats all Ill say about that ;)
Anywho, today I am giving myself the night off because I did way too much this weekend, and I am quite pooped. Sorry I droned on again, but the theatre here is just too good not to describe. Love you all!
SBC