Day 6... One week in.

Last night we got to see our first show at The Globe, but more about that after I've described the rest of the day.  The Globe Education Department has this practice of 'storytelling' that they use to introduce Shakespeare plays to younger children, as young as five years old, and where they balance staying true to the stories with allowing the children some ownership over them.  For example, children might tell us how a character might be feeling, or help choose the elements that make up a storm.  The storytellers themselves work closely with school teachers over eight week sessions so that the teachers develop comfort with becoming story-tellers themselves.  The programming person we spoke to in the morning described this as helping to build students' literacy and auracy early on.  Then we went to the Wanamaker Playhouse to observe a lovely group of ten-year-olds participate in the story of The Tempest with Liv, the story-teller.  Some of the interesting things I noticed were that she spent much longer on the back-story than Shakespeare does, that she kept a neutral but fluid perspective so she could ask the students how the different characters were feeling at different times, that she used a few minimal props so that each character was represented by something, for example, a bell for Ariel and a drum for Caliban, and that the children helped to create a soundscape for the story, and at a few points she asked certain students to come up and help to act out the scene.  The students were extremely excited and participated with glee, and then afterwards we had a talk-back session with Liv.  After lunch we had a reflection session with Tom as well as some physical work walking in straight lines (like the strict rules of Athens) and in curvilinear and spiraling lines (like the forest wild).

After a fifteen minute break it was time for a lecture by Dr. Callen Davies, Research Fellow on the "Before Shakespeare" project, based at the University of Roehampton.   Dr. Davies packed quite a lot into this two hour lecture, discussing theatre of the time period, the spectators, Dreams, and Dreamworlds.  The lecture was of interest but a bit dry, especially for late afternoon on the day before we were to see our first play.  I took a nap on the floor in an empty rehearsal studio afterwards, before dinner.  Then, on to the play!

We lined up quite early, about 6:45, as we had tickets for "the yard" and, as we were reminded by the ushers, we wouldn't be allowed to sit anywhere; not on the floor, not on any stairs; we planned to race for the edge of the stage and lean on it for support (and hopefully to interact a bit with the actors, as audiences would have been able to do at the original globe).  Our group had to split up a bit: some to the right and some to the left, but we all made it up to the stage.

It was great fun, and we had several interactions; one of our group even had to help an actress up on stage, by giving her a boost, and Hermia looked at us after a snog with Demetrius and said, "That was really hot!"  Midsummer Night's Dream was set at Mardi Gras, with Oberon and Titania done up as the 'Indians' who lead parades.  The same actors doubled as Hippolyte and Theseus.  Then, everyone else, including the four lovers, also played fairies, and shared Puck's lines.  They all wore T-shirts with "PUCK" stenciled on them.  The rude mechanicals performed a hip-hop prologue, and a random audience member was drafted to play Starvling.  The play was very entertaining, but not too deep psychologically, and the script was cut quite a bit.  Well, it was a wonderful experience, and I certainly didn't feel as if I'd been standing for 150 minutes.

At the end of the play I headed out to the Riverwalk for some fresh air, and when I looked down I saw two swans.  How magical after a play about marriage; after all, swans mate for life:

Days 4/5

First things first: who am I playing?  I was cast as Hermia in the first half of our scene (there are eight actors and four characters, thus we each take half a role.  That will also be useful to show how the characters change mid-scene; for example, Hermia begins filled with confidence and with quite a lot of status, as all the boys are in love with her, but then collapses after Oberon works his magic on Lysander, and Demetrie and suddenly she is scorned.  Yesterday in our scene workshop we did experiment with status quite a lot, and also with archetypes.  So, I have some lines to learn!

Late on Sunday afternoon I had to cut class because I had bought a ticket for Six, a musical about the six wives of Henry the Eighth in the West End.  When I bought the ticket I didn't realize it was for 4:00 which conflicted with a vocal workshop.  I couldn't exchange my ticket so I decided to see the show but I felt guilty for missing class.  I got some notes from a good student.  😇  The audience seemed to adore the show (Which features a hit song, very now, that I have heard my students playing) but I am just not a lover of musical theatre and as a feminist I did have problems with the storyline which features a group of women competing to see who suffered the most married to King Henry.  Then they try at the end to say they were all in it together and so on; but no, I don't buy it.

Today was a wonderful day at The Globe.  In the morning we were split up into small groups so that three of us could each join a group of visiting school children and see what the teaching artist did with them.  Mary was the skilled actress and teacher to whom my group and about twenty-five seventh-graders and their two teachers were assigned.  First she brought the children into The Globe, and they had pretty much the same tour myself and my colleagues had experienced just a few days back:

We thought it was interesting that nothing was really simplified or spoon-fed to the school children, but that they were encouraged to answer and ask questions just like we teachers had been.  Aside from the fact that the 'yard' part is open to the skies (this is where I will see tomorrow's show from) and that the cheap seats are right up close, the big take away is that actors have to keep moving in order to be seen from all parts of the theatre.  After the tour, Mary led the students into a rehearsal room and seamlessly brought them through a close reading of a scene that was combined with purposeful movement derived directly from the words of the play in about 40 minutes.  The students in our group were enthusiastically and energetically engaged throughout and a couple of them just shone with acting talent.  The movement came first and the students were almost 'accidentally acting' as one of my colleagues said, before they had time to think about it.

After lunch we had a magical movement workshop with Glynn MacDonald.  She started class by tapping a tambourine until we had all understood that we were to form a circle.  

She is a magnetic personality and  has been teaching for fifty years.   She seemed to bring each person what he or she needed, using plenty of blue language and humor for some, warmth and friendship for others, and a spiritual approach for yet others.  Her concept is Alexander Technique (Alexander was a Shakespearian actor who lost his voice) and it revolves around the idea of a psycho-physical connection or embodiment.  She taught us about two main concepts: the four elements and the four archetypes: The Sovereign, The Magician, The Warrior, and The Lover, each of which can be realized by the actor through simple gestures and specific posture.  Also, Glynn constantly quoted Shakespeare and other poetry and ended the class with the beginning and end of T.S. Elliot's Little Gidding:

We shall not cease from exploration ...

...And all shall be well and

All manner of things shall be well

When the tongues of flame are in-folded

Into the crowned knot of fire

And the fire and the rose are one.

This folded nicely into both her work on the elements and, of course, the Tudor Rose.

Days 2/3

Yesterday, after touring the two theaters we worked again with Tom Davey in a series of exercises combining simple speech, intention,  and increasingly more complex (but still fairly simple) movement. These had the result of getting us to have an awareness of our space, of each other, and so forth.  We worked with "Yes" and "No" and two lines from "Dream": "I love thee not." and "You draw me." Afterwards, I joined a colleague for lunch at The Swan where we get a 25% discount.  Later we were guests for a lecture/performance by Patrick Spottiswoode, director of Globe Education, on Shakespeare's language (English).  Then drinks, then a delicious dinner served at Crosby & Hope, in the lobby of Sackler Studios, the rehearsal rooms where we do most of our explorations.

Here we all are at the end of the first day, in one of the rehearsal rooms.  Notice the room is nearly circular:

Today (day 3) we met an hour earlier, got split into three groups, and each group was given over to a director charged with developing a scene from Midsummer Night's Dream.  My group got Jonny Woolf, an actor who has been working since he was eight, as well as a director and Globe educator.  I think we are lucky.  He is treating us like professional actors.  We did further scene work, all using a scene with Demetrius and Helena, finding ways in, using lots of movement.  He demanded clarity of being sure each movement was distinct and that we knew why we were doing it.  We learned an activity called Story Woosh, where the synopsis of the play (or you could just do a scene) is prepared so that it breaks into each exchange or moment between a group of characters.  The actors sit in a circle.  As each character is mentioned, the actors next in line stand up, and form a tableau to illustrate what is described.  The facilitator may ask questions of the students to highlight what the emotions or dynamic appears to be.  Then they say "Woosh" and those actors sit down, others replacing them as the story continues.  What a great way to familiarize everyone with the action, to preview it, and to start building a comfort level with the students.  It was great fun to see the work of the other people in the group.  Casting is tomorrow... whom will I play?

Then, after a brief break, we took seats in the Wanamaker Playhouse to watch a class of British school children (probably seventh graders) perform a condensed version of Henry V.  They certainly all had magnificent diction!  It was quite interesting, using multiple actors playing Henry, which they took turns speaking, and interesting choreography.  This is a good idea for staging other plays with a smaller number of characters than one has in a class, so as to get everyone involved.  I think I may try this with The Crucible for my grade 11s next year.  Then we went to lunch at The Swan again (it's very good, and, as I may have mentioned, we do get a 25% discount).  After lunch it was back to the studios for more "lively action", this time led by Chris Nayak, who trained at the Old Vic.  Chris brought physicality into iambic pentameter, with several terrific exercises.  We had some good conversation about what can be brought to light when the rhythm is broken.  

Tonight I look forward to reading Merry Wives in bed and then drifting off at an early hour.  And so, anon.

Day 2

I woke up really early (about 5AM London time) and practiced yoga, checked email, showered, and went down for the cafeteria-style breakfast a bit after 7.  I tried everything veggie and then we all met up at The Globe.

Needless-to-say, everyone was early, jittering with anticipation.  We got our badges and then got to know Tom Davey, actor and educator, as he toured us around two theaters, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Tom Davey                                                                                             Heaven features the moon
              

 and The Globe as shown in the following three pictures

 Trap door in the heavens

                 Heaven features the sun                                                         

Day 1

Day 1 - Thursday, July 11, 2019

I flew overnight but got very little sleep; maybe an hour or two?  Then I took the tube from Heathrow to Southwark and tried to use google maps to push/pull my suitcases which got heavier by the minute.  It should have only been a 10 minute walk but was more like 40.  It was too early to check in so I left my suitcases in the bag room and went for lunch and a walk through the
Tate Modern

which is just across the street and a look at the river and this funny pedestrian bridge.

When I got back to Bankside House they let me check in.  I was so happy to see that I had a single room that I went into the wrong (unlocked) room and proceeded to unpack.  I only figured out that I was in the wrong room when I tried to lock the door with my key.  Only at the last moment before I went down to complain did I actually compare the number on my key to the number on the door.  So I used my Folger Shakespeare Library editions of the plays I have with me to wedge both doors open so I could grab armfuls of my gear and transfer it as fast as I could into my correct room.  This room is possibly a minute amount larger, so I guess I came out ahead.   Ouf!  At least  nobody spied me.  Quite the comedy of errors!

A group of us met up in the lobby, walked past The Globe (because we couldn't wait until 9:45 tomorrow...  Notice she is all dressed up in rainbow pennants for Pride.  We strolled along the river looking for a pub that had room for all seven of us at 5:30 on a Thursday, and wound up here.  The food was plentiful and good and we made our first inroads in getting to know each other.  Seems like a lovely group but as we waited to settle the check my eyes got heavier and heavier... and so, anon.