Ok, folks. I finally have something interesting to write about. Yesterday I had two classes, Contemporary Britain followed by Introduction to Theater. Both professors appear to embody the infamous sarcastic British wit, which makes me actually look forward to school. Crazy, I know. Intro to Theater seems especially interesting as our homework is to go to a play a week and write a review! I love London! So last night, my program took us to see the War Horse and it was...well...I don't know how to describe it really. It was kind of a paradox - both horrible and wonderful, boring and intense, realistic and imaginary. Oh jeez. Now I sound like my horrible lecturer from last semester. GAH! Anyhow, this play is about a boy who joins the WWI military in search of his horse that his father stupidly sells to the cavalry. It really doesn't sound like a play I would go and see, does it? The answer is no. Not at all. First of all, it has the name of an animal in the title. I make it a point never to see movies/plays/read books with animals in the title. Secondly, the animal name is preceded by "war". Strike two. And finally, "horse" is not a metaphor for, oh I don't know, the drudgery and strength needed by the men to survive WWI. Oh no. It is a play about an actual horse. Needless to say, I was not in my comfort zone.
Now thank God these horses weren't real. They were puppets handled by three puppeteers. Two inside the horse, and one outside controlling the head movements. "Puppets?!" you might be saying at this very moment. "Like Kermit and Elmo and Miss P-P-Piggy?! How can they possibly seem realistic?" Believe you me, they are nothing like the muppet puppets. These horses were absolutely incredible. Despite being made out of a wood frame and covered by some thick netting of sorts, their eyes, their movements, and their sounds all refuted the probability of the audience's primary perception of them as unreal. Given this, as well as the wonderful acting, it was not at all unusual to see ladies (and some men) dabbing at their eyes throughout the production. Yes, this included yours truly. Do not mock until you see the show!
The negative side of this play was the loud volume, including surprising gun shots (my ears were ringing), and the length of the play, which was three hours. That's right. Three hours. Now if you know me at all, dear reader, you know that I love going to plays. Even long ones. But this, was TOO long. It ended so late at night, and we were already exhausted. I feel like a few of the intense scenes could have been cut (if only to give my heart a break from pounding quickly against my chest), as well as some of the more wandering dialogue. All in all, I liked this play. I don't know if I'd see it again, but I realize why it is getting such rave reviews.
Being so overtaken with the show, I completely forgot to mention that we went to a pub called Belushi's before hand. Since the play was in Drury Lane (yes, like where the Muffin Man lives), we got off the Tube or (CHube as it is pronounced) in Covent Garden. OH JEEPERS! Covent Garden is the grooviest place EVER. It has tons of cute shops and lovely cobblestone roads. When I got out of the tube station I immediately felt like I was in a Dickens' novel. So Maggie, Shannon and I walked around before settling on Belushi's which looked like it had relatively cheap food. We walked in, and may I just say, that the poster-smeared bar was way cool. Like way more hip than I could ever be. Despite my Minnesotan attire, my 'fro, and my thickly bespeckled appearance, the lovely Scottish bartender treated us very nicely indeed. We had a lovely dinner giggling over his amazing accent and wonderful propensity to call us "his darlings". In the midst of the cold (and often rude) English reserve, it was nice to talk to a kind and helpful person.
Today I went to the V&A, or the Victoria and Albert Museum, which I LOVE! I went with my art class, but as soon as we were done looking at the mandatory paintings, we could do what we liked. I saw so many AMAZING exhibits including costumes worn by Maggie Smith and Margot Fontayne, old architecture, tapestries, and about a kajillion groovy sculptures. This place is insane. There are apparently 7 miles of corridor in the museum, so not suprisingly it's easy to feel lost. I loved it! I felt like I was in Misselthwaite Manor! I am going to go again soon - it's such an easy walk and there's so much to see that I feel I could go there every afternoon for the rest of the program and observe something new every day.
Well, I have to practice now, so ciao!
~Lauren
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