Theatre Trip: As You Like It

AS YOU LIKE IT

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Date: 23rd August (Thursday), 2:00pm
Seats: Yard (Standing)

This was something I meant to do last summer, but I finally found a great show and a good time. As You Like It is one of the comedies and I wanted to catch a matinee because you stand outside, exposed to the elements. And luckily, I was able to go for a run in the morning, have it rain quite heavily around 9:30, but be clear and sunny by 1:00! Perfect weather for the outside theatre.

I started my day out by walking from Waterloo station along the Southbank, through the food market (getting my favourite duck fat french fries with truffle mayo), to the Tate Modern where I browsed the shop and admired the architecture until show time.

I had paid the grand sum of £5 for a yard standing ticket, so arrived around 1:40 to get my spot. I made a friend while I waited named Tegan who had arrived from the States that day and was directing this play next year with children, which was quite interesting to get her perspective on some things.

The plot of As You Like It is rather confusing. Essentially, it is about two cousins (Rosalind and Celia) who are banished into the forest, where Rosalind dressed as a boy (Ganymede) to avoid being attacked and they meet the man (Orlando) who Rosalind loves. She, while pretending to be Ganymede, tests Orlando's love for her by trying to persuade her that she doesn't. Along the way there are two warring brother Dukes, a fool and his love, a sad lonely man, and in the end, a quadruple wedding by the goddess Hymen (yep, that's her name). It's all a bit bonkers but somehow still fun and has a lovely happy ending!

In this production, there were elements of genderblind casting. In particular, the Dukes were played by a woman, Audrey was played by a man (although I get the impression that happens in many productions), but more importantly both Orlando and Rosalind were swapped - Orlando played by a girl and Rosalind as a boy. As the play already incorporates elements of gender swapping (Rosalind becoming Ganymede in the forest), it wasn't as strange as I had thought it would be and I actually quite enjoyed. The few lines Rosalind had which were like "if I were a man..." were made more funny by this element, I think.

While there were only 12 actors in the Globe Ensemble, there are twice as many parts as that! So some actors played 2 or even 3 parts throughout the play. My favourites were the Duke Senior/Duke Frederick/Sir Oliver Martext (Helen Schlesinger), who was very funny and had a great pretend horse throughout the play, Jaques (Pearce Quigley) who was dour and sarcastic, and Oliver/Duke Frederick's First Lord (Shubham Saraf) did really well and engaged with the audience in a really authentic way. I loved Celia (Nadia Nadarajah), who was not only a brilliant actress, but also deaf! She did all her lines by sign language, and Rosalind was often echoing elements which we may not have been able to understand otherwise. It was done in such a clever and authentic way and was really engaging to watch. Touchstone (Colin Hurley) the fool was a bit hard to understand, but I think he had one of the biggest roles in the show and definitely had a lot of lines to learn! That's really cool to watch him reel off line after line of crazy complicated Shakespeare lines without a flaw. Orlando (Bettrys Jones) was really engaging and believable, and her size (especially compared to Rosalind) made her even more funny! They made a really believable couple. But the best actor by quite a long shot was Rosalind (Jack Lackey), who managed to nail being a lady, being a lad in the forest, and even being a man acting as a lady pretending to be a lad in the forest! He was funny, engaging, believable... Just brilliant. And he looked a little like David Tennant!

While Shakespearean language can be complicated to understand at times, the way this was presented meant that even if I didn't get every word, I always got the gist behind the meaning. I guess that's the genius of Shakespeare.

And note to self, next time don't go to a standing matinee if you're sore all over. Aching for days...

Cultural Experiences: Old Bailey

Last week I went with my friend Jess to the Old Bailey. You can go into the public gallery and watch court trials in progress. It's an amazing experience which fascinated us both and we enjoyed it immensely.

We left our phones at a real estate agent down the road, headed to security and promptly got rejected for having other electronic devices (power banks, my fitness watch...) So we went back to add more things to the checked items, even our headphones!

The second time we got in, however we were told that because it was August it was relatively quiet. The first floor (there are 4 courts on each floor) there were no courts in session, so we went up to the next floor and sat in Court 8, where they were getting ready to start a trial. However, we had barely sat down when we had to stand up for the judge to leave as they had adjourned for about 40 minutes. We went outside and up another floor, where there were two courts in session, but the public galleries were full! We waited, but nobody was leaving so nobody could go in. We ended up back downstairs in Court 8 at 11am.

It was a trial of Gary Walker, who was accused of making threats to kill and assault by beating his stepfather. Essentially it seemed to be a tenancy dispute over who got to live in Walker's mother's house after her death. It was an interesting snapshot of the case - they swore in the jury, gave opening prosecution argument, had the first witness (the stepfather, who gave evidence from behind a curtain), cross examined, re examined, then sent the witness and jury away. At this point the defence barrister asked about prejudice, as the witness had said things that implied the defendant had been in jail before. He had, but that was still not to be mentioned as it was 10 years previous and not relevant. So they decided they couldnt get past that prejudice, then they called the jury back in and dismissed them! They warned the witness about what had happened and not to do it with the next jury. Then they stopped for the day around 2:30.

After that we went back upstairs, where we got into one of the two courts running (I think it was Court 12), where they were questioning the defendant in a murder case. Interestingly, he didn't seem to speak English, so he had an interpreter in the box with him. It looked hard for the barristers as they had to ask their complex questions in different ways and in multiple parts. The jury in this case had booklets with photos of evidence and locations which they kept referring to and which we were trying to see from up in the gallery! After a bunch of questions, the barrister said he was going to ask questions about written testimony, and they broke for the day at 4:20.

I don't know the results of the trials we watched, only that the first is finished and finished on Tuesday, and I believe that the second is still running.

Jess and I are going back next week, we enjoyed it so much. Such a great insight into the legal system for anyone interested... Just be warned, there is quite a lot of downtime. It is exciting, just kind of in slow motion. Well worth it though!

Theatre Trip: BBC Proms #40 (Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martins in the Fields)

Royal Albert Hall
Date: 12th August (Sunday), 4:00pm
Seats: Promming (Arena)

Performers: Joshua Bell (violin/director), orchestra of Academy of St Martins in the Fields

Program: A Midsummer Night’s Dream - overture (Mendelssohn), Violin Concerto no. 3 in B minor (Saint-Saens), Lament (Bridge), Symphony No. 4 in B flat major (Beethoven)

Notes: I really wanted to attend this concert, Joshua Bell being such a brilliant and famous violinist. He even plays a 1713 Huberman Stradivarius! The Mendelssohn was really lovely, as most I did know it already, but I was most looking forward to the Saint-Saens. I wasn’t familiar with that concerto but it was phenomenal! Joshua Bell is simply the most talented violinist I’ve ever seen, he was so great!

The second half the Lament was nice, interestingly it was composed for the Lusitania which sunk in 1915. I stayed sitting for that one because I wasn’t quick enough to stand up. The Beethoven was really interesting to watch. Joshua Bell was not only the soloist, but is the musical director for Academy of St Martins in the Field, and he also leads the orchestra. It was really fascinating to watch him not only play the symphony but also to lead the orchestra, sometimes while not playing and sometimes not playing little sections to better conduct the orchestra. I think it worked very well and the orchestra was amazingly well together.

Our second Prom, and in as many days! It was nice to be back up in the Gallery again.

Theatre Trip: BBC Proms #38 (West Side Story)

Royal Albert Hall
Date: 11th August (Saturday), 3:30pm
Seats: Promming (Arena)

Performers: Mikaela Bennett (Maria), Ross Lekites (Tony), Eden Espinosa (Anita), Leo Roberts (Riff), Gina Marco Schiaretti (Bernardo), Jack North (Baby John), Michael Colbourne (Diesel), Fra Fee (A-Rab), Phil Barnett (Officer Krupke), Louise Alder (soprano - Somewhere), Shark Girls, Jet Boys, Students from ArtsEd and Mountview

Notes: This year we had less Proms on our list of concerts we wanted to go to, so this is our first one this year! Bernstein is one of the featured composers at the Proms this year and the first concert of this concert version of West Side Story.

West Side Story is a show which I was introduced to at about 15. I attended National Youth Camp in Canberra in 2005, and the symphony orchestra I got into performed the orchestral suite from the musical. Everyone given at the camp was given an option at the movie night early on - watch Psycho (which the chamber orchestra was playing the orchestral suite for) or West Side Story. Obviously I chose the better option! Since then I’ve seen it quite a few times and developed a great fondness for the music.

This version was a concert version, so it had no real staging and a stage only a few metres wide. They did a few things to place people in different parts of the stage (like Maria higher up for the parts when she was on a balcony, and arranging people on different parts of the stage for the Tonight medley) but there was no dancing, which I thought was a bit of a shame, but did encourage the music to be the main part of the concert rather than the action. The only time I felt this was a detriment was when the deaths occurred, as the rumble occurred entirely offstage and if you didn’t know the plot or have a program then you might not know who died. Also, although Tony’s death occurred on stage, there was no gunshot sound effect, so again, the plot could have been unclear if you weren’t familiar with it already.

Most of the leading roles were played by Americans for this production. The only leading parts which were played by Brits were Office Krupke (who didn’t actually sing) and Riff (Leo Roberts), who I quite enjoyed. He had a great baritone voice. Ross Lekites (Tony) is currently in the original company of the musical Frozen on Broadway, but I really enjoyed his turn as Tony. He brought great emotion to the role and seemed very sensitive. I was excited to see Eden Espinosa play Anita, as she was the only actress in this performance I was familiar with. She played Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway, in LA and in San Francisco. She had also been in Rent and In the Heights. I thought she was brilliant, intense but emotional. It’s a small but important role and I think she played it beautifully. Oddly, they cast an operatic soprano to sing the main part of ‘Somewhere’, Louise Alder. It was a bit odd, but actually worked better than I thought it would.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle about casting Maria. Originally, I was super excited to see Broadway actress Sierra Boggess (who I knew best for playing Ariel in The Little Mermaid on Broadway), but apparently there had been a backlash against her casting. Why? Because she is white. I know that Maria as a character is Puerto Rican, but I don’t mind if they cast differently. But apparently the backlash was so severe that Sierra actually pulled out of the performance. Instead they cast Mikaela Bennett, a recent Juilliard graduate. I really enjoyed her performance, her accent was accurate without being over the top, and vocally she was absolutely perfect. While I am disappointed to not see Sierra, Mikaela was a great actress and gave a fantastic performance.

Our first Prom for this year, and what a brilliant start! It seems the Proms musicals, for me, are a good chance to see classic musicals which they haven’t produced on the West End for years. I’m so glad to have had this opportunity.

Cultural Experiences: The Postal Museum

Today my friend Karla and I headed up the Northern line to Angel and jumped on a bus to the Postal Museum. It is in two parts - the Mail Rail section is in the ground floor of the postal sorting building (Mount Pleasant district office) and the Postal Museum proper is across the road in a separate building. When you buy tickets, you get both and the time you choose is simply for the Mail Rail. The Museum is accessed with a separate ticket but is not timed and valid all day for the same day as the Mail Rail.

We had 10:55 tickets and so went straight to the Mail Rail section. We arrived at the entry line at 10:53 after browsing the shop to kill time, only to watch the train pull away without us! Luckily there is a train every 15 minutes or so we were able to get the next one. It is so small and a little claustrophobic, if you are that way, because you’re actually sitting in the old mail carts which had been converted with seats. You get to go on a journey through the tunnels, stopping along the way to learn more about the tunnels themselves, see the station platforms and watch movies they project on the wall about what it was like to work on the Mail Rail. It was so interesting!!!

There was also short exhibition which went along with the Mail Rail ride, which was about the way that it worked and maintenance they did on it. It was short but interactive and interesting too.

Then we went back out into the rain to see the main Postal Museum, which is just up the road and in a different building. We had lunch first at the cafe which was lovely, then headed in. It chronicled the way that British people communicated, from the invention of Mail (originally just for Henry VIII, the most selfish monarch), to boys on horses, through carriages and telegrams and the wars to cars, advertisements and newer updates. They had a booth showing the promotional (if psychedelic) films the GPO made in the 30s. There were lots of exhibits to look at, it was very interactive and I learned a lot! There was so much cool information to learn.

(First ever stamps)




(My favourite review of the Museum!)

Right at the end was a mini-exhibit about a boat that had been sunk by a u-boat during WW2 and which had been carrying silver and Mail, among other things. After years and years underwater, they recovered much of the boat and with it some of the letters and Mail it had been carrying. It had been preserved by the lack of oxygen and the pressure from being under water and covered in sediment for so long. We got to read the letters and learn more about many peoples lives. Again, fascinating!

The Postal Museum is a finalist for Museum of the Year this year, and I think it fully deserves it! I will be trying to vote for it. Anyone who reads this living in London, visit this museum. It’s been open less than a year but it’s incredible. Highly recommend.

Cultural Experience: Buckingham Palace State Rooms

Last Saturday, we went to Buckingham Palace for the annual opening of the State Rooms. This is the part of the State Rooms which is used when officials visit and for functions such as the Garden parties and ceremonies.

It was really interesting. We booked online and arrived from Victoria station just a few minutes late, but after picking up the tickets we still got in on time which was good. You go in the side entrance, but you get to see the entrance that royals and dignitaries use as you enter. Then you get to go through State Rooms, rooms which were built by Queen Victoria, banquet rooms, State Rooms, drawing rooms... many official rooms. They had all the usual furniture, my favourite of which was a gorgeous antique piano which was built especially for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert because they were both great musicians and used to play piano together. There was even a two-handed arrangement of a Mendelssohn composition which was arranged especially for them to play. Very cool.

Lots of the rooms were also filled with artworks. This year the State Rooms ‘theme’ was the art charities Prince Charles supports. There are three of them and because of that, there was an exhibition which features artworks from the different charities. They were great, but I think we were hoping to see more of the palace. There were even a couple of paintings by Charles himself of Balmoral, which I particularly liked.

It took us about an hour to go through the State Rooms and then we emerged into the bright sunshine of the gardens. There is a cafe at the end of the tour, where we got icecream made from cows at Windsor... It was delicious!

We took a wander through the gardens which were really lovely, and of course browsed the gift shop on the way out! We also converted our ticket into a year pass, but I don’t think we need to go again this year. As long as we go next year before August, we get next years for free!

Theatre Trip: Wicked! (And National Portrait Gallery)

WICKED

Apollo Victoria Theatre
Date: 1st August (Wednesday), 2:30pm
Seats: Stalls Row A 18-19

(With Karla!)

I had planned to line up for the day seats today on my own, but when on Monday Karla messaged me asking what I was up to and if I wanted to help her check off some of her summer to do list, I suggested she join me and we tick something else off together as well! So we met at the Apollo Victoria about 8:15, and were about 16 in the queue. Time passed very quickly when you have someone to talk to (and someone to hold your spot if you need to duck out of the line) and at 10 we went into the box office and snagged the last centre seats for the matinee, just as we had planned! We were on the right hand side of the centre block next to the aisle, such amazing seats with a brilliant view.

After picking up our tickets, we walked past Buckingham Palace, through St James Park to Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery. Actually, this was a really cool gallery, with all the artworks arranged so that when you enter the gallery you go up an escalator to the top floor and then work your way down through the galleries, which go in chronological order. You start with the Tudors, some of the earliest portraits which are really cool to see people you read about in history books painted in portraits which were mostly done during their lives.

Then there's a room for Stuarts, 18th century, Victorians, 18th century, war era and contemporary. My favourite areas were the Victorian paintings of the royal family, it was really nice to see portraits of Victoria and Albert together! The contemporary one was really cool too, with portraits of Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter and many other names I recognised. It was a really great way to kill the time.

After that we picked up some Pret for lunch, stopping on the way back through St James Park to sit and eat in the sunshine. Then back to the theatre to get a program (£8!) and our seats just in time for the show.

I noticed a few new things in this performance - you would think after seeing a show more than a dozen times, it’d get old! But I keep noticing new things every performance. In this show the main thing I noticed was their accents - they all seemed to be using a strange hybrid accent where some words were super British sounding and some super American. I found it odd and a little off putting if I’m honest. The Doctor Dillamond actor and Fiyero (Chris Jarman and David Witts respectively) were both quite new, having only started about a week and a half ago. Doctor Dillamond was excellent, but I didn’t like Fiyero all that much. He sounded too generic pop instead of musical theatre, and he didn’t actually hit all his notes, which was disappointing. 

I really enjoyed Madame Morrible (Melanie La Barrie) and the Wizard (Andy Hockley) - I have found in the past those roles have a tendency to get cast for actors who are celebrities (Bert Newton is a classic example in Australia), however I find those actors don’t often have enough of a singing voice to pull off the role properly and speak too much. But both of these actors really could sing and they only spoke what I believe they were meant to and sang more. The Wizard in particular was really effective, I thought. Nessarose (Rosa O’Reilly) and Boq (Jack Lansbury) were quite good. I did think Nessa was a tad subdued during the main part of the show but then in her solo she really went for it and it was amazing!

G(a)Linda (Sophie Evans) was great, she hit every note right and had great emotion towards the end. You could really tell that she has a great relationship with her Elphaba and gave a really heartfelt performance. But for me, the standout performer was Elphaba (Alice Fearn). She was the main reason I knew I had to come back and see Wicked again soon, as I heard her perform at West End Live and was blown away by her Defying Gravity. And her songs were brilliant, with new riffs I hadn’t heard before and really strong voice. She also was a great actress who showed a lot of small emotions and things which maybe weren’t noticed by the people in row Z, but we’re certainly noticed and appreciated by me! I’m quite pleased I got to see her perform in the role.

And the perk of a matinee is, I can still get home in time for dinner and playing with the cat! What a great way to spend a Wednesday.