Remnants of Break

Today is the first day of classes!... technically.  To accommodate multiple Monday holidays during the semester, the first day of classes-- though always on a Wednesday-- follows a Monday schedule.  So, since I have no Monday classes, I do not have class today.  Nor tomorrow, because my first class was cancelled, due to a conference this weekend.  So, I am lucky, and have a few extra days to savor the sweetness of Winter Break (I have gotten a couple of reading assignments to start on, though).

I feel very grateful for these few extra days because I'm getting a cold.  We've had a terrible cold snap here, with wind chill feeling like -15 degrees F a few nights ago, reaching a high of 20 degrees (felt like 8) yesterday.  Brrrr... And, perhaps because of the dry air, or the stress that accompanies the beginning of a new semester, I awoke yesterday with a sore throat.  Last night it turned into a runny nose, and this morning it's a bonafide cold.  Thank goodness for tea.  Also, thank goodness for gumbo, cafe au lait, and beignets.  I tried to make lunch for myself yesterday but failed pretty miserably, so I headed up the hill (despite the cold) and feasted on some creole favorites.  Yum!  I really felt perfectly happy while eating that meal.  And, while we're on grateful, can I just say how much I love long-johns, scarves, fuzzy quilted hats, fingerless gloves with mitten covers, knee-high stockings, and boots?  They've been keeping me warm whenever I've needed to go out the past few days.

And why have I been going out?  Well, The Tempest rehearsals have started!  I am very, very excited about this one!  On Monday we had a read-through with the full cast, then yesterday was the cast's "dramaturgy" day.  We had them in three separate time slots of an hour each, so I gave a condensed version of my Shakespeare lecture three separate times, and I had a blast!  I love talking Shakespeare.  Each hour, I spent about thirty minutes of a brief history early modern theater/Billy Shakes, then the directors and I worked on scansion with the groupings and answered questions.  The evening flew!  So much fun.  I wish this were my real, paying, every-day job.  Who doesn't love to teach the wonders of Shakespeare?

Thankful for Books, Cats, and Christmas Trees

I haven't yet written about Thanksgiving day or my weekend at home yet, but it was lovely, so I don't want to forget it.  It sounds quite simple: I went home for a the long weekend.  I spent time with my beautiful cats (and my parents, of course).  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I took advantage of online sales to get most of my Christmas shopping done.  We ate delicious food, including two kinds of pie.  After dinner, we went for a walk down DoG Street; the air was cool and crisp and perfectly autumnal.

Over the weekend, my mom and I visited a rare bookstore, and I found quite a few goodies-- including a facsimile of the First Folio (Shakespeare)!!!  Merry Christmas to me!  I also got a lovely edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass from the 1940s-- hardcover and fully illustrated for just twelve dollars (!), a first edition of a book of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay for eight dollars (!) and Princess Mary's Gift Book-- a book put together for Princess Mary during WWI (around 1918) with all proceeds going to the Queen's "Work for Women" fund (on sale for three dollars!).  It has in it a specially written Scarlet Pimpernel story by Baroness Orczy!  Oh I love bookstores full of old and interesting books!!!  Perhaps I should take this as a sign that I should get into the rare book business.  Such joy in books and bookstores!

After spending the afternoon in the bookshop, my mom and I finished decorating our Christmas tree.  We had started that morning with my dad before he returned north for work-- we hung our traditional first ornaments-- then that night, we put in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, popped popcorn, made hot chocolate, and finished decorating.  Decorating the tree just after Thanksgiving-- usually within a day or two-- is one of my favorite ways to usher in the Christmas season.  This year, we even put out this little Hallmark ornament set we got when I was very little called The Bearingtons of Victoria Circle.  Everything looks so festive and bright.  I just love Christmas time.

But as much as I loved the Thanksgiving food, the Christmas decorating, formatting The Tempest script for performance, and those gorgeous hours in a rare bookshop, my favorite moment of the weekend came Friday night.  All was still and quiet; a kind of drowsy, contented quietness.  I sat with my both of my kitties on my lap, the only light coming from the glow of the Christmas candles in the window, the only sounds the soft purrs and snores of Rhett and Felix.  Happiness.

Being transported and rapt in secret studies

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I officially donned by dramaturg hat!  I formatted and edited The Tempest for our GGSS production.  The directors sent me an HTML edition with their initial cuts.  I then went through and, cross-referencing the 2008 Norton Shakespeare edition, formatted to show shared lines, corrected spelling from the HTML edition, made additional cuts, and-- at times-- chose places to share lines differently from the choices made by the editors of the Norton Shakespeare.  I would have liked to use a facsimile First Folio, but at the time I didn't have one on hand...

I also had variable punctuation between the two versions-- and boy, does punctuation matter.  Figuring out how to punctuate was a beast, because it can make such a difference in how an actor interprets a line.  Additionally, since we have several women cast as male characters, and the directors want those characters to be women, I changed pronouns, "sirs," "fathers," "brothers," "lords," and "masters" to the feminine (while trying to maintain the meter).

Altogether, formatting and editing the script for performance took nearly ten hours, but I had so much fun working with the play that I didn't even notice the time passing.  I actually wished I had more time to work with it-- but alas, it needed to get sent to the directors for approval ASAP, and I had obligations for class to worry about over the break.  And, now that classes are over... I still have two major papers to write.  But all I want to do is research for the actor packets and compile the glossary!!!  ...I think I should take this as a sign that I need to find a way to throw myself back into researching and making early modern drama-- or making some kind of theater-- full force.

A Little Busy Bee

I thought once Cabaret closed I would have an abundance of free time-- so much so that I would sit around watching movies and reading books for fun and sometimes just being downright bored in the most gleeful of ways.  This has, of course, proved untrue.  It sort of started that way: Sunday night after a long day at Cabaret strike, I decided to take time just for me.  So, I put on my PJS, then curled up in bed with tea and Netflix.  I spent a lovely night watching both Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Thor, neither of which I had ever seen.  Then Monday morning rolled in, and I have been going non-stop.

Between catching up on the workload of two seminars, beginning to think seriously about/research for my final papers, and attending Modernities Working Group and an Apprenticeship Teaching seminar, school is keeping me hopping.  End of the semester is right around the corner, and we're all feeling the crunch.  I need to go go go if I'm going to get everything done and done well.  The last few papers looming over my head have me feeling just an edge of anxiety already... in just four weeks, I need to have completed all of my work for this semester.  Right now, it's a chilling thought.

Then, additionally, I am happy to report that I will be dramaturging GG&SS's winter play The Tempest by William Shakespeare!  If you know me, or you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know how much I love Shakespeare and theater.  I'm so excited to be a part of this production, to get to research production history, to put together actor packets, to teach a little about scansion, and to uphold the vision of these two directors.  After our first meeting last night, I am very excited about this production-- the directors' concept is gorgeous and really well conceived.  And I get to research for it and to help the cast and crew put it all together!  This, of course, means a lot of work-- work I am very happy to undertake-- but still, something I need to direct a lot of energy and time towards if I'm going to do it right.

And, of course, I need to see my friends!  Last night I attended a most excellent karaoke party with my cohort.  It was so nice to see them again, after missing a lot during Cabaret.  We really bonded over the singing of mostly 1990s pop songs.  Then tonight is a "low-key" movie-watching party night with the cast/crew of Cabaret (with whom I want to keep in touch).

So, with school, The Tempest, and a social life hanging in the balance, I find that all of that time I supposed I would have for just me-- with tea and a book, or Netflix-- has totally gone out of the window.  But I think I'm okay with that.  Maybe Winter Break will be enough time to recharge... when I'm not cooking up eighteenth-century masterpieces with my Foodways friends, of course. :)

I Can't, I Have Rehearsal

I guess you can tell from my radio silence for most of this month that I've been incredibly busy.  October ended up being far busier and more stressful than anticipated.  To be honest, I haven't really had a chance to catch my breath since my last blog post, and today, though I'm writing, isn't really an exception.  But I finished my last paper for a little while, so.

Things I've Done:
Attended the Blackfriars Conference
Presented at the Blackfriars Conference
Watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"
Found a great crepe place to get lunch on my way to campus
Written a literacy narrative
Workshopped literacy narratives
Done all of my reading for my seminars
Written a short close reading exercise
Completed a massive midterm project
Completed the second paper for Brit Lit... even if it's not great...

And now I belong to Cabaret until November 10th.

A Real Weekend

I have weekends again now that I'm working, although starting next week they will be on Tuesday and Wednesday instead of on Saturday and Sunday.  But this weekend I had a real weekend-- a break from work, at the proper time and everything.  Predictably, I spent it with Zan.

I drove to the mountains Friday evening, arrived at his home in time for dinner, and we had an Indian take-away feast that his dad had picked up: perfect, after making my curried rabbit that I could only taste, but not eat.  We had chicken tikka masala with naan, a lamb curry, paneer and peas, samosas, and poppadums.  We sat out on the porch in the perfect evening air-- warm, with a hint of a breeze, so no mosquitos or gnats or flies.  We talked about tennis, and the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra's son, and when someone thought Lydia was the kidnapped Patty Hurst and her cat went mysteriously missing.  We looked at the sheered sheep in the fields and the blue water of the pool that will feel so good later this summer.  The next day Zan and I headed to town to see Love's Labours Lost at the ASC.  We sat on the stage, and since we knew several of the cast members we got singled out quite a bit for attention during the show.  I kissed one actor on the cheek and another gave a bit of love to Zan.  Alas, no surprise ending (no surprise), thus Jack had not his Jill.  Ah, well.  It was a very good play.  We had dinner again on the porch, and afterwards watched Doctor Who and now we're all caught up just in time to hear that Matt Smith is leaving the role.  Late last night, after we had gone to sleep, Lys and Zach arrived, so today we got to see them, and spent the morning with mugs of tea and coffee, chatting away about life and their upcoming wedding.  Then, home again, home again, to go to work tomorrow and, hopefully, to receive my costumes.  I'm itching for my shifts and jumps; they'll be much nicer and cooler to work in than my modern clothes with my too-large Historic Trades polo.

Now the challenge is to coordinate weekends with Zan so that we might take fun trips and see plays and go on winery tours and do summer things despite both having full-time jobs and different weekend days.

What I'm Up To in London

As the whole world knows, the 2012 Summer Olympics are happening in London this year.  That's why we're here-- my dad got an Olympics package (that I'm not actually on, so I didn't get to see any of the sporting events).  So, while my parents have been doing their Olympics package thing, I made my own fun in London!  One of the first days here, while my dad was in a business meeting (part of why he has an Olympics package), my mom and I headed over to Boroughs Market on the advice of my neighbor, Dan.  I'd never been before, but now I want to go all the time.  We had flat whites and an almond croissant at Monmouth Coffee right outside the market, bought six perfect macarons at a stall in the market, then we admired the meringues, pies, ostrich meat (seriously!), cheeses, spices, ice creams, vegetables, etc. available at the different stalls.  If I lived in London I might actually do all my shopping here.  I do have a few pictures of the market and of Monmouth Coffee, but I don't have a camera cord connector, so I'll just do a nice big picture post at the end of this English Adventure.  Walking towards St. Pauls from the market we took a few back roads and found the foundations of the original Globe theater (marked by a plaque, built over with apartments) and the Rose Theater.  We also walked down a street called something like "Bear Baiting Way."  Wonder what could have possibly happened there back in the day ;).

That afternoon I got lunch with my friend Alex, who I met in Taming of the Shrew my freshman year of undergrad.  She was Kate, I was Bianca.  She was an exchange student from Exeter College, so she came back to the UK following the play.  We haven't seen each other literally since then, so we had lots to catch up on.  She's a barrister now!  How exciting!  Really a perfect day.  I suppose here I should take a moment to thank Mike Johnson for making me try out for Taming.  Life-changing.

I'll pause here-- but let me tell you there's lots of good stuff to come.  Stay tuned for stories from Oxford, the British Museum, and a very special evening at the Banqueting House (which is even more special if you're super into British history like I am, or art history).  Also, I just might have some Olympics stories to report, too... think Spice Girls.  Because really, that's what it's all about.

Languages and Textuality

In my perhaps-bi-annual attempt to do something linguistically productive with my life, I have purchased a few brush-up French books, including an "Easy Reader" and a verb review, along with an Introduction to Sanskrit book. Why? Because... maybe it will come in handy. I mean, who DOESN'T want to know how to speak Sanskrit? Also, I'm into studying British imperialism. Just saying.

So cool fact: Sanskrit is written in a script/alphabet called devanagari, which literally translates to "city of immortals." This is really, really cool I think. The oral language-- Sanskrit-- means "perfecting" or "putting together," but in writing it becomes immortal. Ties in nicely with what I'm studying in my Shakespeare/Materialism/Textuality course right now: 1623 Hamlet, folios v. quartos, and setting down things in "tables" to remember them-- literally, "tables" were portable blank books with erasable pages. So it really calls attention to textuality and materiality, writing down vs. human memory, and the always interrelated functions of remembering and forgetting.

Also, I got a bottled sweet tea the other day before going to my textuality seminar (because man, I miss southern sweet tea like my mom makes and how sweet tea always meant reading outside on porches come spring, and I needed to remember my roots). But the cool thing about this bottled sweet tea was that the little label on it had a story about sweet tea that started "Remember simpler times? When a text was something you carried in a book bag?"

Too. Perfect.

Just our hands clasped so tight

The image of clasped hands can mean so much. The clasped hands of a nervous girl waiting for her entrance in a play two years ago; the clasped hands of a girl in a theatre, waiting with excitement for a much-anticipated show; the clasped hands of that same girl yearning with all she has to be a part of what she sees in a theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. And more: the clasped hands of lovers, meeting and parting again and again; their clasped hands as they embark together into the dark.

What can I say of Stratford-Upon-Avon and the RSC? To me, this is everything I want. This small English town, full of life, energy, shops, history, and above all, Shakespeare. Being here again I feel the same emotions I felt nearly two and a half years ago when I saw the Henry VI Trilogy— such an intense knowing that here is where I want to be, that this type of theatre is what I want to help create. I’ve been, in small ways, beginning to inch towards that goal, but it is still so distant. But being here I remember again how certain I am that I know what I want in life, and I remember why I tell people that I want to be a dramaturg, or to some a literary manager, or an artistic director—whatever words they can best understand my dreams. It’s not some abstract thing to tell people so they won’t question me further about my plans after graduate school: these are my plans.

In the past two days, I have seen both King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra. King Lear was flawless, and Antony and Cleopatra striking. The RSC is… beautiful. I am perfectly convinced that they can make me love any Shakespeare play; I was lukewarm towards King Lear before, but now! The image of Lear standing in the rain with his fool is one I will never forget. And Antony and Cleopatra—watching this show was sheer joy. At times I could still mouth along with the lines.

When we bought our tickets for 1 Henry IV, an Englishman in front of us said he had seen a crap version of A&C at the Globe, but that the one at the RSC was quite good. When we asked him what was wrong with it he said, “Antony is supposed to be a colossus and they played him as if he were a bank manger, while they played Cleopatra like a tart.” He continued, “They are both supposed to be majestic, and the power struggle between them makes the play dynamic.”

How incredibly accurate. Of course, in the play, each is a little proud and a little crazy, and the politics of the world barge in on their happy harmony causing rather terrible rows, but that makes the play fun to watch. What’s theatre without some conflict?

But these are not two hormonal teenagers like Romeo and Juliet, nor is this the superficial love of Miranda and Ferdinand. Antony and Cleopatra are both older, they know their own hearts and minds, they have both had past relationships (Antony with Fulvia, Cleopatra with Caesar), and while those loves were not untrue, what they have for each other is so certain as to cause them to follow each other into the dark.

Today my mother and I went to the Shakespeare birthplace, and in one of the several introductory rooms, the film narrator said, “No other playwright has so impacted our lives like William Shakespeare.” I thought to myself, “Some lives more than others.” For without Shakespeare—and the subsequent club Shakespeare in the Dark (to which my dear friend Mike Johnson inadvertently introduced me before we even knew each others names), my dreams of working at a Shakespearean theatre, the hours spent both with my books in academic study and in the playhouse itself—my life would be a much lonelier, poorer place. Here’s to the Bard.

For the lad of all lads was a Warwickshire lad!
~Ode to Shakespeare, David Garrick, 1769

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere

I have noticed that people fall on one side or the other: Prince Hal or Hotspur. They are passionately devoted to one while being lukewarm towards the other. Truly, as Hal says, "two stars keep not their motion in one sphere."

I am now a Prince Hal girl. After six years of being pro-Hotspur, my mind has been completely changed in the course of an afternoon. I've always liked Hal, but been a die-hard fan of Hotspur. Today's performance of 1 Henry IV at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London has changed all of that.

But to begin at the beginning! The past two days have been incredibly fun. Yesterday my parents and I went to Cardiff, Wales, to see the Doctor Who Exhibit and to visit places where both Doctor Who and Torchwood were filmed. The Doctor Who Exhibit was lovely-- I got to see Daleks, Cybermen, Clockwork Men, a Weeping Angel, costumes worn by David Tennent, John Barrowman, Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, Kylie Minogue and Catherine Tate, plus about a thousand different props. Then, just a short walk from the exhibit, was TORCHWOOD TOWER! It was covered in strawberries to advertise some festival or other, but there it was! We took obligatory pictures, then headed down to Mermaid Quay to see the restaurant where Owen and Diane had their first date in an episode, and we ourselves ate lunch at a Cafe Rouge (one of my favorites from my days in Bath). Just after lunch, we found Ianto's Door, the true entrance to the hub, where Gwen delivers the pizza in the episode "Everything Changes." We also noticed that the entire area was called Roald Dahl Plass, which made me very happy since I love Roald Dahl's stories.

After spending time Doctor Who-ing it up, we took a bus to Cardiff City Center to take a look at Cardiff Castle and walk the grounds. So full of history-- they had this fantastically creative film that used no words, but depicted the past 2000 years through the journal of a girl from 2010. It's a bit difficult to explain, but it was awesome. It ended with the screen rising, giving the audience a view of the Keep, and the last thing to become visible was the Welsh Flag flying proudly in the blue sky. I almost cried, it was so beautiful.

We finished up the day back in London with dinner at this great Indian place called Punjab.

Today was spent in London. My dad had to go back home today, sadly, but my mom and I still had a good time. I got to see Garrick's Theatre Royal Drury Lane (yes, the real one, except it was rebuilt in 1812) though we didn't get a chance to take the tour, we visited Platform 9 and 3/4ths at King's Cross Station, we walked around Kensington, and, most importantly we saw 1 Henry IV at the Globe.

1 Henry IV has been my favorite Shakespeare play since I was seventeen years old and still in high school. It perfectly combines comedy, drama, and history, and effortlessly switches between the two, even within the same scene. It's a gorgeous play. So, you can imagine how excited I was to see that it was playing at the Globe! As we bought our tickets I excitedly quoted to my mother lines such as The Douglas killing the King's wardrobe piece by piece, Glendower and his spirits in the vasty deep, and, most importantly, told my mom about the wonders of Hotspur.

But then! Oh then-- Hal. In almost a flash, my love of Hotspur faded as the actor playing Prince Hal began to shine (as brightly as the sun, some might say). The actor playing Hotspur was fine, but either he didn't get very good direction or I just didn't like his interpretation of the role, whereas Prince Hal-- I have no words. He was superb, sublime, everything you could want in the wayward, noble Prince of Wales. His charisma stole every scene, and his interactions with Falstaff-- well, goodness! Falstaff was played by Roger Allam, so of course he was the creme de la creme, as well. I seriously have never loved Prince Hal more, whether on the stage or on the page. A thoroughly captivating three hours.

And the Globe! After my independent study in Renaissance Performance, seeing a play at the Recreated Globe Theatre just made my day. We bought food outside and took it in, we sat in the middle gallery (my mom refused to be a groundling, and given all the schoolgroups in the yard I'd say it was a good choice), and guh. The staging, the jig, the music, the cannon, everything! While it wasn't quite Andrew Gurr's The Shakespearean Stage come to life, it very nearly approximated it.

We ended the day at pub called The Prince of Wales (I joked that it was in honor of Prince Hal) with a Steak and Ale Pie and mash. How wonderfully English! And tomorrow it's off to even more the Bard-- Stratford-Upon-Avon, where they joke that they have one industry: Shakespeare!