Third day of classes

So, yesterday's class had me getting up at 9, but once again I found it to be worth it. The class I had was a literary Shakespeare course and I left the class feeling more or less impressed. The professor seemed *very* intelligent and knew her subject matter very well. In class, we discuss what we knew about Shakespeare, and discussed Othello, which we had seen the previous week. Then we parted ways. Once I got back to my dorm, I felt very dizzy and ill, however, and managed to fall asleep for several hours. When I awoke, I felt a good deal better, but a little shaky. We had another play to go to that night, though, so I gathered myself and headed out. We were meeting at Waterloo Station, which is absolutely huge, in front of the bookshop there. And then the adventure began. Our professor led us out of this station and out into the streets of London. And then, they went from busy to completely silent. We wound our way up and across until we reached a seemingly unimportant staircase completely covered in colorful graffiti. We went down these stairs and reached this huge tunnel.

 Talk about magical. And then we made a sharp turn and came upon the theater.

Inside it was pretty amazing too. 

It went on for forever too, it seemed, And there were all sorts of other really amazing rooms, like an eating room with a live band and this amazing blue lighting. 

But it was getting time for the show to start, so the guy took our tickets

And we went in.

The show itself was above average. They did some terribly creative things with the music and the blocking and the acting was decent. Every once in a while, the room would shake and it would sound like a metro train would go over our heads but I could never tell if it was the real thing or just really excellent sound work. 

They had some pretty cool moments in the play. One of my favorites -- we were seeing Macbeth -- was when lady Macbeth gives him the bucket of water and tells him to wash himself clean of the deed. And he does -- only, instead there being water in the bucket there was stage blood and so when he washes himself he becomes more and more bloodied. It was a very thought-provoking choice, particularly since this blood stayed on for the rest of the show. 

Another choice they did that was very cool was the scene where Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost. In the scene before, Lady Macbeth has been preparing for a party as she speaks to Macbeth, she drops different things into these orange/red party bags which have been arranged in a line across the stage. Then, after all the guests have filed in, they begin to play a game. It was a game in which Macbeth was blindfolded and the guests (in masks) ran around until he yelled stop and they would freeze. Then he would make his blindfolded way to the nearest person and try to guess who it was. If he guessed correctly, there would be a great cheer. He first finds Lady Macbeth and kisses her. The cheer goes up. Then he finds the murderer he hired. He threatens him and the man runs out. There is a question of if Macbeth has found him yet. Macbeth starts up the cheer. Macbeth finds Lady Macbeth and then kisses her again. Once again, a cheer goes up. And then, he unmasks the next guest. It is Banquo. 

At the end of the scene, Banquo picks up one of the goodie bags and leaves. 

Very interesting piece, all and all. Very experimental. And the venue was, of course, amazing. 

We headed out after that and I enjoyed my Thursday night.

That's all for now.

Until next time!

~ E