List the 4th

It's understandable that I haven't "blogged" (that can't be in the dictionary) in over a week. That's all.

The Most Important Lessons from Two Weeks of Classes

 1. The most important. John Gorrie, acclaimed British director, quote about musicals: 

"I would rather cast a great actor over a great singer any day of the week."

2. Fiona Shaw wears tennis shoes with dresses and pulls it off brilliantly, equally as brilliantly as she teaches. 

3. I want to tell you what she said:

  3a. Rhythm is the key to the unconscious. Why we can understand people speaking in different languages, y'all!

  3b. I'M the "thing". (because I know myself now, in the moment, and am in tune with it. also, because she must know I rock.)

  3c. Modern/"normal" speech must have poetry if it's onstage.

  3d. "Who/what/where/who-to?" NEVER gets old. Thank you, 2nd grade Language Arts.

  3e. 2 people who really love each other speak in monosyllables. You won't try to impress the one you really love, with high flourished language or anything. My gosh. Beautiful.

  3f. "If you only had one line in the scene, which would you choose?" WOAH. Play it out. Best game ever.

  3g. When you allow yourself to listen, you don't need to act. (Has now been echoed by all BADA faculty, thank you very much, Fiona.)

  3h. Greek tragedy language is hard for the audience to digest (ok, did already know that)-- the tragic character's power is in her tragedy, not her heroism. If you (your character) doesn't lose, the audience won't empathize with you. (I am so ready to fall apart right now.)

  3i. Most insightful: "It's only you if it's difficult for you to be you." You live in the character, the play that frightens you most.

  3j. Most entertaining: Nothing is actually grand. It's better to ask for $5 million under drinking a glass of beer. 

4. Fiona Shaw also encouraged me to not understand poetry just in the way that I don't understand poetry and be OKAY with it. I know that's not what she meant when she said that the seam of the poem, it's true meaning, is only understandable after reading it a LOT. But that's what I like to think she meant.

5. I promise I really don't like to pour philosophy on my Public Internet Diary, but the purpose of this PID just changed-- but only for that small section! Don't worry, I'm done sapping.

6. Just kidding: If you go out to the sea or the shore in the middle of the night, "you are in touch with something eternal." Deborah Warner. Other masterclass. Fiona's long-time collaborator, director, and friend.

  6a. Here comes more.

  6b. Theatre-making is "room for the audience to swim around"!! I like the idea of an audience as fish trying to find food somewhere or just bite the actor's toes. We all know it can go both ways.

  6c. Best quality of an actor = bravery. Worst quality of an actor = selfishness. I'm wondering-- do you know of any brave selfish people? Think about it...

  6d. I need to learn more monologues. GOSH. STORY OF MY LIFE HERE.

  6e. Don't be cool.

  6f. "Make someone cry. She's serious. (Haha)-- But really." 

          About monologues in auditions, quoted from my own notes.

  6g.   Be a toddler in a rehearsal room.

What else do I really need to tell you now? You know everything. Congratulations.

That means everything else I have to say must be life-changing. Read on.

7. I have discovered Krave cereal for myself. Nutella in a rice nugget. Brilliant.

8. 2 years of training in US college dining halls have prepared my for my stealthy stash of fruit and cereal now bursting out of my mini-fridge. 

9. I really don't need to shout.

10. I really don't need to talk so fast.

11. I really don't need to interrupt people.

12. That includes offstage.

13. People from LA hate LA.

14. So do a lot of other people.

15. "Acting is a feminine process". Sorry, guys. I didn't say it.

16. Shakespeare respected his women, yo.

17. Don't start a speech in the middle of the speech. Come on, Anna.

18. I want to see the Pina Bausch movie. AND I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE.

19. Baklava is better here?

20. The new Ugly Dolls = the Olympic Mascots. I am stupidly in love with Wenlock and Mandeville. 

In celebration of my anti-climactic birthday, number 21: 

I didn't drink anything on my 21st birthday.

Haters hate. (I hate myself for saying that, but I'll get over it.) I bought my one and only "illegal" purchase of alcohol underage, which wasn't really illegal at all because I'm in England, the night before in London at a real live American-style restaurant in Covent Garden called Maxwell's. Not only did Josh fall in love with the waiter, but he also drank my cocktail (embarrassingly titled Kiss Me Quick), which, equally embarrassingly, Juli and I were initially sharing anyways. Needless to say, I did not get kissed quick.

But here's what I did do: 

On Saturday, we spent the entire day (16 hours, I believe) in London on a 7-pound bus pass that took us everywhere and under and over all things we wanted to see. We did get "pound-blocked", as I like to call it, by everything now costing money because of the darn Olympics, but whatever. We SAW the buildings! Juli and I innocently and expertly cried our little-girl way into better mezzanine seats at Sunshine Boys, starring Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths (Harry Potter's uncle), for no extra charge. I ate the most expensive ice cream cone I've ever eaten, at a place where Breast Milk and Apple Vodka are flavors of choice (or at least to choose from...). 

On Sunday, my birthday, we had our first real sunny summer day. We took a photo shoot in a rose garden and climbed a tree. We bought 2 Mediterranean picnic baskets from the Cous Cous Castle (Cafe). We did circus tricks (attempted) on the Magdalen lawn. And I got one of the best sundaes with the best strawberry hand-dipped ice cream I've every had, as my birthday gift by 3 wonderful girlfriends in a pink dessert cafe. WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?!

That is all.

Tomorrow I go to Shakespeare's town and see where he probably did a lot of crazy crap. Not complaining.

And tonight... finally... COPA!!!! (Oh, you know you want to know what that means... you'll have to wait until the next edition of this Public Internet Diary comes out.... just like the old days... what a horrible novella this would be... someone write it...)

 

 

The Third List

For those of you who have been gripping your computer screens for the past 3 days, I'm sorry. 

It will happen again.

As some of you may know, I am located not only in one of the most beautiful college towns in the world, but I am also located with the snazzy Juli Del Prete. She has a blog, too, that you may enjoy if you find snazz in mine. It's called http://you-knighted.blogspot.co.uk/. That's right, for the cheap price of ten minutes you can get 2 blogs in one. That's blogspot.com, everyone. 

After 2 days of classes, I now know these things:

1. Henry Godinez is so right. In so many ways, he is so right. 

2.  When Henry is 80, he will still look very young. John Gorrie is proof of this. 

3. I am literally drooling, hyper, suppressing-screams obsessed with Chekhov. 

3b. I actually did learn something in that horrible Slavic Chekhov class in the Winter.

3c. Off of 1 and 3b, thank you Northwestern. I don't think I realized I was learning, but good job.

4. It's hard to have 3c on my plate. Some people don't. Not in a mean way, but... thank you, people, students and faculty, at Northwestern.

5. THE WATER HERE SUCKS.

6. Even when in Oxford, I will still refuse to pay for Legally Blonde. 

6b. (Until it's $5. Chill out.)

7. When doing 3 Sisters, Cherry Orchard, and Midsummer Night's Dream, there are a couple of options: Irena, Ania, Hermia, amongst some more interesting stretches. It will always be Irena.

(We're still waiting on Midsummer.)

8. I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH CHEKHOV.

9. Deer are really peaceful.

10. People should not hunt deer.

11. I am embarrassed to have a deer head hanging on my wall in Ohio.

12. No matter where I go, people always immediately know I hate Ohio.

13. It's kind of a joke.

14. The slate for my "Ohio" monologue is always funny because of that.

15. Brits don't eat peanut butter?

16. Plums are in dining hall fruit baskets in England.

17.  A new goal in life is to try all of the Cadbury flavors.

18. Stupid people are funny, and it's OK to laugh at them.

19. I was told that by a teacher, so stop yelling at me.

20. Apparently playing Masha in The Seagull is a dream role of mine. I said it.

21. (Still on the Chekhov thing.)

22. The School House? Rocks. Juli, a wonderful boy in our group named Travis, and two lovely people named Maggie and Gabe are annexed in a secluded cloister of apartment-like little rooms off Longwall Street, apart from Magdalen College. It has been said that this is where they put the unwanted individuals all throughout history. We don't have a tea kettle. They did not change our towels. My chair has a hole in it. BUT, after much chagrin in procuring tea kettles for the School House, I found out we have a kitchen. There are about 100 beer and Pimms bottles in its recycling, but it is there. The School House rocks. (so little.)

23. There is a CLASSY classy but also slightly skanky club named COPA. As in Copa Cabana. We will see.

24. BADA secretly knows who trains together. They put all of the same-acting-class pairs in the same groups! Dawns are together, Sandras are together, and Cindys!! And then I'm randomly tagged on to the Cindy pair. Interesting.

25. Pimms is good. Put cucumbers in it! (?)

26. Always have a modern monologue ready to go.

27. NEVER pack for summer weather in England.

28. Alison Mahoney: Juli loves sheep, too.

I've really learned nothing else in my classes yet. This is all they teach us. Modern, Shakespeare, physical improv, and voice, Audition Techniques to come... eh, maybe I'll learn something soon. ;)

PS For any previous BADAs who care, here are my teachers.

Modern- John Gorrie

Shakes- Irina Brown (amazingly Russian)

Voice- Andrew Wade

Physical Theatre- Mick Barnfather, y'all

Audition Tech- Leo Wringer

Beautiful. 

Almost as beautiful as the deer.

 

The Second List

I said this would be short. Let's rock it:

Things I've learned about England and the beautiful English language thus far:

1. No matter what direction the escalator is taking you, it is called a lift. (elevators, too, but less relevant to my confusion)

2. The main man on the hit, sit-down, current version of Whose Line? on BBC looks like the Megabus man; Megabus is as funny to Brits as it is to Americans.

3. If you look at a British car just on the right left side, where an "American driver" would be, it looks like a ghost is driving the car. It's really fun. You should try it.

4. If you bring an umbrella, it won't rain. Don't try the opposite.

5. Do NOT stand on the grass in any historic college. 

6. Just because a fruit cake says it's gluten-free doesn't mean it's not fruit cake. It's disgusting.

7. Even if you're not sure if a BADA faculty member was truly a Steppenwolf ensemble member, assume it. He won't be, because you read the wrong bio, but he will be from Chicago and will have great Steppenwolf stories. Small world. Tall man (who knows Linda Gates).

8. Always assume people know who Linda Gates is. 

9. If people don't know who Linda Gates is, assume you're a little bit better than them.

10. Don't show that you're a little bit better than them, but know in the back of your mind that you're "in" with the BADA faculty, and that's all that matters.

11. Just kidding-- really, all that matters is that you see the Great Hall when in Oxford. You can also see in that same college where they shot the first broom-flying scene in the first movie. Once you see that, you really are cool.

12. It's OK to drink apple juice at a drinks reception. No one will notice it's not alochol. 

13. There actually are many other languages spoken and in advertising here. You should probably learn them all.

14. Don't cave and buy the first ice cream available. OPEN YOUR EYES to the beautiful ice cream world that lies down the street... every street... just not the first street.

15. But, seriously, even that crappy ice cream is good. It comes from a real ice cream truck. England has ice cream trucks that sell ice cream. Novel.

16. Business class is really great, but you don't have to eat all of the food available. 

17. (I could say something very politically charged about the extra amenities I received in business class, but I won't. Because I'm in England, joolllllyyy gooooddd time!)

18. Trains are expensive.

19. Northwestern kids may or may not need to do the claw and "Go Cats!" at least once wherever they all first meet each other. But it is never, ever repeated again.

20. I could be in the most beautiful, historic landscape, but I will still need 2 naps a day.

20 is enough. We'll play catch-up later. Namely, I didn't mention basically my entire day in London with my step-mom before I got to Oxford. But you don't want to read about the fun good stuff, do you? No! You need to learn how to survive here. And why it's great to be an American tourist. ashdgaiosp93478q209ywfia[2*#&49-- no. A student in Oxford.

*As Juli Del Prete is lovingly allowing one to borrow her lappy-top, I will not be editing or even re-reading anything I post. Enjoy that.

The First List

Here is what I would like to achieve with this blog:

1.   Show proof to my parents that I am trying to contact them

2.   Actually remember what I did at BADA 

3.   Appease the parents

4a. Share the reasons why it's still awesome to travel to an English-speaking country

4b. Share examples of how I still won't be able to understand dialects

4c. Share the adventures of going to non-English-speaking countries for a few short days

5.   Prove to my parents I am learning

6.   Use all of my money at internet cafes

7.   Thank my parents

Entries will be short. concise. perhaps trite. I don't have that money for the internet cafes. I won't pretend that I'm not going to try to spend all of my money on desserts. So, you might be able to expect some great philosophical entries. Or just more lists. You'll see. I'll see. We'll see.

Also, thanks again to all of my family and friends who helped me out in finally getting to BADA! You are forever appreciated.

So long America. I'm just going to another place with different forms of red, white, and blue, so it's not like I'm really cheating on you.

Love,

Anna