Tuesday

Just thought I'd check in, things are moving along here, still loving my internship. This week I'm seeing five plays and only paying for two out my own pocket. Though I suppose technically the ones for my class I am paying for out of class fees. Oh well. I'm managing to stay within my budget, quite well actually, last week I spent fifty pounds less than I'd budgeted. I'm trying to shave another twenty this week, but it's hard to say what expenses crop up. I still want to buy a radio, it's weird to not have music when I'm getting ready in the morning.

The Globe

Can I just say again how much I love my internship? Yesterday we started the day with a meeting, or we thought the meeting was yesterday, the guy we were meeting with thought it was Monday, so as it was we just had coffee and talked over budgets. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon installing the new version of Norton (stupid program) and typing up contact lists.

At 3:30 we caught a tube to the Globe for a production meeting. On the way there Greg gave me the history of the reconstruction of the theatre- done mostly through the sheer tenacity of the american actor Sam Wannamaker. We got there and he gave me a tour of the theatre.

I got to walk on the stage.

After the production meeting, which got really exciting when Greg started making the hard deals, some one pulled out champagne. When asked why, the answer was "Friday". So I had a couple glasses of the bubbly and then my eight hour day was over. Fantastic.

Ups and Downs

So this second full week is a little uneven. I've seen two very disappointing shows, which shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did. I'm used to seeing not good shows, I see them all the time at home. And logically, I know that not all the plays I see here will be good, but it still annoyed me.

On the other hand, my internship is going great. Yesterday I saved a database. Or, helped save a database. The office had recently moved and there was suddenly a desperate search for the christmas card database. The only copy was eventually found on a- are you ready?- floppy disk. Now, the only computer in the office with a working floppy drive was an ancient old laptop which could not burn cds or connect to the a zip drive. So I said, why not email it to the other computer? A great idea, but complicated by the fact that this ancient computer had no ethernet connection. So we unplugged the fax machine and- are you sitting down?- dialed up. I know. Crazy. However, the email got sent and I immediately put this database on a cd. Then we all breathed a little easier. The last two hours of yesterday were spent browsing at the theatre bookstore near-by and gossiping about people in the business.

I also learned that British actors are as desperate for good feed-back as American ones when my boss and I ran into an actor from a show we'd both seen and I assured him that his American accent had been very good. And it was actually. That had been one of the good shows. I've seen seven shows so far, which isn't bad when you consider that I've only been here for two weeks and four of those seven were good, so I'm not doing too badly.

History

Today I and all five of my flatmates went to Dover and Canterbury. We didn't have much time in Dover, so all we saw was Dover Castle, but that was probably the best thing I've done as of yet. We marched up a hill and came to the entrance of the castle wall. First, we took a tour of the secret wartime tunnels, used during World War 2 for the coordination of sea and air attacks. Hundreds of workers were cooped up in these tunnels built during the Napoleanic Wars for soldier barracks. Then we wandered around the castle itself. The keep was awe-inspiring, over 800 years old. One could feel the history oozing off the walls. I kept touching the stones just to see if I could take that sense of oldness into myself. I kept taking pictures of the place, mostly, I must admit, because I kept going: that would be a great example for set designers if I ever do a Shakespearean History play. Silly Jenna. The weather co-operated too, bright and sunny and even the wind was enjoyable.

After the castle we caught another bus to Canterbury, where we explored the cathedral there, seeing the place where the arch-bishop Thomas Becket was murdered. I wandered around, a little over-whelmed and I wondered if I had grown up attending a church like this: seeing a testiment of man's ability to build for the glory of God, walking up steps worn in grooves by the crawling of centuries of pilgrams, looking up two hundred feet to the curved stone pillars to the beautiful domed ceiling- if in that case, I would have been more open to religion, less apt to doubt. If, in essence, I would have been a believer. I'll never know I suppose, but I probably would have enjoyed Sundays less.

After the Cathedral visit we found ourselves with three hours to kill. We had a leisurely dinner, but still had to occupy ourselves for another hour. We tried sitting in a parking ramp, but a couple of guards kicked us out. And then they followed us to McDonald's where we quietly sat with a couple of coffees. Honestly, aren't there more dangerous people to keep an eye on than six shivering girls waiting for a bus?

All in all, the day was wonderful, tiring, but wonderful.

Rocks and Water

Today I got up an ungodly early hour in order to see some rocks and a bit of water. In other words we went to Stonehedge and Bath- which were wonderful. Stonehedge was elegant and inspiring, though I would have preferred to see it at sunset.

Bath was a beautiful, old city, with all the buildings made of limestone. I loved it. Anyway, must vacate computer, more later.

Internship of Dreams

It's going to be hard, confusing, and totally amazing. At least, that's the feeling I got in the interview yesterday. The executive director, Gary, assumed I knew a lot more about British theatre practices and people than I actually did. I should probably do some research today. However, it's a three person office and from the conversation, it seemed like I would be getting all sorts of interesting tasks. Not only that, but they plan to bring me to many shows and introduce me to important people. Like Mark Rylance, Artistic Director of the Globe! I couldn't be happier with the internship.

I did run into my first major culture issue however. They charge for theatre programs! They wanted two and a half pounds for a one last night and after asking another theatre goer, I was told this is universal in the city. I certainly can't afford that, it's an extra five dollars a show. My goal is to see 50 shows. You do the math, it makes me too upset. Oh well, postcards are an adequate substitute, at least those are free- you can't really charge for promotion materials, can you? So I'll have something to remember each show.

Paris!

Well, the trip didn't really require an exclaimation point... I was there for less than 24 hours, but once I knew that I COULD see a Peter Brook production I had to do it. So I bought a ticket on a website in French, still, credit card number is universal, booked a ticket on the chunnel train, got a hostel room and went the next afternoon. The play was amazing- I understood none of the dialouge, but the the pacing, the movement, the way actors used their bodies in sync with their voices, the lack of set... everything was perfect, Brook is a genius. That is what I aspire to, only in English.

The rest of Paris was... well, I wasn't there long enough to make a full judgement, some things I liked, others I didn't. I 've never spent so much on water in my life, but chocolate and a crossiant makes the most perfect breakfast and the city is beautiful- as long as you always look ten feet up and higher. Yet, the metro is a much more efficiant system than the london underground and the streets are better laid out.

All considered, I was happy to be back in London, though the four hours of walking I did today in Paris has taken it's toll. It's only 9:30 here and I'm ready to crawl into bed.

Sights, sounds, smells, and exhaustion

I've been in London now for just over seven hours. It's amazing, a mixture of old and new, with flashes of things that I think I recognize from this city or that, but then I realize that no, it's all completely different. The air smells different, the traffic makes a different sound (as well as moving frighteningly fast in a different direction), and everything is brick- or seems to be. I love brick buildings, but even their modern designs look beautiful to me, far more than most modern architecture back home.

How much of this adoration is coming from the fact that I haven't slept in twenty-four hours and not much even the night before. Still, the slight headache allows me to wander around in an aimless and content way, getting thoroughly lost in the process. However, I did find this internet cafe, even if I now have an overriding urge to go wash my hands.

Here we go

So it's time to take off soon. My plane leaves in...(checking watch) just over five hours. I'm packed, but ready is another matter. I am excited, but it's hard to be excited for something you have no frame of reference for. I'm going to London. It's too big to understand right now. Hopefully I'll be able to understand it in smaller pieces once I'm over there.
I'm really leaving. It is actually happening. Wow. I am so happy.