Final Week

With final exams finished by Wednesday, a few students departed early, and the rest of the crew gathered at the London Centre for Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards, students exchanged hugs and telephone numbers and, in mixed relief and wistfulness, set out to enjoy their last weekend in London. Several gathered that evening at the Manor pub in Eastcote for a karaoke fest.

Click here for more snapshots from the closing day of our Fall term abroad.

Wishing all of the NCSA Londoners a safe journey home --RB & NB

Week 9 in Brief

With finals looming, students spent a lot of time studying and making presentations for their classes. In the Shakespeare class, we had a spirited panel discussion of the theater season, and the Maritime London class featured illuminating student presentations on author Patrick O'Brian and the making of the film "Master and Commander." On Wednesday, Andreas Staab's Modern Britain class attended the London Mayor's Question Time and returned to the Centre for a traditional English fish and chips lunch. Thursday, Carole Machin's Art class met at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which holds a great collection of imperial artifacts.

On Friday, a few of us took an optional excursion to Rochester, Kent, an hour's train journey southeast of London. We strolled down the high street past Dickensian facades (Dickens lived here for a time; several of his novels reference the area), to the imposing Norman castle which was erected after the Conquest to over-awe the local Saxon population. It did that and remains formidable. It was a cold, clear day, and from the battlements we surveyed the town of Rochester, the River Medway widening towards Chatham (a major site of shipbuilding in the age of sail) in the distance, and the spectacular cathedral opposite, our next destination. One John Rutherford, a gracious, eminently knowledgeable guide, escorted us through the cathedral, England's second oldest. Located on the pilgrimage route to Canterbury, this cathedral itself became a destination for pilgrims in the 13th century after William Perth, a Scotsman en route to Canterbury, was murdered in the vicinity and ultimately sainted.

Back in London, the holiday season officially began with the illumination of festive lights on Regent and Oxford Streets, the hub of West End's shopping district. Temperatures obligingly dropped to freezing at night, and the ice rink set up in the courtyard at Somerset House attracted lots of skaters.

Shot of the Day

In Bloomsbury, even the dogs are well-read.

High Notes from Week 8

Early in the week, students were introduced to London's fringe theatre scene with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing by the Centurion Theatre Company. (Pictured above are Napoleon Ryan, director Michael Sargent, and Georgina Carey.)

BBC theatre critic Mark Shenton describes the London fringe as:

that seemingly indefatigable network of rooms above, behind and sometimes beneath pubs and other spaces that allows creative outlets, and often training grounds, for London's army of would-be actors, directors and writers. These venues usually rely on the self-subsidy (and DHSS benefits) of the people working in them, and the passion of those that set up and run them, to keep going.

With tiny performance spaces, and often tinier budgets, fringe productions differ strikingly from their well capitalized neighbors in the West End making millions of pounds each year on blockbuster musicals and big-name revivals. The venue for Tuesday night's Much Ado was the "Courtyard at Covent Garden," located in the basement of the Theatre Museum. The playing space was so intimate that front row spectators could rest their feet on the stage, a proximity some students found unnerving once the show began. We saw several strong performances by talented young actors working, without pay, to break into London's highly competitive entertainment sector. Click here for a student review of the play, and here for comments from The Stage Online.

The morning after the play, director Michael Sargent visited our Shakespeare class along with two of the actors, Georgina Carey (Beatrice) and Napoleon Ryan (Dogberry). They offered lively insights into a number of concerns: Mr. Sargent discussed his vision of the play and the challenges of producing it on a shoestring budget; Ms. Carey and Mr. Ryan spoke compellingly of the appeal of acting before live audiences, the difficulties of getting sustained, subsidized work on the London stage, and the problem of Hollywood stars and investors displacing local London talent.
On Friday, the NCSA and ILACA groups teamed up for a motor coach excursion to Stonehenge and Bath. We toured the ancient stone circle as rain threatened and wind tore across the Salisbury plain. Bath too was bracingly cold, and our visit to the ancient Roman ruins at Britain's only thermal spa was welcome. For centuries deemed restorative, the tepid and sulfurous water is still available at the Pump House restaurant for 50p per glass.

Saturday evening, we had the pleasure of hearing the Highgate Choral Society, which includes our site director Martin Upham, perform Michael Tippet's "A Child of our Time" at All Hallows' Church in Gospel Oak. Drawing upon the tragic figure of a Jewish boy who slew a German diplomat in Paris during WWII, the powerful oratorio meditates on human suffering and the fracturing of families by oppression, with African-American spirituals sounding major themes.

Saturday also featured London's Lord Mayor's Show, an annual parade since the middle ages in which the newly elected mayor rides in splendor through the City. Since 1757, the Lord Mayor has been carried in a fabulously ornate coach that resides in the Museum of London for the rest of the year. Elected by the City Livery Companies, the current Lord Mayor is a business ambassador, charged with promoting London and its commerce worldwide. (My book, Before Orientalism: London's Theatre of the East, 1576-1626 examines, among other things, the Lord Mayor's pageants of Shakespeare's day.)

More photos:

Stonehenge: 1...2

Bath:
the weir
students at play 1...2
at the crescent
sharing photos
tasting the spa water

Shot of the Day

Students react to Stonehenge

Week 7 Digest

This week featured maritime-themed activities and culminated with a celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. On Wednesday, the "Age of Sail" class visited Greenwich and the National Maritime Museum. We saw a special exhibit on “Nelson and Napoleon” documenting the conflict between France and England at the turn of the 19th century. Part of the bicentennial commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, the fascinating exhibit included hundreds of items: from French revolutionary artifacts to contemporary English political cartoons lampooning Napoleon to the coat Nelson wore at Trafalgar, holed in the left shoulder where the fatal musket ball tore through his epaulette. We also visited the Queen’s House, a centerpiece of classical architecture designed by Inigo Jones, and viewed the numerous maritime paintings there, including Turner's epic tribute to the battle, commissioned by George IV. Despite the attractions of Greenwich in fall, students chose to consider the observatory from here rather than trek uphill in the rain. Before returning to the Docklands Light Railway station, we admired the dry-docked Cutty Sark, a great merchant clipper ship from the late days of sail.

On Friday, a clear and windy day, the entire group boarded the train for Portsmouth to visit the Historic Dockyard, from which Nelson sailed to meet the French and Spanish fleets off Trafalgar in 1805. We toured his flagship, Victory, viewed the great cabin, gundecks, magazine and hold, and, as wind hummed through the rigging, stood on the quarterdeck where Nelson fell. Centuries earlier, Henry VIII had his fleet based in Portsmouth, and during an engagement with the French in 1545, his flagship the Mary Rose sank in the Solent. In 1982, divers retrieved much of the vessel’s hull along with numerous Tudor artifacts. The remaining timbers of the Mary Rose, dimly lit and under a constant spray of preservative wax solution, are on display* in a special observation hall. After viewing the Victory and Mary Rose and other related exhibits, we took an hour’s cruise of the harbor. Among the sights were Portsmouth’s newly opened Spinnaker Tower and several vessels of Britain’s modern navy, including a Harrier jet carrier, HMS Illustrious. During the remaining free time, some students browsed the Gunwharf outlet mall, while others toured the impressive HMS Warrior, a hybrid steam and sail battleship that dominated the seas in Queen Victoria’s day.

Saturday evening, site director Martin Upham invited us all to his charming home in Crouch End for a cup of mulled wine, followed by spectacular Bonfire Night fireworks* and a barbeque feast. The party was a resounding success, a festive conclusion to an eventful week.

More Photos

Royal Naval College at Greenwich

Student presentation on the Mary Rose 1...2
Inside the Mary Rose observation hall

Students at HMS Victory 1...2...3

Students take in museum exhibits: hands-on knot tying and ship figureheads

Group waiting to board the cruise
Students on the cruise
Portsmouth skyline with Victory's masts

HMS Warrior's figurehead and a huge flock of starlings in the rigging

Evening falls on Portsmouth's street and harbor

Students on the train back to London 1...2

Guy Fawkes Day fireworks*

*Special thanks to Peter Chee for photos of the Mary Rose and Bonfire Night fireworks.

Up next

Photo of the Day

Two students meet a new "mate" aboard HMS Warrior in Portsmouth