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