GEA - Day 2

 July 13, 2010

Today was so much fun.  I feel like I’m going to need to find more ways to say “Today was so much fun” because I think that’s the way every day is going to roll out.  I have to admit, I woke up this morning and was draggin’ bootay most of the morning, but some of the afternoon activities remedied that.  I’ll go into that in a bit. 

First, we started with a From Heaven to Hell tour with our tour guide and Globe Stage Manager Bryan.  Heaven in the Globe is the ceiling area above the stage.  If something comes from there, it is supposed to be from Heaven.  That means if something comes from below the stage, it’s supposed to be evil, or from Hell.  This was a tour of the Globe backstage.  We started in the piazza area where actors do quick changes.  We made our way to the attic area where many props and set pieces are stored.  A short trip to the next lower level is where “Heaven” is.  More sets and props are stored backstage on this level, but we were able to walk around to the balcony area nearest to “Heaven.”   It was really neat to stand here and look out at the audience area.  The next level we saw was the stage.  Being on the Globe stage was awesome!

The audience looks so close, and the groundlings are right underneath you.  It must be pretty intimidating for some actors to see the whites of the eyes of your audience.  Of course after Heaven, then the stage, comes Hell.  Hell is the area below the stage.  It can be accessed both through a steep staircase backstage and a trap door on stage.  You have to hunch over to get around in Hell.  From Heaven to Hell was a great tour!

After the tour we got to meet our much anticipated scene directors and find out the groups in which we will be working.  My scene director is Jo Howarth and we will be performing the beginning of the “porter scene” from Macbeth.  Jo has a very bubbly personality and lots of energy and I know I will learn a lot from working with her.  I will be playing the part of Lennox with around 25 lines to learn for our Tuesday midnight performance. 

Next we got to sit back in pairs and watch an actor/educator take students through the theatre and work with them on a part of a play.  We saw a young actor named Tom lead Crofton School 12 and 13 year olds.  These students are from Hampshire, England a middle class village, and about two weeks from their summer break.  They were squirrely and lively and fun to listen to.  It’s nice to see that it’s not just American students who have ants in their pants.  They seemed to enjoy their experience and Tom did a great job keeping them engaged in learning. Shakespeare's Globe has fantastic has fantastic educational outreach programs for kids of all ages.

After lunch we met with Stewart Pearce who is the Head of Voice.  He led us in a very interesting discussion on how sound is the core of creation and that we all have a signature note that is our true essence.  I’m still working to wrap my head around all of that, but it was a fascinating discussion.  He also worked us through the best relaxation exercise I have ever experienced.  Up until this point I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it to the end of the day.  I was spent.  After relaxation, I felt energized, refreshed, and centered.  I feel like describing it will not do justice, but we basically lied on the floor focused on breathing and listened to beautiful music.  It sounds so simple, but there really was a whole lot more to it.  I hope we talk more about it when we meet with him again.  I would love to bring that into my classroom. 

The final session of the day was with Yolanda Vazquez, Globe Education Practitioner.  Her job is to make sure that we know what we are doing when we leave and go back to reality with our students.  We did some really cool scene work with cue scripts and revisited some activities we did with Chris Stafford at UC, Davis. 

About nine of us decided we wanted to get out and have dinner together, so we went to a highly recommended Indian restaurant called The Mango House.  Great food.  I’d never had Indian before.  Afterward we walked about an hour to Covent Garden where we visited the first pub established in London… in 1216.  It was surreal being in a place that had been around for almost 800 years.  Nothing like that in California, or the USA for that matter.  Of course it had been refurbished, but it was still really cool. 

I’m back in my room now, and it’s midnight.  I’m ready to hit the sack.  More work with Yolanda and Jo tomorrow and then Henry IV Parts 1 and 2.  Good night!  (or good morning!)

Oh!  And here's a picture of Shakespeare's Globe!