Performing on the Globe stage was one of the most memorable nights of my life. Here are the videos of our groups scenes!
Macbeth - Act II, Scene iii
Directed by Jo Holwarth
Porter - Scott, Melinda, Tom
Macduff - Jesse
Lennox - Corinne
Macbeth - Ellen
Lady Macbeth - Melinda
Banquo - Tom
Malcolmbain - Scott
Macbeth - Act I, Scene v and Act I, Scene vii
Directed by Bill Buckhurst
Lady Macbeth - Christina, Tip, Tara, Pamela
Messenger - Richard
Messenger - Pete, Richard
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
GEA - Day 9 (new photos added)
July 22, 2010
The end is near for our time here at the Globe. Today we got to spend our first two hours with Glynn where she took us to the empty stage. There was no one in the theatre but us. We took pictures and learned a little more about the space, like the stage is on a slab foundation and somewhat floats. There are few pegs in the ground so it makes for a tricky place to walk sometimes.
After the stage, we walked down the way to the Park building (the other meeting spot for many sessions) to ask Glynn questions to expand on and clarify what she has taught us. We all really enjoyed our time with Glynn. The best word I can think to use to describe her is "magical." I'm sad that our sessions with her are completed, but I have taken away so much and I can't wait to share it with my students and colleagues. When I get home, I have to track down one of Glynn's books on the Alexander Technique.
For the rest of the day we worked with Chris. Before lunch, Chris had each of our performance groups share what activities our directors did with us so that the other group could have those tools. The time after lunch was spent figuring out how to chunk up Macbeth into 12 parts so we can each take a piece and teach our kids. This was no easy task, and we are still in progress. We will have our final sections tomorrow. We will need to edit our pieces into no more than five minute performances. Our work is definitely cut out for us. It'll give me something to do on my almost 11 hour flight home Saturday.
At lunchtime, Tip and I finally made it to the Burrough Market. The Burrough Market is an open-air produce, meat, and wine market and so much more. I have never seen anything like it.
There are several places where you can pick up a quick and delicious lunch as well. We had Thai Chicken Curry. YUM!
We are seeing The Comedy of Errors tonight. It'll be our last play since tomorrow is our last day. *sniffle*
The end is near for our time here at the Globe. Today we got to spend our first two hours with Glynn where she took us to the empty stage. There was no one in the theatre but us. We took pictures and learned a little more about the space, like the stage is on a slab foundation and somewhat floats. There are few pegs in the ground so it makes for a tricky place to walk sometimes.
For the rest of the day we worked with Chris. Before lunch, Chris had each of our performance groups share what activities our directors did with us so that the other group could have those tools. The time after lunch was spent figuring out how to chunk up Macbeth into 12 parts so we can each take a piece and teach our kids. This was no easy task, and we are still in progress. We will have our final sections tomorrow. We will need to edit our pieces into no more than five minute performances. Our work is definitely cut out for us. It'll give me something to do on my almost 11 hour flight home Saturday.
At lunchtime, Tip and I finally made it to the Burrough Market. The Burrough Market is an open-air produce, meat, and wine market and so much more. I have never seen anything like it.
There are several places where you can pick up a quick and delicious lunch as well. We had Thai Chicken Curry. YUM!
We are seeing The Comedy of Errors tonight. It'll be our last play since tomorrow is our last day. *sniffle*
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
GEA - Day 8
July 21, 2010
I have a little bit of a break right now so I thought I'd hop in to say HI! We got to sleep in again this morning due to our late night performance that most of us are still reeling from. I have to say, I could use a nap right now but we only have two sessions left and will be done at about 8:00 this evening. This morning we met with Chris to talk about some of the logistical things that we need to consider when selecting our students for the Mondavi performance as well as reviewed many of the exercises and activities we've learned so far. I was relieved to find out that we would be given a list of EVERYTHING we've done here. There's just so much and we don't always have time to take good notes or review.
After Chris, we met with Adam who will be coming to our schools in October to work with our students on their scenes for an hour or so. Adam has a lot of energy and I can see why he gets to be the one to come out to work with our students. He's a lot of fun. Well, everyone we've worked with has been amazing. I really can't say there was ever a session that left me feeling like it was a waste of time. In fact, most sessions we didn't want to end. I know that is going to be the case for the rest of our time here.
You know what's funny? As I'm typing and the words are being said in my brain, they are coming out with a British accent! A random thought, I know, but many of us are picking up on the accent and the dialect. We've noticed that swear words sound a lot more civilized when said with a British accent.
I need to wrap this up to get on to our next session with Chris again. Two times in one day! Lucky lucky!! After Chris, we will see Prof. Tony Howard to talk about Macbeth on Film. I'm not sure what to expect there, but I'm sure I won't be disappointed.
I have a little bit of a break right now so I thought I'd hop in to say HI! We got to sleep in again this morning due to our late night performance that most of us are still reeling from. I have to say, I could use a nap right now but we only have two sessions left and will be done at about 8:00 this evening. This morning we met with Chris to talk about some of the logistical things that we need to consider when selecting our students for the Mondavi performance as well as reviewed many of the exercises and activities we've learned so far. I was relieved to find out that we would be given a list of EVERYTHING we've done here. There's just so much and we don't always have time to take good notes or review.
After Chris, we met with Adam who will be coming to our schools in October to work with our students on their scenes for an hour or so. Adam has a lot of energy and I can see why he gets to be the one to come out to work with our students. He's a lot of fun. Well, everyone we've worked with has been amazing. I really can't say there was ever a session that left me feeling like it was a waste of time. In fact, most sessions we didn't want to end. I know that is going to be the case for the rest of our time here.
You know what's funny? As I'm typing and the words are being said in my brain, they are coming out with a British accent! A random thought, I know, but many of us are picking up on the accent and the dialect. We've noticed that swear words sound a lot more civilized when said with a British accent.
I need to wrap this up to get on to our next session with Chris again. Two times in one day! Lucky lucky!! After Chris, we will see Prof. Tony Howard to talk about Macbeth on Film. I'm not sure what to expect there, but I'm sure I won't be disappointed.
GEA - Day 7
July 20, 2010
I don't even know where to begin about today. We had a voice session with Stewart and a movement session with Glynn, part of which included watching a tech rehearsal of Anne Boleyn. After dinner we rehearsed for four hours and got ready for our midnight performance at The Globe. I will post videos of each of the groups when I get home because it looks like they will take a couple of hours to upload here. Everyone did such a great job in their scenes. I'm really proud of all of us.
Pictures from top to bottom: Whole group with our directors, Whole group with the $$$ Dr. Thelma Scott-Skillman - President, Folsom Lake College and Professor Harold Levine - Dean of School of Education UC, Davis, First group with their director Bill, My group with director Jo.
Even though I am a Drama teacher, I don't have much experience with performance. I am pretty good at bossing my students around on stage, but have only been the actor once during The Music Man my Senior year of high school. I took a couple of Theatre classes in college too, but I've always felt that I fell into the catagory of "Those who can't, teach!" I don't feel that way now because I know I can.
From this point, our sessions are going to focus on what we need to do to work with our students to bring them to perform at the Mondavi Center in November. Since I already have my own way of bringing performance out of students, I am very interested to learn what our practitioners have to say. Our show might be over, but we are certainly not done yet.
I don't even know where to begin about today. We had a voice session with Stewart and a movement session with Glynn, part of which included watching a tech rehearsal of Anne Boleyn. After dinner we rehearsed for four hours and got ready for our midnight performance at The Globe. I will post videos of each of the groups when I get home because it looks like they will take a couple of hours to upload here. Everyone did such a great job in their scenes. I'm really proud of all of us.
Even though I am a Drama teacher, I don't have much experience with performance. I am pretty good at bossing my students around on stage, but have only been the actor once during The Music Man my Senior year of high school. I took a couple of Theatre classes in college too, but I've always felt that I fell into the catagory of "Those who can't, teach!" I don't feel that way now because I know I can.
From this point, our sessions are going to focus on what we need to do to work with our students to bring them to perform at the Mondavi Center in November. Since I already have my own way of bringing performance out of students, I am very interested to learn what our practitioners have to say. Our show might be over, but we are certainly not done yet.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
GEA - Day 6 - Video added!!
July 19, 2010
The weather warmed up a bit today. It wasn’t quite as hot and humid as it was when I arrived last week, but it was pretty warm for London. I enjoyed it though, knowing that you’re all dealing with 100-degree weather. Last week the temp cooled as the week progressed. I just hope it doesn’t rain anymore. I like sunshine better.
Though this weekend was far from relaxing with all of the traveling I did, I felt refreshed and ready to begin the second week here at Shakespeare’s Globe. We were fortunate to have a later start time this morning of 11:00 AM since our rehearsals took many of us to 1:00 AM Tuesday. My group was lucky enough to be released at midnight, however.
Our first session this morning was a guided tour to The Rose Theatre excavation site. The Rose Theatre currently has a large building over it but there is space underneath the building for a small theatre where shows are performed just above the old Rose stage. The Rose site is under water and Plexiglas material at the moment in order to preserve everything so that an archeological team can uncover more at a later time. Under the water, there are strings of red lights that outline where we can part of the outer and inner walls of the Rose as well as part of the stage. The area is pretty dark though. Shakespeare’s first two plays were performed at The Rose.
Next, we had a short session with Chris to talk about what to expect this week. It was pretty straightforward. Tomorrow night is our scene performance of Macbeth, which means we have a lot of rehearsing to do. Most of tomorrow will consist of rehearsals. After our performances are over, the following days will detail how we are going to implement our newfound skills and activities in our classes so that our students can perform scenes from Macbeth.
We had a dance class with Huw Prall today as well. Yes, you heard it. I took a dance class. And I was actually successful… at least I feel I was. You can judge for yourself in our video.
This was a Historical Dance class. We learned some very simple “walking” dances that were of the time of the Renaissance. I feel pretty confident that I will be able to teach my students these dances. I think it will bring a very important element to whatever Shakespeare scene I do with them, even if that scene doesn’t need dance (which I doubt any of Macbeth does) because they will have a greater understanding of what the people of that time did for fun. Plus, the way kids dance today looks like spasms anyway, so it’ll be good for them. GEEZ, I sound so old!
Anywho… Dance was followed by text work with Giles Block. Giles has an extensive background with acting, directing, and studying Shakespeare and discussed with us ways to work through complex Shakespeare text.
After our dinner break we had a rehearsal marathon. I am happy to say that I learned all of my lines before today and was “off book” for rehearsal. It makes blocking a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about reading your lines. But as I said before, my rehearsal ran until midnight and it’s after 1:00 AM now, so I’m ready for bed. I’m excited about performing tomorrow.
The weather warmed up a bit today. It wasn’t quite as hot and humid as it was when I arrived last week, but it was pretty warm for London. I enjoyed it though, knowing that you’re all dealing with 100-degree weather. Last week the temp cooled as the week progressed. I just hope it doesn’t rain anymore. I like sunshine better.
Though this weekend was far from relaxing with all of the traveling I did, I felt refreshed and ready to begin the second week here at Shakespeare’s Globe. We were fortunate to have a later start time this morning of 11:00 AM since our rehearsals took many of us to 1:00 AM Tuesday. My group was lucky enough to be released at midnight, however.
Our first session this morning was a guided tour to The Rose Theatre excavation site. The Rose Theatre currently has a large building over it but there is space underneath the building for a small theatre where shows are performed just above the old Rose stage. The Rose site is under water and Plexiglas material at the moment in order to preserve everything so that an archeological team can uncover more at a later time. Under the water, there are strings of red lights that outline where we can part of the outer and inner walls of the Rose as well as part of the stage. The area is pretty dark though. Shakespeare’s first two plays were performed at The Rose.
Next, we had a short session with Chris to talk about what to expect this week. It was pretty straightforward. Tomorrow night is our scene performance of Macbeth, which means we have a lot of rehearsing to do. Most of tomorrow will consist of rehearsals. After our performances are over, the following days will detail how we are going to implement our newfound skills and activities in our classes so that our students can perform scenes from Macbeth.
We had a dance class with Huw Prall today as well. Yes, you heard it. I took a dance class. And I was actually successful… at least I feel I was. You can judge for yourself in our video.
This was a Historical Dance class. We learned some very simple “walking” dances that were of the time of the Renaissance. I feel pretty confident that I will be able to teach my students these dances. I think it will bring a very important element to whatever Shakespeare scene I do with them, even if that scene doesn’t need dance (which I doubt any of Macbeth does) because they will have a greater understanding of what the people of that time did for fun. Plus, the way kids dance today looks like spasms anyway, so it’ll be good for them. GEEZ, I sound so old!
Anywho… Dance was followed by text work with Giles Block. Giles has an extensive background with acting, directing, and studying Shakespeare and discussed with us ways to work through complex Shakespeare text.
After our dinner break we had a rehearsal marathon. I am happy to say that I learned all of my lines before today and was “off book” for rehearsal. It makes blocking a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about reading your lines. But as I said before, my rehearsal ran until midnight and it’s after 1:00 AM now, so I’m ready for bed. I’m excited about performing tomorrow.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Lacock, and Bath - (new photos)
I wanted to post a few pictures from each of the places I visited today, but the internet is moving very slowly tonight so you'll have to settle for just one...
INSANE!!!
I'm going to try to post more pictures to this blog post if I have time tomorrow.
G'night!!
Here's a few more shots of yesterday:
Windsor Castle - The Union flag was flying which means the Queen is not home.
It's impossible to take a picture of the whole castle. It's enormous!
The beautiful and very OLD village of Lacock. New cars of course. Some of these houses and buildings are 1,000 years old!
The Bath Abbey in Bath. The Roman Baths are right across the square from here. I didn't get a chance to go in either place though. The Abbey was closed and I didn't think I had enough time for the Baths.
There are angels climbing up ladders on the outside of this abbey because the king (can't remember which) that dreamed about building this place dreamed of angels climbing down ladders from Heaven. Some of the angels are climbing down head first.
I'm going to try to post more pictures to this blog post if I have time tomorrow.
G'night!!
Here's a few more shots of yesterday:
Windsor Castle - The Union flag was flying which means the Queen is not home.
It's impossible to take a picture of the whole castle. It's enormous!
The beautiful and very OLD village of Lacock. New cars of course. Some of these houses and buildings are 1,000 years old!
The Bath Abbey in Bath. The Roman Baths are right across the square from here. I didn't get a chance to go in either place though. The Abbey was closed and I didn't think I had enough time for the Baths.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Saturday in London
July 17, 2010
Here's some of what I saw this beautiful Saturday in London!
City of London statue:
Lion outside the National Gallery - In the National Gallery we saw original works of art by Monet, Renoit, VanGogh, and others.
This glass sculpture weighs 5 tons. Outside the National Gallery:
My reason for being... well, here anyway. I love the quote at which he's pointing.
Man playing a street cone for money. He wasn't bad!
The British Library - we saw a lot of really old books! :)
St Paul's Cathedral:
Here's some of what I saw this beautiful Saturday in London!
City of London statue:
Lion outside the National Gallery - In the National Gallery we saw original works of art by Monet, Renoit, VanGogh, and others.
This glass sculpture weighs 5 tons. Outside the National Gallery:
My reason for being... well, here anyway. I love the quote at which he's pointing.
Man playing a street cone for money. He wasn't bad!
The British Library - we saw a lot of really old books! :)
St Paul's Cathedral:
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