Week 14 Northampton
Aug 1st – 8th
Aug 1st Back on the island, we hurried to touch things up for our first performance on Monday. SUNDAY was a never-ending rehearsal that seemed to improve only in waves and receded as waves do.
MONDAY we performed for an invited audience at Lamport. It went well enough for a show going up a week and a half before its real performance.
WEDNESDAY the 4th, that some of you may realize has importance and the others may gloss over, marked my last visit to London. We saw The Goat or Who is Sylvia? featuring Jonathan Pryce. He plays a happily married man who has an affair with a goat. The show is not about bestiality, but rather about examining in us the things others do that will shut them off from our understanding and our love. Very powerful.
After eating at Mo’s Diner in Harrods, we went to Democracy by Michael Frayn. This man has such control of language and the ability to distil human interaction into something we can all relate to, no matter the subject. The play deals with East and West Berlin’s conflict by following a West Berlin politician and his assistant, who happens to play both sides.
THURSDAY we had an early rehearsal so that we could go with Lynda and Amanda to see Hamlet at RSC in which Joe plays a Switzer aka the third- spear-carrier-from-the- left. We made it there late because of trauma in rehearsal. We entered during Laertes reaming Ophelia (Leartes unfortunately being the same horrible actor who played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet). Joe had quite a lot of stage time, considering, and even had a moment where he took all of our focus. I had a somewhat tearful goodbye to Stratford-upon-Avon and we headed home.
FRIDAY the 6th The group went to Bath, thankfully, without Lynda.
She had to stay behind to work with our new actress. Our Mrs. Graves left suddenly because of her mother’s poor health and imminent death. The new actress was a local who was considerably more fun.
Back to Bath, we visited the Roman baths and the Costume Museum (this We does not include Logan since he had visited these sites last year with his family). We met with Sezzie who lives nearby. She showed us around before having to rush back to her fabulous life. Laura and I took half a bus tour on our way to the Museum and learned about the history of Bath - very interesting, you can write back for more information.
In our haste to take in the healing powers of the city, we almost got left behind. We had just finished eating at an incredible Indonesian place called Java's and were still recovering from the price that Logan and I thought we would share but had incorrectly ordered. We had to get help from a local who got us there just as the bus had started its engine to leave.
SATURDAY, the cast headed north in our own van. **I will publish the harrowing story of a velosaraptor-chicken chase I norrowly escaped from seperately, since it is a must read.** The house is lovely, but eclipsed by the splendor of the grounds. There are so many kinds of trees and grass to run through. There is a water installment that is like a waterfall over small stairs. We take off our shoes to walk up the water and continue on to explore the grounds as children would. We go, as one must do when there is one available, through the maze and squish mud in our toes. We run down hills and find little patches of the grounds all to ourselves. After one last walk up the waterfall, we have to go to make it to the hostel on time for dinner.
The hostel surpasses all of our expectations. It is in a little patch of wonderland wilderness. We adopt woodland names for the weekend and explore. We find a path to the dale and on the way we pick wild berries. We aren’t able to go as far as we would like because we have to make it back for rehearsal. Rehearsal finishes well after the sun has set, and we are all confronted with the pitch black forest to return through. Luckily we find a road which is dimly lighted that leads to a group of homes. There, we ask for a torch (UK term for flashlight) and make it home quite after the hostel is closed. Luckily, Doug hears our cries and lets us in. While in our room of six fun-loving college students, I can only divulge that we were asked to keep it down by a neighboring hostel tenant.
SUNDAY, we enjoyed a full English breakfast before heading to Castle Howard. The only reason I can think of for going there is that Brideshead Revisited was filmed there. If you’re wondering why that is important to our production, it isn’t. I would have been satisfied with Chatsworth - which was important because Nancy Mitford, a contemporary of Elizabeth VanArnim, -the author of the book our play is based on- designed most of the interiors of the home. The grounds were also lovely and far surpassed the house. There was a Temple of the Four Winds where we sat and let the wind play on our bodies. I have found a new appreciation for grass. On the drive home, the group made bets on arrival time, and we played 20 Questions to keep us occupied. We made it home earlier than most had predicted.
Aug 1st Back on the island, we hurried to touch things up for our first performance on Monday. SUNDAY was a never-ending rehearsal that seemed to improve only in waves and receded as waves do.
MONDAY we performed for an invited audience at Lamport. It went well enough for a show going up a week and a half before its real performance.
WEDNESDAY the 4th, that some of you may realize has importance and the others may gloss over, marked my last visit to London. We saw The Goat or Who is Sylvia? featuring Jonathan Pryce. He plays a happily married man who has an affair with a goat. The show is not about bestiality, but rather about examining in us the things others do that will shut them off from our understanding and our love. Very powerful.
After eating at Mo’s Diner in Harrods, we went to Democracy by Michael Frayn. This man has such control of language and the ability to distil human interaction into something we can all relate to, no matter the subject. The play deals with East and West Berlin’s conflict by following a West Berlin politician and his assistant, who happens to play both sides.
THURSDAY we had an early rehearsal so that we could go with Lynda and Amanda to see Hamlet at RSC in which Joe plays a Switzer aka the third- spear-carrier-from-the- left. We made it there late because of trauma in rehearsal. We entered during Laertes reaming Ophelia (Leartes unfortunately being the same horrible actor who played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet). Joe had quite a lot of stage time, considering, and even had a moment where he took all of our focus. I had a somewhat tearful goodbye to Stratford-upon-Avon and we headed home.
FRIDAY the 6th The group went to Bath, thankfully, without Lynda.
She had to stay behind to work with our new actress. Our Mrs. Graves left suddenly because of her mother’s poor health and imminent death. The new actress was a local who was considerably more fun.
Back to Bath, we visited the Roman baths and the Costume Museum (this We does not include Logan since he had visited these sites last year with his family). We met with Sezzie who lives nearby. She showed us around before having to rush back to her fabulous life. Laura and I took half a bus tour on our way to the Museum and learned about the history of Bath - very interesting, you can write back for more information.
In our haste to take in the healing powers of the city, we almost got left behind. We had just finished eating at an incredible Indonesian place called Java's and were still recovering from the price that Logan and I thought we would share but had incorrectly ordered. We had to get help from a local who got us there just as the bus had started its engine to leave.
SATURDAY, the cast headed north in our own van. **I will publish the harrowing story of a velosaraptor-chicken chase I norrowly escaped from seperately, since it is a must read.** The house is lovely, but eclipsed by the splendor of the grounds. There are so many kinds of trees and grass to run through. There is a water installment that is like a waterfall over small stairs. We take off our shoes to walk up the water and continue on to explore the grounds as children would. We go, as one must do when there is one available, through the maze and squish mud in our toes. We run down hills and find little patches of the grounds all to ourselves. After one last walk up the waterfall, we have to go to make it to the hostel on time for dinner.
The hostel surpasses all of our expectations. It is in a little patch of wonderland wilderness. We adopt woodland names for the weekend and explore. We find a path to the dale and on the way we pick wild berries. We aren’t able to go as far as we would like because we have to make it back for rehearsal. Rehearsal finishes well after the sun has set, and we are all confronted with the pitch black forest to return through. Luckily we find a road which is dimly lighted that leads to a group of homes. There, we ask for a torch (UK term for flashlight) and make it home quite after the hostel is closed. Luckily, Doug hears our cries and lets us in. While in our room of six fun-loving college students, I can only divulge that we were asked to keep it down by a neighboring hostel tenant.
SUNDAY, we enjoyed a full English breakfast before heading to Castle Howard. The only reason I can think of for going there is that Brideshead Revisited was filmed there. If you’re wondering why that is important to our production, it isn’t. I would have been satisfied with Chatsworth - which was important because Nancy Mitford, a contemporary of Elizabeth VanArnim, -the author of the book our play is based on- designed most of the interiors of the home. The grounds were also lovely and far surpassed the house. There was a Temple of the Four Winds where we sat and let the wind play on our bodies. I have found a new appreciation for grass. On the drive home, the group made bets on arrival time, and we played 20 Questions to keep us occupied. We made it home earlier than most had predicted.
posted by Sylvia at 4:23 PM
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