2.5 Not Just Dance

In Dance this week we learned about Georgian manners: how to stand, how to walk, how to bow, how to lead a lady (by the right hand so she doesn’t bump the sword!) and how to dance one of the dances; none other than ‘Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot’, Darcy and Lizzie’s dance in the BBC Pride & Prejudice. So fun!!

Also this week we decided on a scene to shoot later this term for our showreel. I paired with Sam, a brilliant actor from New Zealand, and we found a scene from a play called ‘Journey’s End’. It’s a drama about the First World War, set in a bunker in the trenches. I’m going to get to be a WWI officer, in the uniform and with the accent. I’m jolly excited!

I sometimes wonder if aiming and training for film first will limit my ability when working in theatre in the future. Veteran actress and Central alumnus Vanessa Redgrave, CBE said something very reassuring in an interview she gave at the school this week. She said she’d learnt more about acting for theatre by doing film because it shows if the truth is really there. So maybe I’m actually approaching things in a better order.

Markoesa invited me to see a dance show directed by her dad called ‘At Swim Two Boys’. I didn’t really know what it was about, though I suppose I could have guessed, and it’s not the kind of thing I would normally choose to go and see. It was a sort of homoerotic movement and musical performance, the two male performers dancing on a stage covered in a layer of water. So the audience in the front row (where we were sitting) got sufficiently soaked during the show to give new meaning to the word ‘immersive’! I had very mixed feelings about the whole experience, most of which I did not voice because I wanted time to think it through. I was impressed by the live music and careful choreography but my overwhelming response was one of deep sorrow for the brokenness of humanity. There was one point where the characters were lying in an embrace (‘spooning’ I believe it’s called) and we were offered an alternative perspective through a projected image from an overhead camera. Two men in what appeared to be an intimate, loving relationship and yet I was struck by the realisation that though this might be romance, it wasn’t love. This was furtive, exclusive and selfish. They’d turned their backs on the author of love, on God, He was being shut out and rejected, and somehow, on a really tiny scale, I felt His pain at our rebelliousness.

It should have come as no surprise that the story ended with one of the boys accidentally and tragically killing the other, and being left alone. How revealing that even people who don’t know the Lord and have no Biblical knowledge somehow still know that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Here art was reflecting reality, but, mercifully, not the whole truth. The picture God gives us of real love is one of open, all-inclusive selflessness: an empty cross on a hill. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Praise God for Jesus!

2.4 Shows and Movies

I’m going to the theatre a lot these days! This week I went to see two more shows. The first was ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ which was alright, not great. I’m very familiar with the 1952 film version with Michael Redgrave which was so good it makes me a severe critic of the show. The actors playing Algernon and Cecily were pretty good but the rest were rubbish. Too demonstratively dumb. The performance of Lady Bracknell was quite agonising. The actress spoke all her lines very slowly and never once changed pace! It got very frustrating. They added one element which was both ingenious and hilarious. The actor playing the butler (at both locations) would break the fourth wall in an attempt to show the audience what a great actor he was. It turned two rather boring bit-parts into a brilliant comic role.

The second was a show called ‘Master Class’ about the fiery opera singer Maria Callas. An acquaintance from All Souls who works in theatre very kindly procured four complimentary tickets for me for the press night, so my three lovely flatmates and I got to see this great show for free! And it was superb. It took the form of an actual live workshop and Tyne Daly playing Callas would speak directly to the audience. This was interrupted at intervals with flashbacks of significant moments in Callas’ life retold through monologue, sound and lighting. It was an immersive experience and I felt afterwards that I’d actually been through a singing master class and had really learnt some great stuff. Markoesa and I appreciated it on an even deeper level because a lot of what ‘Callas’ said to her students was exactly what we get taught on our course. After all, singing is basically acting.

We had more snow this week and I got a bit of a cold, which wasn’t all that fun. My old friend sleep depravation is back again as well. Already. It’s only week four. Somehow I found the time to watch some films this week too. One was Sense and Sensibility which is the film that inspired Markoesa to want to become an actor in England. We watched it in our cosy living room with dressing gowns on and the snow outside and it was, as the Dutch say, gezellig. It actually reminded me of home a lot, since it’s been a favourite in our household for a few years now. I also finally got round to watching Trainspotting (totally different). I thought since it’s most people’s picture of Scotland I’d best sound it out and I thought it was a well-made and entertaining movie. Ewan McGregor and Danny Boyle kick-starting some pretty impressive careers. Shame they’re not talking to each other anymore.

I did something silly this weekend. It was just too tempting. I went to the extras casting for the upcoming film version of Les Miserables starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter and a hundred other stars. Filming starts in March at Pinewood Studios and it’s due for release in January 2013. It would be so awesome to play a French soldier in the Revolution, and maybe get a chat with Wolverine or Maximus! I’ve since discovered that Mr Crowe is set to play Noah in Aronofsky’s upcoming version of Noah’s ark! Anyway I turned up at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where the casting was taking place, on a cold Sunday morning with a few of my classmates and there was a huge queue of hopeful extras. So big in fact that the production guys told us, and everyone past a certain point, just to go home because they had enough people. Being a bit more filmmaking-savvy than most, and knowing this was probably just a crowd-control measure, we ignored them and continued queuing. Later they were handing out forms to specific people, saying they were only looking for a specific look so only those people need come in. I got given a form, which was kind of exciting but also quite rubbish because my classmates didn’t… But we all kept queuing. When I got in I had to fill out a form with general information then get measured, then have my photo taken. My classmates and I then queued again and second time round we all got forms! So we all got seen and though most likely nothing will come of it I still enjoyed the experience and it was a good lesson in patience, especially the patience required for major big-budget movies.

2.3 Work and Wonder

This week started with a bit of a shock. Not long after leaving our Birthday/Burns’ Night party on Saturday night my Texan classmate Brad got hit by a cab. He fractured his skull, damaged his face, shoulder and collarbone, and ended up in hospital. I could barely believe it to begin with. I know it’s bad but after my initial shock I couldn’t help wondering what had become of the haggis I’d given him to take home and which he’d put in his pocket… Thankfully he made a pretty speedy recovery with no major permanent damage.

I went to the theatre right next to the school to see a play called ‘The Trial of Ubu’. It was stylistically interesting but beyond that it was a little bit boring and not especially meaningful. One cool thing was they achieved the effect of fast forwarding using lighting and sound while the actors moved really jerkily and quickly, even breathing really fast. That was kind of impressive and very effective.

This Wednesday was a milestone in my time at Central. After much contacting and pushing and emailing and organising I finally found myself hosting the first meeting of Central’s Christian Union. It was just me and two girls, but it’s a start! And I know there are other Christians who will hopefully start coming along. There had been a Christian Society last year but since I’ve been here nothing has happened and I really needed it. When part of an institution it’s so important for Christians to meet together, within that environment, to firstly encourage one another and secondly to be equipped for being more effective witnesses in that place. We had a chat, did a quick Bible study and prayed. It was small, straightforward and simple… and immensely exhilarating.

For our first project this term we’ve been working on the screenplay for the Keira Knightley film The Duchess. Much as I dislike her, and it, one of the perks has been that we get to dress up in period costumes and prance around as if we were in the Georgian era. One of the common misconceptions about this time, I’ve discovered, is that the people were all cold, rigid and stiff. In reality they were actually a lot better at socialising, and physically more relaxed and comfortable than we are now. They simply understood the importance of manners, and posture and lack of tension. Interestingly the physical alignment and relaxation work we spent most of our first term painstakingly learning would already be habitual to folk back then.

Something magical happened on Saturday. I got home at 6pm after doing some shopping and my flatmate Amy and I were getting ready to go out to a house party. Just before we left, at about 9pm, we looked out the window and it was white. The world was covered in a thick layer of snow! It had been chilly throughout the day but there was no sign of a snowfall. It was so sudden and it was such quality snow that I could hardly believe it. The picture below was taken that night on the street outside my house. As it turned out the actual party was pretty rubbish but getting there and back was a wonderful wintry adventure. London freaks out in wild weather of course so public transport was a bit sketchy. Sadly the snow left as quickly as it had come and within three days no one could have guessed that the city had been completely white not long ago. Then again, perhaps that’s a good thing as it made me feel very Christmassy and it’s FAR too early for that. I’d like Spring next please.

2.2 Tae Be Or No Tae Be

So what did I do on Burns’ Night this year? Well, actually I was performing on the stage of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre! Our Voice teacher just happens to be the Voice Coach at the Globe (I know!) so he took us on a little school trip to explore the space and have a go delivering a Shakespeare monologue from the stage. So fun! I did a dramatic belter, where King Claudius calls upon England to help him kill Hamlet. It’s such an inspiring space to perform in; being all at once grand and intimate, cosmic and personal. And we were the first year group of this course to be given this opportunity. I feel very privileged, and now I want to do Shakespeare too!

Speaking of privileged. My great friend Murdo Macleod and his Hungarian fiancé Csilla came to stay this week. He asked me if I’d be his best man at the wedding in October! I seem to remember I had a miniature fit of joy before expressing my willingness. The ceremony will be in Hungary and my speech will be translated line-by-line, which should have an interesting effect on the jokes. I’m tremendously excited. It’s all happening this year…

We have a new Dance teacher who is very- erm… well, shall we say, he’s very good at telling us about himself. It is a very impressive CV to be fair. He’s responsible for choreographing the wand fight in Order of the Phoenix along with pretty much every dance scene in any BBC period drama in the last ten years, apparently. He is a darn good teacher. We’re learning Merengue, Jive, Schottische, a bit of Baroque, and maybe some Tango. Lovin’ it!

On Friday we had an Industry Day where we got to attend a Q&A with two Agents then two Casting Directors and finally two Actors. It was really useful to make contact with the industry, so to speak, and got me thinking about life after drama school and what I need to do to prepare for that. One of the Casting Directors said an encouraging thing. She said there’s too much sensationalist stuff performed at showcases and not enough classical scenes. In short, too much swearing! I loved that, and I quite agree. If I get to do a theatre showcase I plan on doing a scene from a classical text.

Our last class of the week was something of an emotional roller-coaster. It was with the Director of one of the short films we’ll be shooting next term and we had to tell an emotive story from our past, and play a piece of music to go along with it. Most people were a wreck by the end but I felt a bit foolish. As it went on each person’s story was a more heart-wrenching tear-jerker than the one before – when they discovered their Dad had been cheating on their Mum, when they had an abortion, when they lost their best friend – but my story was about a time when I was very young and was given a Cyprus knife, and had great fun playing with it, and then it got broken! Heavy emotional baggage to be sure! In all seriousness, it was another reminder that my classmates, like everyone, are hurt, lost and broken people who desperately need the love of the Father.

I did actually celebrate Burns’ Night. We had a party at our flat as a joint birthday celebration for my flatmate Amy and my classmate Matt and also for Burns’ Night. I cooked some haggis, neaps and tatties, put on a CD of bagpipe music (the good old Harvey Bros) and wore the full Highland rig. I dutifully recited the ‘Address to a Haggis’ and I was thrilled when, later on in the night, we got some Ceilidh dancing going in the kitchen! In honour of Matt’s birthday I composed a song, and in honour of Rabbie Burns’ birthday I set it to the tune of ‘Auld Lang Syne’! It was a great laugh, and I think Matt was rather moved to have a song written for him. I named it ‘For Auld Matt’ and my favourite line is:

“Now where is he likely to be in five or ten years time?
I'm sure he could get to Hollywood if he had a face like mine!”

Needless to say, there was much LOL-ing.

2.1 Escape to Exeter

I have my own profile on Central’s website! How often I did browse through the student profiles this time last year as I considered my future and what it might be like to be on this course. Now I am. Check it out: http://www.cssd.ac.uk/students/profiles/philip-todd

We had to hand in a two thousand word critical reflection at the start of this term. What a nightmare. Somehow, I don’t know how, this fairly simple, straightforward task became a mountainous challenge, which drove me within firing range of my wits end. Maybe it was because I got so used to being told to ‘think’ less and ‘do’ more last term that made sitting down to something academic so difficult. However, after a few very late nights I handed it in, more relieved than satisfied, and started the term with mental exhaustion, sleep deprivation and smothered motivation.

It didn’t help therefore that, for the Performing Research Unit that we embark on this term, the first couple of days were a research intensive. More thinking! Though it was rather nice to be able to just sit in lectures and listen. I suppose that’s what uni is like for most people. I confess it was, on occasion, a fight against drowsiness, especially when the lecturer chose to use very academic or technical language or even just read their lecture from a paper. That annoyed me a bit and if nothing else the two days gave me a good insight into what makes an engaging presentation, and not.

On top of that our project work for this week was to compile and present research for the feature film script that we will be working on for the first few weeks. The script is The Duchess so the period we’re researching is the late eighteenth century, which is actually really interesting but again it requires still more sedentary thinking.

Our first practical class came as a breath of fresh air. It was a new class on Meisner technique with a new teacher called Emett. He’s from Northern Ireland originally and a bit unbelievably nice. I’ve been looking forward to exploring Meisner because I can see in those of the class who have done this work before that it really helps with their listening, intuition and immediacy when acting. And the work is mostly all about using imagination and playing games! I think I’m really going to like this class.

I was glad to have the opportunity to get away at the weekend and visit my second cousins in Exeter. Firstly because they’re wonderful people and I don’t get to see them that often and secondly because I know as the term goes on it will become increasingly impossible to do anything extra at the weekends. My stay was both relaxing and recreational. I played Cluedo, went for runs and ate cake. We went to see Spielberg’s War Horse and immediately afterwards James was able to show me on a map exactly where in Devon they shot it! We went walking in Dartmoor and climbed on the tors where I could lean into the wind and it was strong enough to hold me up, and then I had a juicy Devon steak in a homely English pub. It was great to escape, to see more of England and have a break from the regular routine. Here’s a picture from the windy moor: