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.