Dapper British Boys with Cocktails

Here’s a video I took at a lounge that we went to after Zarah’s Going Away dinner that I just want to share with you all.

Let me just say, the very fact that I am friends with these wonderful boys makes me the happiest girl in the world.

I realize it is rather hard to hear a lot of this so here is a transcript:
The back-story: The musical theatre kids have various running inside jokes and one-liners, one of which is “Stop it!” which was contrived by one of the musical theatre girls, Katie Brennan. This then evolved into “Stawp et” then “Stoop Awt” and at Zarah’s going away dinner Adam realized it sounded like “Schtoop Art”.

Adam: Let us discuss in this symposium the “Art of Schtoop”
David: SCHTOOP ART
Adam: Which in itself, emanated from…
David: “Stop it.”
Adam: Which was most recently said by [Katie] Brennan as…
David: “Stawp et.”
Adam: Now... Chambers, what do you have to add to this discussion?
David: Schtoop Art! Art of Schtoop? Schtoop Ar—
Tommy: Balls.
David: Balls it is.

And then it all goes downhill from there and I lose all comprehension of what they’re saying until they start teasing me about my apparent habit of biting my lip. Has anyone else noticed that I do this?

Final Days with Zarah

An American friend that I made here, Zarah, was only in Birmingham for a term.

After our assessments for our practical classes, we started packing up and finished up our papers for our Theatre Lab class.

On Thursday, her dad came into Birmingham and we all went out to dinner with the closer friends she made here.

Oh yeah and David shaved for the occasion!



The next day, after handing in our Theatre Lab papers, we finished packing up and headed for London. Zarah and her dad had reserved a room at the Hotel Russel. The people I was hoping to stay with weren’t around, so Zarah and her dad snuck me into their room.
It was an incredibly posh hotel.



So this whole term it’s been Zarah and my goal to see “Othello” in London which starred Ewan McGregor as Iago and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the title role. I mean, we HAD to!
After getting settled in our rooms, Zarah and her dad took a walk to the Donmar Warehouse where it was being put on. The performances were sold out but on the day of a performance they sell 30 tickets; 20 standing and 10 seated. At the box office, Zarah asked when people started lining up for these tickets. The guy said about 4 in the morning. So naturally that meant that WE had to get there at 3.
Oh and we did. 3:30 actually, but still!
After about three hours of sleep we got our asses out of bed and headed for the theatre.
So there we were huddled together at the doors of the theatre. True theatregoers.





The next person in line didn’t arrive until 4:30. From there it gradually started building up.

We got our tickets, went back to the hotel and went straight to sleep. I got two hours in, but it seemed like more.

When we got up we decided to visit the British Museum where we met up with our friend Reece who was in town.



Adam said he was going to be in town as well for a birthday celebration, and along with him he brought the most pleasant surprise: Tommy!
So the two of them came to our hotel for a brief visit. Shortly afterwards Reece had to leave us.

I then (pretty much) followed Zarah and her dad to a dinner with some family friends that lived in London…at a very VERY posh restaurant; the kind that adds the grated cheese to your pasta, the truffles to your ravioli, or the lemon juice to your cutlet right in front of you.
I ordered one of the plainest things on the menu.

From there we took a taxi to the Donmar.

It was a very intimate theatre…and America Ferrera was in the audience. (!)

I totally forgot that Iago was in the very first scene. And the moment Ewan came on Zarah and I groped for each others hands immediately. It was like “Oh my god! He’s RIGHT THERE!”
It was almost surreal.
And then Chiwetel came on! One treat after another!

All in all, I wasn’t all that impressed by Ewan. He was wonderful to look at but I found myself looking for brilliant Iago moments that just weren’t there. I felt like he wasn’t relishing enough in his malicious plotting in all his asides. Let’s just say his Iago was an excellent actor and incredibly secretive- if it weren’t for his asides, the audience would also be calling him “honest Iago”. Plus I think I was pretty distracted by the fact that I was watching Ewan McGregor.

With Chiwetel, there was never a moment where I thought, “Oh my god that’s the guy from Love Actually and American Gangster.” He completely embodied the role of Othello and his performance was amazing.

Afterwards, we all waited in the lobby for Ewan. He was the only one of the stars of the cast to come down…and he came down literally minutes after the performance. Zarah and I were all prepped with the other’s camera. Zarah’s picture with him was first and he was about to leave when I begged him for one more. I’m pretty sure no words came out, I look back on it I think it was just me saying something that sounded like “Just one more?”



What a night, what a night. A perfect conclusion to my England adventures with Zarah.

Aladdin Pantomime

9th of December:

Christmas Pantomime: a form of theatrical spectacle common in England during the Christmas season, generally adapted from a fairy tale and including stock character types who perform songs and dances, tell jokes, etc.

This year there was an Aladdin pantomime being professionally done in London, so the directors of the WatchThis production bought the script, made a few tweaks of their own and cast it.

My darling Zarah played Jasmine!

Like a proud mum I took pictures and videos.

Here are a few pix.

Jasmine was a rather weepy character and her lady in waiting, Jizmine, was in love with her. Made for quite the rendition of "A Whole New World".

Adam played Father Christmas...and here I managed to catch him at a moment where he came onstage too early. The mistakes often happen in the 48 hour productions...it's what makes them so funny.

My friend Jen played a rather random character that would occasionally come onstage and offer some random information about...something. Like Pilates.
Her name was Martin. The Cow. "My mother was a cow. My father: a female goat. Hence the name, Martin, the Cow."


Anyways, Zarah and I were glad to be introduced to this English Christmas tradition. We're thinking of bringing it to the states.

"Oleanna" Day 4: Closing Night and Cast Party

8th of December

For our final performance, David and I both felt really good.

We mainly hung out together in my dressing room, going over bits and keeping each other sane.

And we thought it would be cool to do a tour around the theatre:

The music you hear is from “Greatest Love Hits” (or something of that nature): basically the only CD we found in the light booth.

This was the night we sold out…and it was by far our best performance.

Like I anticipated, David and I were in tears during the bow. Backstage we opened up a bottle of champagne…which then spurted on my face when I took a sip cuz we didn’t have any glasses. You know it’s a good night when you have tears and champagne on your face.

There wasn’t a lot of time to bask in the celebration cuz we had to move out all the props and set immediately.

But people responded very well: they said they were captivated and the debates over which character was in the right continued- which is exactly what we wanted. People who I didn’t even know came up to me and told me how much they liked it which was really nice.

Cast party at David’s was cast-plus-friends party (cuz one with just the four of us would be more of a gathering).

I met and chatted with more people who saw the play. Everything was hunky dory until David announced that he was off to bed. This opened the flood gates for me. It had finally sunk in that the party and therefore the play was completely over. Poor James consoled me and just when I was about to get a hold of myself I’d start crying again. Basically: I was a mess.

The next day David participated in the 48 hour pantomime that WatchThis put on so he had something to distract him from the show-closing blues. I finally got distracted with the practical assessment exams that came up on Monday as well as the two papers I had to write by the end of the week.

Seeing the pantomime was a good distraction as well. David made quite the transition from (as his friend Steph put it) “the sublime to the utter ridiculous”.

More on this in a later blog.

"Oleanna" Day 3: Middle Night

7th of December
This time, we drove.

When we got there I noticed that I didn't feel particularly nervous and that worried me a bit. But we got there pretty early and relaxed in the Green Room taking in a light dinner.

We then decided to get some photos and videos in.
I wish I could show you footage from an actual performance, but no one actually recorded any of it. This was the most I could muster and it's unfortunately without any serious energy.

For the second and third acts I'm in black, but as I was ready in my costume for Act I we just went through these intense bits with my less serious apparel:




and end of the play...I apologize for the quality of the acting, we weren't entirely warmed up nor in "the zone":



And here are some pictures we took of us around the set. Again I apologize for our lack of seriousness in some of these photos.
It was a really intense and serious performance, I swear.








And Blakey wanted some action shots of him directing us:






I had another blog of me and David but I couldn't load it onto photobucket cuz it was over 3 minutes. Those of you on facebook can watch it here.

Those of you without facebook, basically David and I talk about how we felt there was a bit of energy lacking and even though James and Flo felt it went better than night #1, we knew that we could do better and we were just disappointed we couldn't perform our potential that night...especially with Tommy Chambers in the audience.
People reacted very well, but we still couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

After the performance we took in some drinks at James' old work, Pitcher and Piano, with his sisters and brothers in law. One of them was just chatty McChatterson with David and me and noticed how I seemed quite shy in real life. Good to know I guess- that I'm not a feminist bitch in real life.
That's another thing- those three nights were probably the only time it was (more than) okay to have people come up to me and say "Oh my god, I hate(d) you."

Oh and we had a whole class of kids from Wales who came to see the show. They had been studying Oleanna for their A-levels, and quite frankly I could tell they knew the play very well cuz I could just feel their anticipation of every crucial moment.
There was talk of a possible Q&A afterwards but it never happened. Shame. I was quite looking forward to one.
But one student did send a message to Article 19 about the show and David forwarded it to me:

Hello! I'd like to send my thanks and praise to the theatre group 'Article 19' who performed 'Oleanna' at TheOldJointStock last night. It was amazing! The cast and their support crew/techies were simply incredible. I don't have the slightest clue about acting but the way the play was performed was truly superb - I could even see the *characters'* thoughts whilst they said nothing!

That's all really. Just felt I should let you know how much I enjoyed being there last night (only my second visit to B'ham!), and that the play will really help me in my studies (English lang/lit A-level) for which I am looking at Mamet's Oleanna. So, again, many thanks indeed!

P.S. I apologise if this was the wrong place for this sort of feedback!

Best regards and have a lovely Christmas, Eila T. [Student, Gorseinon College, South Wales]

"Oleanna" Day 2: Opening Night

6th of December
Since parking proved such a hassle the day before for our get in, we thought we'd take the bus.



We soon realized it was not the best idea in the world



I might have mentioned before that David and I were promised our own dressing rooms. As if we weren't spoiled enough, James and Flo made us trailer stars.




I like how they're Stars of David. 'So obvious our director's Jewish.

We didn't manage to sell out, but it was a good crowd nonetheless. The reactions we got were great and Adam loved it so much he decided to come again for closing.

"Oleanna" Day 1: Drech and Tess

Sorry I have not updated in a long long while. Rehearsals really built up.
But for our week of Oleanna, David and I decided to make video logs documenting our four wonderful days in the Old Joint Stock Theatre.

5th of December ~ "Get in" and Dress and Tech (aka drech and tess)
So we had reserved a van weeks in advance for our "get in" to the theatre, but on the morning of our move into the theatre, our van was taken on a little joy ride to London by the guy who booked our van. So that didn't go quite as smoothly as we hoped. We ended up loading a massive desk and filing cabinet into a taxi van, books into James' tiny car, and a shelf and two chairs on a bus.

We survived, however.
It was my first time inside the theatre/pub and it was gorgeous.



Here's a look at the inside of the pub:


After setting up most of everything, David and I were instructed to relax a bit before we ran our dress and tech rehearsals (now lovingly called "drech and tess" due to a little slip of the tongue by Mr. Mouriquand.)
In the pub we studied our rough patches of lines over lunch...

...and made our first video log.


James then joined us for lunch:


David and I weren't entirely pleased with the rehearsal, but James and Flo assured us that it was fine and completely performable, and in the end we just had to keep reminding ourselves that a rough dress rehearsal (or preview for that matter) makes for a great opening night.

"What is this...Thanksgiving?"

I was very close to going this year without a Thanksgiving dinner.
Thank heaven for David Mouriquand!
He sacrificed his kitchen so Zarah and I wouldn't have to miss out on this very American tradition.

It was a very English Thanksgiving...in that we didn't exactly have a proper turkey, but rather a "turkey-based" main course, as David put it: turkey cutlets wrapped in bacon and marinated in balsamic vinegar. Quite good actually.



I made stuffing and gravy which weren't half bad actually.
Zarah made her mother's candied yams (which were quite the adventure to the British palate).

Basically though we made WAY too much food for three people.




And when you're in David's house, you're never without entertainment:

David imitating his friend Neil's voice


David and Tommy in the kitchen with Adam Morris (he doesn't live with them but I adore him just the same)
Setup: Basically, one day Tommy said that he had hoovered the flat meaning he'd vacuumed it. I was all "oh funny: we just say 'vacuumed'" and in his wonderful American accent he was all "Hey, baby, let's vacuum" and it's just been a running gag between us ever since.
In this video we're all in the kitchen and I'm trying to get him to do it on film.


Finally he does it:


LOOOOOOVE HIM!

One of the best Thanksgiving's I've had.

Snow Fell Sunday Evening

Sunday evening, Zarah and her flatmates wanted a girls night, so we went out to dinner in Birmingham city centre at a place called Pizza Express.
When we left their flat, a little snow started falling! We all got quite excited.

It was a half hour wait for our table so we waited at a pub next door called Slug and Lettuce:
here's a nice picture of me and Preet (from Canada) that Bettina took...



By the time we had finished our meal, snow was still falling and there was a good blanket of snow on the ground.




Here are some more pictures I stole from Bettina...




Now back to my boring color ones...



Bettina and Zarah took videos...if you click on the links, hopefully you will be able to watch them but I'm really not sure if you can if you're not in their networks, let alone facebook.

When we got back to Tennis Courts (Zarah's flat) there was a massive snowball fight going on.



Some classic quotes came out of all the chaos...especially from Zarah's friend, Reese.

random guy: "Oh my eye!!! Good thing God granted me a spare!"

Reese: "I tell you, it's just like 300: 'Our snowballs will block the sun!!'...'Tonight we dine in ice!'"
Right after that last one he quite literally ate it.

Quite epic; there were some hall wars that went on. Apparently Maple Bank and Elgar Courts united to invade Shackleton (the posh accommodations). I wasn't there though- I was caught up in the heat between Tennis Courts and Centre Courts. Eventually Centre Courts charged across the barricade of shrubbery that separated the two.

It was beautiful. We were children frolicking with reckless abandon in a winter wonderland.

By the time I headed home the snow had stopped falling and all was quiet and still.




P.S. Happy Thanksgiving! A turkey day blog will be coming soon!

Headshots!

The musical theatre kids got their headshots taken for the program for Little Shop of Horrors. James thought it'd be a good idea if David and I got in on all the fun and got some pictures in for Oleanna as well:





The verdict: they're my first headshots. I have room for improvement.
I'm not particularly thrilled about the first two, but I do love the last one.

Off to See "The Voice"

Last Friday, the Oleanna cast and crew had the ultimate bonding experience.
Pictionary and drinks were deeply involved and many new inside jokes have emerged...which I will let you in on soon enough.

As I've probably mentioned before, we were going to Manchester to meet up with a voice coach to help us with our accents- David on his American accent, me on my southern twang.
We stayed at the director, James', parents house.

The drive over was awesome- lovely British countryside, accompanied by the ultimate Manchester soundtrack: Oasis, The Smiths, to name a few. From there Flo dedicated "California" by Phantom Planet to me...and that started a whole search on James' iPod for songs about California. I never realized just how many there are!

In Manchester, we stopped for lunch at this really nice village restaurant called the Frozen Mop (once I get the picture David took, I'll post it).
Before getting to the restaurant, James had assured me that it wasn't posh, but once we got there and I caught a glimpse of candles and squeaky clean wine glasses, I freaked out. Once we got inside though and I saw the waiters weren't in tuxes, I calmed down a bit.

After a good meal, we headed for James' house where we relaxed for a short while before meeting up with Mark Langley, the voice coach.
At the house I tried my hand at Wii which was given to James' dad for his 60th birthday. :)

We met with Mark "The Voice" Langley (we now call him) at his flat.
Even the session was mainly for David's benefit, it was still so so interesting listening to Mark talk about different accents and point out the differences in the way people from different areas say certain words.
For instance the further west you go in the states, the more they elongate their vowels and we tend to sound more monotone. In the east they speak with more staccatos. The further south you go the more twangy the accent is. When I demonstrated the southern accent that I've been doing, he said I sounded like I was from Virginia. (So nevermind Georgia- Carol is now from Virginia.)
I was pretty much the tape player Mark would usually use in his voice sessions, and when he asked me to say certain phrases he would then point out to David certain things like the way I would shape my mouth, where I'd place the emphasis; things I've never noticed before!
He was such a clever man! Lovely as well.

Some highlights of the session:

Mark was teaching David how to do the "oo" sounds.
Mark: "Now, as you know there is a certain floating anchored marker, B-O-U-Y. We pronounce it 'boi' whereas Alex would pronounce it..."
Me: "Boo-ee."
James: "WHAT?!"

David was expressing difficulty in keeping the American accent on lines where he's shouting at me.
Mark: "Ah yes, but you'll find that the American accent is the best accent to shout and curse in. For instance, Alex, would you say 'F*** me'?"
Me: "F*** me."
Mark: "Yes but I meant more as a curse rather than a demand."
I was teased so much for that afterwards. And now David, James, and Flo's friends are joshing me about it too.

Oh, I also noticed that I pronounce the "t"s in "winter" and "international"...or maybe it's just something I've picked up since I got here, cuz it struck Mark "The Voice" Langley as (unusually) proper (for an American).

So after that, James took us around Manchester that was all decked out and ready for the holidays.



We stopped for a bite to eat and then popped by a club/lounge. I didn't have any ID on me at the moment but James told me not to worry about it and we pretty much waltzed past the bouncer at the door.
We retreated to the downstairs area that was much less crowded and there was this huge comfy lounge area with pillows and, yeah, curtains for privacy.



Flo busted out some of her rapping skills...



We only stayed for a short while and headed for James' for more socializing.

There he busted out the Pictionary. It was Cast vs. Crew.
Mom, Dad, this game still brings out the worst in me.




God I was so frazzled and frustrated.

I don't think I've posted a proper picture of David before:



He just might murder me for that one...
And here's the Oleanna company:


David, Flo: Producer, James: Director

We all then went outside for a smoke (yes, yes I had one and then quickly remembered why I'm not a smoker)
and on the front lawn we found a half rotten apple and since our poster for Oleanna is an image of an apple, we all got way too excited and insisted on a photo shoot of us with it:



We're so weird.

Of all the people I told that I was going to Manchester for the weekend, the ones who had been there told me to be careful not to get shot.
Luckily I returned from "Gunchester" unscathed.