by Sarah Kahn
If only we'd seen Kiss Me Kate tonight, because it was Too Darn Hot! (I'm sorry, I've been waiting for way too long to make this joke.)
Photo: The wonderful Corbin Bleu tap dancing in Kiss Me Kate
This morning, we woke up determined to make it through the record-breaking heat with our daily Pret. I am definitely going to miss this part of our routine when I go back to New York!
Photo: DaMonique, Christine, Taylor, Disco Dave, and Sarah before the trek to UEL
The tube to UEL wasn't as bad as we expected, and we arrived excited for some physical theatre with Caroline Griffith! We were so excited that we spontaneously did the wave! (no, I absolutely did not ask the group to do this...)Video: the group doing the wave
When Caroline arrived, we pretty much jumped straight into an intense warmup game. "Red" meant stop, "Green" meant go, "blue" meant find a pair, and "yellow" meant find a trio. There was lots of running and shouting and fun being had as we began our work.
Photo: the group during Red/Green/Blue/Yellow
We then did another warmup that was reminiscent of a Peloton class including some sun salutation/burpee shenanigans and squats (anticipating some sore legs tomorrow)
Photo: the group doing some stretches
After our warmup, Caroline took us through the nitty-gritty of the workshop. Using text from "The Bogus Woman," by Kay Adshead, we worked on creating pieces of physical theatre first with partners, then moving into groups of four. This activity was challenging for me, as I don't have much of a physical theatre background and am certainly not a dancer, but I really loved the challenge of taking away text and using our bodies to capture the story of a young woman being detained by an immigration official.
Photo: Lucy, Wro, Sofia, and Julia combining their paired scenes
When we worked in pairs, we started with no text at all, just movement, then we moved on to text for the remainder of the monologue. It was lovely to watch the variety of movements people chose.
Photo: Tamara, DaMonique, Taylor, Kat, and Alara combining their scenes
It was so much fun getting to work with the text more and integrating four actors into a two-person scene in the final part of this activity. I may or may not have nightmares from Nick screaming swear words in character (A+ for commitment, Nick :) )
Photo: Daniel, Adriana, Mike, and Mahsa as Young Women and Guards
After Liselle kindly provided us with some snacks and drinks, (thanks Liselle!!) we triumphed over our technical difficulties and moved onto our Zoom call with Ali Warren and Carl Dunnington of Open Drama UK. Their organization helps to connect drama educators and share resources without requiring a membership fee. We didn't get to go too in-depth about their work with this group but I imagine it could be quite helpful for drama educators in the UK.
Photo: slide from the Open Drama UK presentation
Now...for the worst part of the day...the tube ride to Hammersmith!! I consider it an achievement that I made it aaallll the way from East to West London in 102 degree heat squished between many strangers. It was all worth it, though, for our delicious meal at The Swan! (swans > lambs)
Photo: my first London meat pie (hopefully not made by Mrs. Lovett)
Photo: group enjoying some food and beverage pre-theatre
Finally, we ended the evening with a production of Closer at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre. I think I enjoyed That is Not Who I Am a bit more as this piece seemed to fall a little flat in the second act, but they gave us free ice cream to make up for the lack of AC in the space so I consider it a success overall.
Photo: inside the Lyric Hammersmith
That's all for tonight, folks! Congrats on making it through London's hottest day!
xoxo- Sarah (a London Lady)
p.s- rip Jack and Alice/Jane
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