Treading the Boards

The weather in Olde London Towne has actually been glorious for the past week and a half, and while most of the daylight hours are spent working, we do try to make the most of the weekends. This past Sunday Brianne and I went down to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames for their annual free-entry day in honour of the Bard's birthday. Times being what they are, we're always on the lookout for any activity with the word FREE in the title.

We met up around noon with our pals Clare and Jonathan at The Swan, a lovely restaurant we've blogged on before. It's a little bar and brasserie attached to the Globe, offering lovely light fare for theatre patrons and the public. Brianne and Jonathan went for the soup of the day which B always raves about, while I tried a new English traditional dish, a pork pie. Tasty all around, if not the most filling.

We queued up after lunch and entered the Globe Exhibit (something that would've been £8 each any other day, huzzah!). We made our way through halls depicting the history of the Theatre and of Shakespeare, touching on costuming, sets, props, daily life, and the endeavour to build the modern theatre in the first place. Interesting, but a bit dry, and I was glad we were getting it for free. At the end of the educational halls, we came upon an actor portraying the young Shakespeare himself, giving away little prizes for those who could give him a line-reading of his work. Clare and Brianne earned little Globe-themed buttons, a fun trinket.

We made our way into the central gathering area of the exhibit, decked out in bunting with many activities and demonstrations all around. There was an opera singer on one stage and a combat troupe in another corner (not as good, I felt, as our combatant friends back in Toronto).

We poked around in the gift shop for a while, laughing once again at the plush Plague Rat dolls. There was also a video booth area where they were trying to set a world record by having every patron recorded reading two lines of Sonnet 29. All four of us did our part in this attempt.

The highlight of the day came at the very end. We aspiring actors all signed up for a workshop which gave us the chance to recite lines of Shakespeare on the actual stage of the Globe in front of the rest of the patrons! Everyone was given the option of reading from pre-printed excerpts, but we were allowed to perform anything we had from memory. It was an awesome feeling to step forth onto the stage (like every other stage, it felt smaller when you're ON it) and let 'er rip. Brianne did a piece from The Comedy of Errors, while I did a portion of the prologue to Henry V. It was a wonderful thrill to cap the day, dreaming of how great it would be to make such a playful game a reality. One day . . .

When Did This Become A Beauty Contest?

I have a problem: I am not a visible minority. Nor, am I 'at least 5 foot 10 inches' or 'startlingly beautiful.' What does that even mean? Luckily I still have work in theatre right now, but as I look around for future work (preferably Shakespeare in the summer and a large Panto for Christmas) all I can find on public posts are for the following.
1. Looking for Asian woman age range 50-70 to look confused and then happy.
2. For outdoor performance of Midsummer Nights Dream. Helena. Female age 20-30. Must be at least 5 foot 10
3. For Music Video or Promo videoor Feature Film. Gorgeous, Startlingly beautiful girls needed. Modelesque\
4. (My favourite) For television series. Any age range female. Must be ugly or crone like. No pretty girls please.

Damn, if only I wasn't in the mid-range of looks. Here I am, stuck at the absurd height of five foot four and with failry average looks. If only I had been born slightly uglier - I would have the theatre job market set right now. Hmm, I wonder - what if I were to go in and black out some of my teeth, wear a bit of a fat suit and put lots of pimples on - would that help? There's nothing I can do about the height. I tried putting on my tallest pair of heels and even then I barely stand at five foot seven.

As for the startingly beautifyl looks - I tried cutting out a magazine ad and taping it to my face, but I don't think that's what they had in mind with their ad.

The real issue hear is - what if someone who was able to make the works come off the page and was perfect in every single way except for their height; does it really matter? Do people worry about this style of casting when they are hiring Kate Winslet or Angela Lansbury? I can just imagine that casting conversation.

1: Sir, we have Angela Lansbury here for you to see, we thought she would be perfect for the job.
2: Why did you think that?
1: Well, you said you wanted an older actress with lots of umbridge, someone who had a background in song and dance and is comfortable on camera. Someone people would recognize and respect.
2. That's all well and good, but she's too short. Is it possible to dig up Gloria Swanson? I always liked her look....

Supercalifradgalisticexpi...Oh, I Give Up!

As a little treat, Andrew and I went to see Mary Poppins playing in Cardiff. Now, you may ask, 'Why Cardiff?" Well, cause that is where it was playing. It was a simple 3 hour bus ride from London (with the appropriate amount of pick n' mix to snack upon) and then a short treck out to our Bed and Breakfast. Here's the thing: there was a large and very important match going on, so most of the best places were booked up. According to the booking info we should have been at a lovely three star B&B. It was however, barely passable as a one star. Andrew may still cringe at this, but I try and laugh it off as it was only one night. The place was clean but the linen was very thin. The springs on one of our twin beds (yes, some double rooms have twin beds) stuck through the mattress and there were lip stains on the glasses in the bathroom. Definately one of the worst B&B's I have ever been to and anyone who rated it otherwise must have been severely drunk or high.

Luckily it was a lovely day so we went on a little walk around Cardiff. We went to the Red Dragon centre right near the Millenium Theatre where the show would be. There was a bowling alley, a Dr. Who exhibition and several restaurants. We decided on the one that was advertising 2 for 1 fajitas as it had been FOREVER since we had had some. Sitting down to our meal we are greated by a distinctly North American accent. The young man is originally from the U.S but has lived in the U.K for a long time and is wondering what on earth we are doing in Cardiff. Chatting ensues along with the most lovely fajitas I have seen. Bliss. On to walking around the pier and then into the theatre. Cool theatre. One of the best I have ever been into and the seats were perfect. Everything was built with a strong incline so that no matter where you sat you didn't have to worry about some really tall guy sitting in front of you and blocking your view. Right cracking good show, with some amazing special effects and set pieces. I missed the full story line of the Disney film as well as some of the songs that were cut (I love to laugh, sister suffragette) but all in all a good show. Also very cool was that everything was written out in both english and welsh.

The next day we went bowling and I lost amazingly to Andrew. (Several of my balls went into the gutter and I ended up having the gutter ramp put up as by gum i was going to hit some pins! ) Then a quick look around the outside of Cardiff Castle (no time to look around) and onto our bus to go back home. Andrew and I napped most of the way after an awful sleep in the B&B and swearing that we would investigate their star system before booking elsewhere...

Happy Easter!!

Castle in the Rain

Our dear friend Matt hasn't had as much opportunity us to venture beyond the confines of Olde London Towne, and so we were pleased to take a day-trip with him out to Leeds Castle . . . which, of course, is in the county of Kent just an hour south-east of London and NOT in the city of Leeds, UK. That's a mistake you can only make once, because your significant other will have murdered you after schlepping to the wrong place. When we left Victoria Coach Station, the driver made a joke about Brianne fussing over Matt making sure he had his ticket in order, saying "It's not every day you find a mother like that."

Leeds Castle is known as a lady's castle because of it's delicate beauty and fine views. The reputation is well-deserved, it's a lovely place, despite the drizzle that hovered over us all day. The grounds are impeccable and quite expansive, being one of the few tourist castles not to have had it's sizable land encroached upon. There are a great many birds that live amongst the grounds such as ducks, geese, and swans. The black swans are an iconic symbol of the castle itself. We were so pleased to find the little fuzzy one.

In addition to the wild local birds on the grounds, there is also an aviary of tropical birds such as parrots, toucans, and macaws. They also keep a range of birds of prey like owls and vultures. We saw a rather up-close exhibition of these birds, as it was too rainy at the time to have them flying about.

We braved the hedge maze, one of the best I've ever seen. After we all got a bit separated and lost, Matt made it to the centre first and alternately taunted us and guided us to his location. The exit of the maze goes through and underground grotto of mood-lighting, sculptures and sound effects.We also revisited our childhood silliness on the kid's jungle gym. They sure know how to construct them here. A lovely trip despite the rain.