All's well that ends in Indian Food

21/9/09 12:00 Just had a tour of the backstage of the National Theater, and let me tell you, I was a kid in a candy store! They have three performance spaces along with countless backstage shops. A metal shop, an ARMORY, a carpentry shop larger that Tomlinson and the shop combined, all with jack lines put on tracks so you can lift anything from a tall flat to a heavy saw anywhere in the shop. They have the largest paint wall in Europe, where instead of the wall coming down, they go up on 3 separate scaffolding lifts able to hold 5 people at a time. A large props department, able to be sealed off if they are doing things of a chemical nature or preserving nature, and one of the most expansive costume departments in the world. In the props department, there was a large puppet horse run by 2 people (making up the 4 legs) that was used in "War Horse" which is playing at the London Theater in the West End presently. Also, they had the Governor's head from Caucasian Chalk Circle. Joe, if you are reading this, it was pretty damn realistic. Since the NT does about six shows at a time, they have tons of rotating storage space, around the theatres as well as in the fly gallery. They sometimes have sets hanging above the actors heads during performances just because there is no where else to put them. The smallest of the performance spaces is called "Cottesloe," which is a black box space, with many different options for seating plans. The second is the "Lyttelton Theater." It is a standard proscenium theater, with 76 fly rails. That is where we will see 'The Pitmen Painters' tomorrow night. The grand and largest theatre is the Olivier, which is a thrust with a crescent fly system, so 3-d sets can be flown such as large houses, chandeliers, or even just a tree that you want on an angle instead of horizontal from left to right. Also, with this type of fly system, it is very easy to fly actors as well, having right above the thrust. There is a rotating stage in the center that lowers to the shops, and where large set pieces and scenery can be raised during a show. The world really is your oyster as a designer in the Olivier Theater. It was named after Lawrence Olivier, who was the Artistic Director of the NT, and was one of the main contributers to the making of this warehouse of Theater.

Tonight, I am seeing a production of 'All's Well That Ends Well' by William Shakespeare in the Olivier space. This production is being filmed live throughout the UK on it's last performance, and then going to Cinemas throughout the world, including the States, so if you would like to see it, which I advise to you, check the website. I believe it is being played at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA and in PA, the Bryn Mahr Film Institute. This will give you a chance to see what I will tonight!

What I didn't write about before was a production of 'Troilus and Cressida' By William Shakespeare that I saw Sunday afternoon, at the Globe Theater. I went to church at Southwark Cathedral down the street, or rather alleyways, where there were SIX baptisms during the service. The play is one of the less well-known shows Shakespeare wrote, about the Trojan war, about seven year into the siege, when a young Troilus falls in love with a fair Cressida right before she is handed to the Greeks in exchange for a trojan soldier. It follows the story of Hector fighting Achillies, and showing the immortal warrior lose to him, only to ambush the great Hector, unarmed, and murder him. From there, he drags the body around the gates of Troy. A great performance, full of blood and swordplay! Lots of fun to watch, but you don't know really who to sympathize with, since at one time, everyone is at fault.
After the show, Ted and I went to the Imperial War Museum. It closed soon after we got there, but I must go back to finish seeing the WWII exhibit and the rest.

23:00 On the Tube back from the first row of the Olivier Theater in the NT after a performance of 'All's Well That Ends Well." Tis a DARL romantic comedy, and not full of jokes, but rather lessons. How wit and trickery can out stand young arrogance. And, of course, how love is all well when it endeth well. This production had a fairy tale theme to it, putting Helena in a Red Riding Hood as she treks into Florence. A great amount of spectacle to arouse the crowd who is looking for laughs and awe. But a grand production, with great performances, of a great classic.

23/09/09 20:45 About to leave for Brick Lane. Last night, Tuesday, I saw a truly moving show. 'The Pitmen Painters' is about a group of Pitmen (Miners) and a Dental Mechanic who live in Ashington and hire a professor from the University in Newcastle to teach them 'Art Appreciation.' They wanted to know 'what art means' and the only way for Lyon (the Professor) to describe this was to paint. It wasn't about form or technique. It was about what what it made them think about. What they experienced as the artists and what it meant to others to looked at it. The Pitmen were soon selling their work and put in prestigious art galleries throughout the UK. This show really explores what is art, and the fact that not everyone can paint, but a painter can be anyone. The plot thickens when George Brown, one of the Pitmen, is offered a stipend to quit his job in the mines and become a full-time artist. This brought out an identity crisis in between the artist, paid to paint, and being a pitman, working-class, where he belongs, and where people know him. The community in which they painted was the source of inspiration. This socialist community of the Miners, working around the rules of the common good. This experience held by the Pitmen was something beyond the night class. The GUARDIAN says about it, "The Play celebrates the very nation of community, and a working class sprit -- that now only flickers and splutters -- which understood that it had as much right to education and culture as those born in the middle and upper classes... This is a play about the importance not just of feeding your stomach and your brain, but about feeding your soul. And it does just that."  This show will be coming to Broadway soon enough, if you wish to see the production, in 2010. I bought the play after the show because i thought it was brilliant. It is also cool that all the stage direction and cast are the same of what I just saw. I could go on and on about this show and what conversations can be provoked. Ted and I had a rousing talk about the different class systems over a pint overlooking the Thames after the show. But ask me in person, for I would much rather talk than write about it.

14:25 Back on the Tube from Brick Lane. We took a tour around the area. Around Toynbee Hall, the old Jewish ghettos, the Jewish Soup kitchen. There was an old settlement house for women around the way from Toynbee and near Spitalfields Market. Mother, the picture of the church and missing organ you were asking about was Christ Church, Spitalfields. Talking to our guide, an FIE faculty member, he had heard about Ken Leech as being quoted in a book about Brick lane and the surrounding area. What I found most fascinating was the Great Mosque. The building has held the religion of the dominant culture of the time throughout the years. Every group of minority has occupied this area from Irish-Catholic to Jewish now to a prominent Bangladeshi neighborhood. For a while, Nationalist White Racists Skinheads were terrorizing the area, breaking store windows, and raising hell. But now, it has really settled down and is almost touristic. We had a delicious meal at a place called Naznul, near the old Truman brewery, which used to be a household name for over 300 years. Deliclous. I had Chicken Tikka Jalfrazie with rice and Nan. For dessert, a quarter of a frozen pineapple filled with pineapple ice cream. MMMMM. I have not been this full in months.