ENRON/OTHELLO/A NEW WORLD/MOTHER COURAGE

25/09/09 22:25 Just got out of a production called "ENRON" showing the rise and fall of the corporation. The leading role was Jeff Skilling bringing this whole company up on a belief, on an idea, on credit, on imaginary corporations, on shadow corporations, and when the bubble burst, so did many people's life savings. Skilling was sentenced 24 years in prison, and, at the time, that was the longest jail time any corporate criminal had served, until good ol' Bernie. A FANTASTIC production. Fantastical and witty. Arthur Anderson was played by a man and a muppet. The Lehman Brothers were two brothers in one trench coat with large mustaches. AND the ensemble was amazing, full of song and dance to show trading stock, electricity shortages in California with light-sabers, and the use of boxes/file cabinets to make a very adaptable set. 16 cylindrical lights hung from cables that could fly in or out all the way to the floor or to the ceiling. The back was a scrim that had, when lit from the front, projections from Clinton to the 2000 election. On the other side were two levels, the top level being corporate offices for such people like Ken Lay, the first floor smaller offices and other devices. In the middle, running through the entire show, was a stock ticker. The program had the entire script in it. Really brilliant was to show the crime of the end of the millennium, because no one understood it, they just trusted that some one else did.

26/09/09 17:30 On the bus back from Trafalgar Square. Just saw a production of "Othello" at Trafalgar Studios. A wonderful thing about this governmentally funded arts is that if you are under 26, The government sees a responsibility of theirs is to make sure  you have access to the arts. In other words, I got a FREE TICKET for todays performance. A great show, not the best performance by Othello, but it did not take away from the tragedy. But very enjoyable. Tonight, I am seeing a production at the Globe. Not a Shakespeare, but a play about Thomas Paine.

21:00 "Race St. is rough. Carry a stick!" At the intermission of 'A New World,' standing in a crowd of fellow Americans who go to Rutgers. There are many jokes that only us few understood, or at least, laughed at. The cast is mixed from other shows that I have seen here. Touchstone from 'As You Like It' played George Washington. Brilliant. The show is narrated by Ben Franklin, and the first half took place primarily in Philadelphia. Mr. Rittenhouse was a large part as well. This is the first time I have really missed the States, or rather, the first show I've seen that showed favor to US, showing us the tyrannical Monarchy of the English. Thomas Paine is quite excellent. Now off to England and France for act II.
23:30 A long show, but a good one. The second half dealt with the French Revolution, and how it got too violent and turned on the revolutionaries. Thomas Paine was on death's row for almost a decade, trapped in France. A great show worthy of the Globe Stage.

" I was born a Goose of Southwark

By the Grace of Mary Ovarie,

Whose Bishop gives me licence

To sin within the Liberty.

In Bankside stews and taverns

You can hear me honk right daintily,

As I unlock the hidden door,

Unveil the Secret History.

I will dunk you in the River

And then reveal my Mystery."

29/09/09 20:20 At the Founder's Arms on the Thames. In my 'Travel Writing' class. We ventured tonight into Southwark and Bankside towards the Prostitutes graveyard. It is really only a car park with a gate full of ribbons, but when they excavated, they found thousands of bones. The yard predates the 14th century and was around when Southwark was full of prostitution because it was legal south of the City borders. On this gate, there are piles of ribbons, with things written on them such as "A child found in a gutter, 1756" Creepy, Weird. The WEIRDEST things is that nothing is really here. It is just a car park with a plaque. It could be gone tomorrow because it belongs to Transport for London, and no one would notice or fight it. Over 1500 people were buried here and no one knows and no one cares...

03/10/09 13:40 Saw Mother Courage last night at the National Theater starring Fiona Shaw! It was playing at the Olivier Theater. In this, they showed the true might of that stage, rising from beneath the stage on their circular hydraulic lift. The play was must in regular Brecht style, showing all the stage hand and having back stage always visible. The music was in a rock style and written by the main performer, Duke Special. The show itself is about a war profiteer who goes through the hardships of war, including slowly loosing her children. The set was quite awesome, making buildings out of muslin fly-ins and showing the location of the scene painted on the same material, as it was Brecht's own script. A lot of the others in my group did not like the story, or at least it did not grab them. And I can see that Brecht is an acquired taste, but I really enjoyed the show and wish I can someday work in that EPIC space called the "Olivier Theater."