Last Day

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The last day or so in London I really took it easy.

On Tuesday night I went on one of the city's many Jack the Ripper walks. I went on the one led by true crime writer Donald Rumbelow. It was a very informative walk and gave me a more detailed idea of how things were during the Victorian Era with the social classes - which will be a major part of my teaching of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," which I have taught for the last few years. The only downside to the walk was the fact that most of the places we visited had been torn down and rebuilt over the 122 years since that time period. Understandably since the city has been through two World Wars; but it made it absurd when you looked at a spot like where the killer had written a message on a wall, next to a piece of bloody apron - and it now is a take away diner called "Happy Days." It also would've been nice had the tour ended at Tower Hill station like the brochure said it would, instead of dropping me off a few blocks away from another station so I could get lost on the underground.

On my last day in London I visited the British Library. I got to explore their current exhibition on science fiction and a permanent collection that included such things as an original copy of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and a first folio of Shakespeare. It was a nice, quiet way to spend my last afternoon in the UK.

Around five in the afternoon I made my way over to Waterloo station to find the Old Vic Theatre. This was where I would wrap up my trip with a performance of my favorite piece of Shakespeare, Richard III, staring Kevin Spacey in the leading role. I ended up doing the show standing, as the seats in this old theatre gave my legs little to no leg room. The performance was great, Spacey portrayed one of the most deformed visions of the character that I have ever seen. He was masterful at highlighting the large amount of dramatic irony that exists in the play, and specifically with the character of Richard. The other stand out to me was Nigerian actor, Chuk Iwuji, who was the most spot-on Buckingham that I have ever seen! Mr. Iwuji took every bit of sleaze that the character has on the page, and brought it out physically on the stage.

The intermission during the play reminded me of just how difficult the text can be. I happened across some other audience members who were British and were trying to figure out the play amongst themselves. I managed to get into the conversation and explained several things to them that they had missed. Being a play based on British history it occurred to me about half way through that I was teaching some Brits about their own history.

I have been home for a few days now, and although I am glad to be back with my family, I must admit that I miss England. Stratford-Upon-Avon is definitely a place I want to go back to sometime in my lifetime and London as well. I saw yesterday that The Globe Theatre is now having performances screened in movie theaters, including one that is near where I live. I intend to go see this, but I realize that it won't be the same.

Even though I am no longer traveling I am going to keep this blog open. I plan on using this as a way to write out how I use this experience in my teaching. As I type this I have a pile of things next to my bed, and I wonder how I'm going to organize it all.

Thank you to everyone who followed this little blog as I went through the journey. It was a great experience and I was very fortunate to have the opportunity. I hope that as the new school year comes towards us that I can help some of my colleagues have the same type of experience for themselves.

That's all for now. Thank you again.

Cheers!

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