Studying with the theatre gurus, Goodbye Cov. and Hello London Theatre

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Hello everyone!

Hope you are doing well. I am just sitting here in the Gatwick Airport, checked-in and getting ready to fly to Dublin this afternoon. It has been a wonderful experience being here in England, but it is time to seek out a new adventure in Ireland. This past week has been busy and I got quite sick so I wasn't online much. I think my tiredness was catching up on me and that the weather changing made life a bit difficult.

After my weekend off we came back to two more days of class on Script work and Mantle of the Expert as well as some fun discussion on assessment and evaluation and sharing of resources. We had two workshops at the University of Warwick with well-known professors Joe Winston and Jonothon Neelands. One did a structure on the Canadian Book The Breadwinner by Debra Ellis and Jonathan did a very interesting workshop on the Changeling-combining current media with a study of Norwegian folktales about Trolls!

We had our final dinner in Cov at a wonderful Chinese Buffet called Cosmo downtown--quite a hidden gem, but a great celebration with all the teachers I am travelling with here--lots of sushi, curries, soups, noodles--I am salivating just thinking about it! Gladys- I know you would!

We drove to London and are staying near Holborn and Covent Garden. We took a tour about the Garden and I found some great treasures by local artisans and a few wedding presents for friends getting married later on in the summer! We went to vist the Actor's Church-St. Pauls which is in Covent Garden and where many of the actors who were famous in London were buried or memorialized including Vera Lynn! It is a lovely place! In the afternoon we went and wandered through Soho where you can find London's small Chinatown and some of the more artsy areas.

In the evening we had tickets to see the production of War Horse! It was exceptional!!!! Set in England during World War I it is a story about a boy and his horse, how they are forced apart but how the boy runs away to find the horse who has been taken on as a calvarly for the war. It is done with actors and the most outstanding life-size puppets! Beautiful! Inspiring! A Great story that blew my mind!

Yesterday I met up with my very old friend Heather and her husband and we went to Camden Market and walked all along the Thames Canal--it is such a beautiful walk. There were kayakers and slow boats about too! So pretty. We had a great middleeastern meal at a restaurant called Amoul--chicken hibib and faroush-salad! We then took the tube down to Charing Cross and crossed over at Embankment to the other side of the river! There were lots of people about and it was nice to just hangout.

Last night we saw Sem Mendes' version of The Tempest! It was well staged and had interesting technical elements, but wasn't my favourite of Shakespeare's plays. It was interesting to see it though, especially in the Old Vic Theatre.

Well, I am off to Ireland now! So long Cov and London!

I will write again from Dublin!

Much love to you all!

Katy xoxoxox

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Comments

[C Peplinski]

Hi Katy--I hope you feel better soon. It sounds like you've been having an amazing time, though, and I can't wait to hear about Dublin--I'm very envious! take care, Christine