What we did on our England Theater Study Abroad Program – We toured the city; we visited Buckingham Palace, walked down Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Baker Street, journeyed through Regent’s Park, and we climbed to the top of Tower Bridge. During our tour guides, we saw many things from famous movie locations like Diagon Alley to historic theatres of London. We toured many theatres: Drury Lane Theatre, The Globe, The National Theatre, and The Other Place. We had two acting workshops, one at The Shakespeare Centre and another at The Globe. Out of everything we did, my favorite was visiting Shakespeare’s Stratford.
Shakespeare’s Stratford – I say Shakespeare’s Stratford because the place is very much dominated by the man. From the ever-constant train of tour guides wishing to learn anything of him to all the homages of his work. Our tour guide, Dr. Jonathan Milton (who I wouldn’t mind following me around all day, narrating my life and everything around me), took us to see Shakespeare’s resting place, where he informed us that it was recently learned that Shakespeare’s head is missing from his tomb. Odd. After our tour with Milton, we went inside Shakespeare’s first house, which was a very surreal feeling, walking through Shakespeare’s own bedroom.
Stratford is a very beautiful place. It is very enchanting; almost magical. And I am very glad I got to visit it.
The Plays – The plays I looked forward to the most were Romeo and Juliet, Don Juan In Soho, The Play That Goes Wrong, and Consent—in that order. Romeo and Juliet – I fell asleep a couple times. It was an interesting play; I didn’t like it, but it was interesting. A lot of people will love it for it is creative, unique, and very fun. I think it modernized Shakespeare into oblivion. As much as I didn’t care for it, I am glad I saw it. Don Juan – I was very excited to see Don Juan In Soho. I was a little disappointed. Though I have a hard time trying to figure out where my disappointment comes from. It was a good play, and I enjoyed it. Somehow I feel that everything kind of just fell flat; everything but David Tennant. I thought David Tennant did an amazing job, and perhaps the reason for my disappointment is David Tennant. I cared more for him than for the other characters or the story. Or maybe I was disappointed because my view was obstructed by the very large head of a man. Consent – Consent surprised me very nicely. It cleverly toyed with me; it made me love characters in one scene and hate them in the next. And while the material was dark, it still managed to get a few laughs from the audience. I thought all the characters were well written; they were real people with actual motives and honest struggles. Consent was intelligent and thought-provoking, and I really liked it. The Play That Goes Wrong – Since I knew all the gags from reading the script, I thought the play might not be as funny. I was wrong. A hilarious play from before it even starts to its end. This review ends here because it’s hard for me to describe how much I enjoyed The Play That Goes Wrong. And so my favorite plays were The Play That Goes Wrong, Consent, Don Juan, and Romeo and Juliet—in that order.
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