Staring over the Atlantic

This weekend I had the pleasure of going to St. Ives for two days, and it was so incredibly fantastic. Before I get there, let me recap a tiny bit.

Wednesday night we went to see "Sarajevo" which was a really cool intimate play, one of my favorites so far. they used technology and live video recording to show "skype" conversations and I thought it was a really cool view into the ways and problems of communication in long distance relationships. it also showed how fragile of a "long distance" relationship we have with the war and violence that goes on in places like Sarajevo, the cast was a good entry of everyday peoples interaction with such a huge issue abroad.

Thursday we got a tour of the National Theatre, which fit perfectly with the research I had just been doing for a paper about when plays used to be censored by the Lord Chamberlain. We've come a long way, the National Theatre is 40% subsidized by the government and there is no censorship from the people providing funds. So the opportunities are endless! Which I think is important for theatre. We also go to see rehearsals going on in the three different theatres, and that was REALLY cool. To have a directer say "cut!" and then tell people to do things differently changed the experience of watching theatre in such a professional arena a lot. Thursday night we rode the tube for an hour and a half to the 'burbs of London to watch a comedy called "Relatively Speaking" which was about an affair, but it played out really ridiculously, and kind of reminded me of the Importance of Being Earnest, where misunderstandings rely on the tiniest most particular phrases.

Friday I got some work done and then we all went out for Tessa's Birthday! Her birthday was on friday, but we sort of half celebrated my birthday too because that was on tuesday. We went late night bowling, and I had a lot of fun and met some cool people there! I woke up somehow at 6 the next morning and packed my bags for St. Ives.

Ah, St. Ives was SO perfect and relaxing. It's on the south west coast of England, and its simply BEAUTIFUL. Seeing the ocean filled me up inside. I spend lots of time walking on the shore, hiking up big hills, climbing on rocks, and staring into the endless opportunities of my life as seen as the ocean. I had a lot of good time to myself, and I even got to go to the ocean at night and lay on the sand and look up at the stars. Sunday I decided to go to another coastal town called Penzance for a few hours before catching the train back home. I came back from this trip so well rested, and I even made use of the 7 hour train ride by doing homework!

Last night Dylan and I went to see Harder They Come, a reggae musical, and it was SO AMAZING! This is the first non-upper-middle-class-white audience I've seen. It was a complete mix up of cultures and ages. And by the end of this incredible musical everyone in the Barbican, including myself of course, were singing and dancing in the stalls. I can't express how wonderful this was! I've been to so much theatre this semester but this really united the audience and changed things up from the standard, sit, recieve play, applaud, get up, go, way of things. Now I've got some work on my hands, but I still have lots and lots of pictures, they will come soon. Lots of love to all of you back home,

Jodi