Hey, it’s Rebecca. I just wanted to take the time to write about some of the other awesome group things we have done together. Seeing plays, having discussion classes, and working with amazing professionals on acting and performance is fantastic, but it doesn’t even stop there.
The thing I liked about these field trips was that we did them as a group. Each individual day, you have your own free time to explore the city with whoever you can find that wants to tag along, but these group trips have been really great in binding us all together on this wonderful program. Our common experiences are also leading to some great discussion to help us learn and grow more. I definitely think we have all grown immensely during the course of this program.
So I wanted to write about two particular events today: Hatfield House and The National Theatre, which we ventured to on July 9 and 10, 2009, respectively.
July 9, 2009.
Today we woke up a little earlier to meet Professor Clum at King’s Cross train station and soon enough we were off to Hatfield House. The Hatfield House, a 223 room mansion, isn’t a particularly well-known tourist attraction, but was still a great place to see. It was just a twenty-minute train and next thing we knew were were standing in front of a HUGE piece of architecture, surrounded by tons of land. We met our tour guide, a really nice, British lady who kept saying that we were “such well-behaved American students.” (chuckle chuckle).
Here, in list form, is some of the quirky things we learned on the course of our tour:
-The Earl of Salisbury actually still lives in one of the wings of the house with his wife today. We also saw a picture of the heir to the house, born in 1970. I can't decide how much of a burden it would be to inherit such a house, because you'd instantly be in charge with its upkeeping and restoration, as well as tours and staff and whatnot. Anyway, it's such a great honor, that I don't think I’d complain. His family traces all the way back 14 generations to Robert Cecil and beyond! So interesting how things get passed down through history.
- The original Hatfield House is actually off to the side of the one we saw today and is only a quarter of the original building. After Henry VIII having it for awhile, Queen Elizabeth resided while her sister Mary killed Protestants (Queen Elizabeth was actually at Hatfield House when she heard news that her sister had died and she was now Queen of England.). After several pass-downs, eventually a guy named Robert Cecil got it (in 1607 I believe). It was HE who knocked down 3/4 of the old house to build the NEW and improved Hatfield House (the one you see in the picture). This Hatfield House only took four years to build! (1608-1612). As our tour guide said, "It took four years to build and has been falling down ever since." Haha
- In 1835 the west wing burnt down with the wife of James Cecil (the 1st Marquess of Salisbury). She was 85 years old and was well known for being silly, funny and mischievous. After the fire they actually found some of the remains of her jewelry, only to find out they were fakes because she had been selling her real jewelry to pay off gambling debts! In addition, apparently Charles Dickens was a reporter at the time and actually wrote about the fire, and it's even mentioned in Oliver twist. :)
-In the library were some interesting documents in glass classes. Notably, two: 1) a letter from 14 year old Elizabeth refuting an affair with Thomas Seymour (married to Katharine Parr) and 2) The small picture of Anne of Cleves that Henry VIII received prior to the marriage, which apparently had been generous to her appearance, and next to it was the document by Henry VIII divorcing her after 6 months without consummating the marriage. Interesting….
The rooms themselves were beautiful and covered with carvings marked with symbols or paintings of important people who had resided there. I think everything not only learned a lot, but had a great time. After the tour, we explored the gardens and land around Hatfield House before returning to London. Great trip!
July 10, 2009
Today we all met at the National Theatre at 10:25 am for a backstage tour of the theater. This was very cool for two reasons. First of all, we got to see how backstage in these theatres that do wonderful performances is just like our backstage back home. The doors were beat up from tons of set pieces hitting them, there were bulletin boards everywhere about so-and-so's birthday bash somewhere, who's bringing what food to what event, schedules, offices, a HUGE shop to build the sets and props, etc. It was really neat to see that backstage wasn't all sparkly and pretty simply because we’re in West End, it's just...theater. That’s the way it should be!
Second of all, we got to see some really neat stuff and find out some cool backstage secrets about some of the plays we had seen / are going to see.
Here’s some cool stuff we found out:
-The National Theatre was designed to be a very welcoming, community-oriented theater. Thus, it includes three theaters, two restaurants, a bar on every floor, one coffee shop, a huge bookshop, free live entertainment every night (outside and inside the lobby), a grassy area to hang out, and more. That way, anyone can come find something that they would enjoy, relating to the arts.
-They have around 1,000 employees working there!
-Each theater (the Lyttleon, the Olivier, and the Cottesloe) can be doing up to three shows at a time. For instance, in the Lyttleton, they currently have Time and the Conways and Phedre performing. So each set in on a platform with wheels so that when they need to switch to the other show in 5 hours, they simply lift up the stage, wheel it away into one room, wheel the other in from a side room, and lower the stage so the floor is even. Sweet!
-We also got to see how all the special effects for Time and the Conways worked, the way the horses in War Horse work, and see someone making another horse as a backup replacement.
-We walked all over the All’s Well That Ends Well set in the Olivier (a theater shaped to look similar to a Greek amphitheater) and saw where they paint backdrops and more!
It was a great tour! It was really neat simply because we’re seeing these amazing shows, and then we got to go backstage and look at everything up close and see how it worked. I think everyone definitely enjoyed it.
Today is July 26, 2009. We have twelve more days here in this wonderful city until we have to return home. I’m definitely not ready. This program has been exciting and thrilling every single day; getting to go to the theater each night knowing you were going to learn and see something brilliant has just been an opportunity many will never experience and I will never forget.
That’s all for now! Maybe Cameron will have me write some more later!
Best,
Becca
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