Fancy Shmancy Livin' & Gold Stars Too...

It's been a long 2 weeks, to say the least. I have been desperately trying to master the accent for our performances of Fen coming up and I am failing miserably. Accents usually don't stump me (coming from years of experience of making fun of my parents) but this one, a Cambridgeshire accent (don't ask), is a doosy. I just hope I don't sound like the American, that's my biggest fear. I'll let you know how it goes, once Thursday comes and goes...

Shelly, Eric's mom, came to London with her friend, Zorina, and we traipsed around last weekend and had a blast! We strolled Portobello Market, went to Harrod's, saw Wicked (time #2 pour moi!), visited the Victoria & Albert Museum, ate at Harvey Nichols, and stayed at The Dorchester! It was how the other half lives, let me tell you! I had a lot of fun and I have to thank the two of them for showing me a great time! Here's me at The Dorchester eating room service for breakfast and the largest bowl of porridge EVER!


I also went to two shows this past week. Russ took me to see one of his favorite performers, the former lead singer of the 90's band, the Sneakerpimps. He is now known as IAMX. We were less than impressed. It seemed like an over-indulgent, selfish, bass-drowning performance. We left early. Disappointing. As a balance, we also went to see a very funny comedian, Marcus Brigstocke on Friday night. He was great! Smart and wholly amusing. It was nice to laugh at the end of a stressful week!

The biggest news of my week is my GOLD STAR! We were put through our Stage Combat Foundation Exam this past Wednesday. We learned a choreographed routine that began with single sword, armed fighting and moved into an unarmed section (punches, kicks, etc.) and performed it in front of an external examiner. You could either receive a pass, fail, or gold star. All 13 of us passed and 5 of us received gold stars (a distinction). It was one of the most stressful days because we had to get 4 more hours of combat classes in order to be able to take the exam before the 2-hour block of time for the exam itself. So, we were all exhausted and thrilled with our performances and passes and we are all now certified in stage combat now! :) Woohoo! Here I am, with my partner Mark, from 2 different angles! And here's a picture of our combat teacher and guru, Rachel. Thanks to her, we are now combat superstars!


That's about it from me. Happy Birthday to Kenny & Debbie Urman (on the 18th and 19th, respectively)!! Have a good week y'all...

Fen-tastic!

There was nothing too exciting to report last week and I was so swamped with work that the posting just did not become a reality. Sorry lovelies...

I did see the play Proof last Friday night. It is one of, if not my very favorite play. It was a decent production. I am super critical of it because the role of Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie version) is my dream role, so...it just seemed like the cast was kind of "over it", if you catch my drift. It was fine, nothing earth shattering, but entertaining none the less.

This week has been a very cool one. We started work, in earnest, on our new production of Fen by Caryl Churchill. This play is about life in the Fenlands of East Anglia. I am playing Shirley, a no nonsense, strong woman who takes what she's given and makes it work. I love that about her. After all, to her, she has no other choice. It's a wonderful script and it has been so interesting working on it thus far. The Fenlands are rural communities that farm for their survival - potatoes, onions, carrots, etc. They are places steeped in traditions - working and living off of the land, sharing stories and creating folklore. Because of the story-telling aspect of the location and in the play itself, we were to come up with our own myths based on certain titles that we were given. I chose to create The Legend of the Fen Tiger. All together now, "Oooooh, ahhhhh..." Very nice. It was great to hear 13 different stories (all came from different titles) and how people told them. It was like sitting around a great big campfire in class. So cool. We also took a field trip to the fens themselves. We drove to Ely, a town in East Anglia, about an hour and a half away. It was beautiful and so helpful to see the fields that these women in the play would have been working in. The fields seem to go on forever. They are so vast. Some are green and others are black - the soil is so rich and dark (pic 1). There is an enormous cathedral there (pic 2) called Ely Cathedral and the town is very quaint. I even found a store called Cherry Hil Chocolates (pic 3)! :) We met in a pub before touring around town to finish telling our tall tales (pic 4). On our way out of town we were encouraged to venture off the beaten path and see the Fenlands a bit more in depth. Mark, Jenni, Ray & I drove off the main road and came across a rickety, old bridge that overlooked the river and provided a great view of the land. The self-portrait below says it all in my humble opinion (pic 5). It really was a great day.



Wednesday, the MA Actors turned out en masse to support a good friend of ours in an out-of-school theatrical endeavor. Our very own Russ Hope was selected to write the book for one of the 6 musicals in Greenwich Theatre's "Ten Minute Musical Challenge". One day, a few months ago, the powers that be called for submissions of music, lyrics and musical ideas based on a news story from that day's selected newspaper. They received hundreds of entries. From those, they selected 6 composers, 6 lyricists, and 6 book writers (script writers for all of you non-theatre folk). The teams then came together and in one day, chose a news story from that day, wrote a 10-minute musical in a matter of hours, actors came in to learn/rehearse it and they all went up together on Wednesday night. It was a wonderful and entertaining evening and Russ' script about a woman who faked her own death then had a sex change to avoid paying a 60-pound traffic ticket (only the sex change part was a fabrication, seriously) was brilliant and all of us were super proud of him. This was the start to a long and prosperous career for our Mr. Hope, we just know it. Kudos is well deserved...

Friday was also my illustrious housemate, Helen's, b-day! So, we threw her a partaaaaay! It was a blast. I never told you all about the drama of our housemate, Ali, moving out. Let's just say that it wasn't pretty and it's still not. However, we did gain a fab new roomie named Luke. He is a friend of Helen's from back in the day and he is a tiptop bloke, as they would say here in old Blighty. ;) So, here is a gorgeous housemate photo, red-eyes and all, for your viewing pleasure (pic 6).

That's all for me. I am off to memorize some lines and be studious. Love to you all and a very special happy birthday on the 2nd to the wonderful and beautifully pregnant Mimi Katano - miss you...