We learned. We explored. We pushed ourselves. We inspired each other. We rehearsed. We performed. We shared. We celebrated.
And we said goodbye...
For now.
My fourth and final week at BADA has come to an end. We went out on a high note with a candlelight dinner, symphonies of sobs, and neon green strobe lights. BUT first we worked very hard this last week in preparation for Open Day. Sooo let's first rewind back to the beginning of the week when there was still so much to be done and so much knowledge still to absorb!
In Modern class on Monday and Tuesday, we began serious work on our scene from the Carol Churchill play, "Blue Kettle". Zoe Waites, our teacher, is an extremely successful British actress who seeks to push us as actors while also letting us explore extreme preparation techniques. Preparations may include animal work (taking on the physicality of an animal in order to understand a trait of your character like aggression, speed, curiosity etc.), object work (like an actor about to play a meticulous character may very precisely fold clothing for 15 minutes before their performance), or, a physical warm up (like an actor about to play a calm, relaxed character may meditate for some time before going on stage). My preparation work was discussed over these two days but nothing was set in stone until Open Day. Sorry but here I will leave you in suspense on what my prep ended up being until you get to my account of Saturday later on in the post. But in these two classes, my scene partners and I really began to see a dynamic scene forming. We all wished we had more time to work with Zoe on it, but we were excited to at least get it on its feet and to start making discoveries.
Monday night, we had the opportunity to see a new one act, two person play directed by Robert Price, the other Voice teacher at the program. The play was called "The Broken Token" and focused on the lives of actors in theatre troops in the early 1800s and on how the Napoleonic Wars affected them. It was a decent play, still in need of a rewrite or two in my opinion. The playwright was there for the performance as well, so we got to hear about her process afterwards which was really interesting since her process started with a great deal of historical research, which is right up my alley!
Tuesday night the Baldwin group (my group of 15 students) had the extreme pleasure of taking the great John Tucker, our voice teacher, out for drinks. We took him to The House, the fancy pub/cocktail bar I went to at the end of the second week. I was thrilled because I managed to get a nonalcoholic drink that tasted just like a piña colada AND it was in this awesome tiki glass WITH a pineapple, one fruit I actually eat!
Me, my tiki drink, and Trevs being Trevs!
But the best part of the evening was the great conversation with John. He is literally a ball of fun! A real spitfire! A jolly, hip, very personable man (almost too personable for some but NOT for me!) with the most contagious laugh of anyone I've ever known!
Wednesday was one the best days I spent with BADA. It was certainly the most miraculous day of the program for me, and it was because of that same great, jolly man, John Tucker. But first I had my second tutorial with John Gorrie, my Shakespeare teacher. We worked on the Phebe monologue from "As You Like It" that he had given me in our first tutorial two weeks ago. It's definitely a fun, flirtatious piece, and John helped me bring out those aspects of the piece even more. It's a piece I can see myself using in the future for auditions. Some people here have said that even though they understand the importance of learning to play Shakespeare and even though they enjoy working on his plays, they don't foresee themselves auditioning for Shakespeare plays in the States in their futures. At the beginning of the program, I would say I sort of felt the same way. And honestly I thought I'd be Shakespeared-out by the end of the four weeks. But I couldn't have been more wrong. I have this new found thirst to read more of Shakespeare's plays and to work on more of his characters and to speak that verse that just feels so good and so right in my mouth. This has only been the beginning of the budding relationship I have with Shakes. We have been on a few dates now and the past month has been the best date yet! Definitely think it's time to take our relationship to the next level since I really do see a future with this man and his addicting texts.
Later in the day, I had my tutorial with John Tucker, during which I wanted to work on singing rather than speech. First, I told him that I am looking to take vocal lessons while I am studying abroad in Edinburgh in the Fall. He then preceded to tell me that HE would give me lessons if I could get down to London from Edinburgh once a month.... Like WHAT?! That would be AMAZING! This news started my 20 minute tutorial off on a very high note.... And the tutorial also ended with a high note, a high B flat to be specific. This man got my range to span, with ease, to a high B flat in a measly 20 minutes. At the end of the tutorial, he said he wanted to work with me more before I left but with an actual piano rather than a piano app, so we scheduled a lesson for that night. I left in a euphoric daze, amazed at what John had just gotten me (a practically female tenor) to do and excited for the proper lesson that evening.
At 7:30 that night, I met with John in a tiny practice room and worked with him for an hour. It was one of the most miraculous hours... possibly of my entire life! I know that sounds dramatic, but in 60 minutes he got my range to expand nearly to both ends of the piano! He taught me how to breathe properly, and those high notes soared from my mouth with such ease. It was like an out of body experience. It was like hearing someone else's voice erupt from my body. I learned more about proper breathing, support, and my abilities as a vocalist in those 60 minutes than I had in 10 years of singing in choirs and 6 years of private vocal lessons. It was hard work! I was extremely exhausted by the end, but it was, obviously, extremely worth the extensive work and exhaustion. Now I feel I have the knowledge and exercises to continue the work on my voice that John has started. I am tremendously excited to see where these tools take my singing in the future, and, of course, I hope to work with John again in London very soon!
Thursday we did our first run through of "Twelfth Night" and "Midsummer" in Shakespeare class. It was the first time we ran through all eight scenes nonstop. It was a great seeing it all come together and getting to see what our friends and few family members would get to see on Open Day. On Thursday we also had our last Audition Technique class and our last Physical Theatre class. In Audition Tech, the last five students did their mock-auditions, and we soaked in as much advice and as many critiques as possible from the great Irina Brown one last time. In Physical Theatre, we did impersonations. Last week we had been randomly assigned one other person in our group whom we were meant to observe in order to impersonate their physicality on the last day of class. It was so much fun! But the best part of the class was when we were done with our prepared impersonations and we got to impersonate whoever we wanted from the program. Most chose our teachers, impersonating their mannerisms, their accents, their laughs, and speaking their catchphrases. It was hilarious! At the end of class, we all got a bunch of pictures with Mick. We all really enjoyed his class and his humor and will miss him a lot.
Serious
Level 5: Complete Awe
Just us <3
That evening, we had our final masterclass. Appropriately so, it was with John Barton. He was leading a workshop with Jane Lapotaire, a beautiful actress who worked with John Barton at the Royal Shakespeare Company many years ago. She performed numerous Shakespearean sonnets for us, and then John and her would dissect them, discussing the figurative language employed, the importance of rhyme, the hidden wit and irony, and ultimately how these aspects of the sonnets should be used when performing them. It was like watching a play or television show. These two legends cracking jokes, pointing out the sexual references in all the sonnets, or bickering about the meaning of certain lines was so enjoyable to witness. I was talking to one of my best friends in my group, Tess, the other day whose father is a professional actor. She told me that her father said he would pay a good deal of money to see John Barton in person and to hear him speak. We have been given such a privilege to not only sit in this man's presence but more incredibly to see him work with actors as he has done with generations of incredible actors like Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, and Judi Dench. Seeing him work with an accomplished actress, just like he had in all of the episodes of his "Playing Shakespeare" TV series, was the perfect button on our masterclasses at BADA, and, specifically for me, a great way to wrap up the program since his involvement with BADA was one the first things that drew me to the program.
Friday was bittersweet. Our last day of classes. But Friday also meant my mom was coming into Oxford so I was simultaneously very sad and very excited. The first class was Voice... And it was a very very rough class for all of us. We did this humming circle exercise in which we all held hands in a circle and hummed on different pitches; one person at a time would enter the middle of the circle while the others continued to hum around them. The center person would slowly turn in the circle to make eye contact with each person around them. We each held that connection with each person around us for 20 to 40 seconds. The eye contact, the harmonious humming, the holding hands, and the fact that it was the last day of classes... The atmosphere was prime for tears... And eventual sobs. In those moments of connection with each person, it was as if we were silently saying everything we wanted to say to that person. Thanking them for being a great friend; for sharing such great memories; for being a travel buddy; for the late night pub or food truck crawls; for everything over the past month. It was extremely emotional. As we reached the last few people to go, I heard a familiar melody being hummed across the circle. It was the melody of "A Boat, A Boat" a beautiful English folk song we all loved and had learned from Mick in Physical Theatre. Eventually, we split it into a round. Anyone who had stopped crying by this point, started tearing up all over again. It was sad, but beautiful and quite magical. Afterwards, John told his this exercise usually talks 30 minutes... We had taken an hour and a half.
"A boat, a boat
Haste to the ferry,
For we go over to be merry,
And drink wine and our brown sherry"
In Modern and in Shakespeare class, we did run throughs of our performances for Open Day. It was a special day in Modern since it was the first time we were running the scenes nonstop and really the first time we were seeing each other's scenes. It was the first time I felt we were ready to share our work, our progress on these scenes with an audience.
At 3:45, I met Mum outside the college. I was so happy to see her and pumped to show her around Magdalen. When she walked into the first quad past the porters lodge, St. John's Quad, her face lit up, a smile spread across her face, and she slowly shock her head. She was in awe at the beauty of the campus combined with the unbelievable reality that I had lived in this place for a month. Seeing her reaction was a priceless, end-of-the-program gift. It allowed me to return back to when I had first arrived, when I took in my surroundings for the first time. I had gotten so used to living in Magdalen that I had begun to neglect the beauty around me and the fact that I was not just visiting the college as a tourist but was actually getting to live and study there. Mum being there gave me the gift of reflection and immense appreciation for the opportunity I had worked so hard to earn and for my parents, who made the whole experience possible. I then showed Mum my room, the dining hall, and the cathedral before taking her to Addison's Walk and the pond. I then met up with my lovely Baldwins at All Bar One for a lovely end-of-the-program dinner with the best group!
Mum and I on Open Day
Open Day finally arrived, and all of us began Saturday morning with a warm up on the Grove Lawns led by the two physical theatre/movement teachers and the two voice teachers. It was neat getting a glimpse of what it was like having the teachers my friends in other groups had been studying with over the past four weeks. This collective warm up was also really powerful in that it got all 90 of us to come together on the last day of the program interacting with each other both physically and vocally. As we worked, I saw my best friends, the friends I had not spent tons of time with but whom had gotten to know decently, aquaintances whose names I knew and to whom I would always say hello, and a couple of faces I had never seen before. It's crazy how you can spend 4 weeks with a group of 90 and still not know everyone. I think that is my biggest (if not only) regret of the program, that I didn't make even more of an effort to keep meeting new people, or to get closer to those I had met briefly, after the first weekend and after being put into our groups. You know, I have learned SO MUCH from my teachers in our classes and had the best possible time in Oxford, London, Stratford, and Bath; but, at the end of the day, it has been my friends that have stolen the #1 slot on the "Best Parts of My BADA Experience" list. It had been these people, these talent, encouraging, beautiful friends of mine who have MADE this program for me. I cannot thank them enough. Advice time: when you go to a new place, whether you are traveling for a week, for a month, or actually moving to a new place, BE OPEN TO MEETING THE PEOPLE. It is remarkable how people you have only known for a month, or even just a week can impact your life from that point on. These new friends of mine have made the most positive, inspiring, heart warming impact on my life. It's an impact that will forever be a part of me, just as I hope the friendships I have made with these people will forever be a part of my life.
Whoa. Got super sentimental there. Did not expect that until after writing about Open Day, but the emotions came to me much sooner and so I was forced to insert them here with complete, in-the-moment honesty.
Sooo back to Open Day! My group was only scheduled to perform in the afternoon time slots, so in the morning, Mum and I saw some Shakespeare, Chekov, and Pinter performed by my friends in other groups. It was a lot of fun finally seeing my non-Baldwin friends act! I also spent a part of the morning taking Mum to places in Oxford where I had frequently gone, like Burton Taylor Studio for class and Taylor's for almond shortbread. I then got to eat lunch in the Magdalen Dining Hall with Mum before heading to the Old Law Library to begin preparing for our Modern performance.
Overall, I think our Modern performance of scenes from three Carol Churchill plays went really well! The small room was packed with friends, family, and teachers. Now it's time for the reveal of my preparation technique! I know you have all been so eager to find out. Because my character Enid is drunk at the start of the scene, we blasted "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns'n'Roses and I threw caution to the wind! I danced, jumped around, and spun and spun and spun while simultaneously trying to put on a button down shirt and then trying to put makeup on. These normally simple tasks became extremely difficult and sort of nauseating. But I kept jumping around and spinning until the very last minute when we all plopped down at our table and began the scene. I was honestly not so sure initially about the idea of sharing our prep work with an audience. But I found that, in the moment, I didn't care that I was being watch. I really forgot I was being watched. And I felt that my prep really worked for me, considering I don't know what it's like to be drunk, and for my partners, and therefore our scene went really well! I was proud of our scene and of all 6 scenes we presented.
In the last time slot of the day, we performed our Shakespeare pieces. It was the best way to finish Open Day! We killed it! Having an audience of our friends and family, seeing their faces and hearing their laughter, gave us all the extra boost we needed to take our work to the next level. I love how an audience has that power over us actors! I had so much fun with my Titania and Oberon scene, and afterwards John Gorrie told me I did a great job and really flirted it up! Well, I'm sure those weren't his actual words but you get the idea haha.
At 6:45, all dressed up, we gathered with our teachers within the Cloisters for drinks. They even had fancy nonalcoholic drinks this time! Us sober buddies were very pleased.
Then we headed into the Hall for the most beautiful candlelit, three-course dinner.
Each group sat with each other. The love and suppressed sorrow emanated through those seated at the Baldwin table. I could feel it. Throughout the dinner, various tables began chanting their group names with pride and solidarity. Other times, songs from Physical Theatre class or Voice class were chanted through the hall. There was such exuberance. We were all on such a high. But an elephant sat patiently in the corner of the hall, waiting to proclaim itself....
At the end of dinner, Ian Wooldridge, Dean of BADA made a speech recognizing all those associated with BADA who made this program possible. We clapped; we hollered; some even stood on chairs! Then Ian thanked us for our hard work, for our openness, for being a pleasure to work with... And then he told us that we were now officially and always will be alumni of the British American Drama Academy. I caught tears streaming down some of my friends' faces, beautifully illuminated by the candlelight. Then we were told to all hold hands and have a moment of silence in which to reflect on our tremendous fortunes: getting to live in such a beautiful place; getting to learn from such esteemed teachers; getting to make such close friends... Let me tell you, that moment of silence became a horribly long moment of sobs and aggressive sniffles. Thus, the elephant had emerged from it's hiding place. This was our last dinner in gorgeous Magdalen; we were done working with our teachers; and, saddest of all, we were soon leaving our friends. It was magically heartbreaking, beautifully painful.
Afterwards, we were supposed to head down to the Old Kitchen Bar for a disco, but people lingered in the Hall for a half hour, taking pictures, hugging each other, and drying tears. Eventually, we all got ourselves together and headed to the disco. It was so much fun! 3 hours of dancing with friends AND with the teachers! Both Mick and John Tucker were GOING TO TOWN! It was hilarious! Our favorite teachers, most likely drunk, and getting down with us!
At midnight, suddenly, the normal lights came on and the strobes went out. All of us who were still dancing stopped, and awkwardly looked around at each other. We all knew this was it, it was time to say goodbye. Everyone was leaving at different times early in the morning, so there would likely be no later chance. Because it was literally too unbearable to say that oh so final-seeming word, "goodbye" instead, as hugs were held for unbelievable long periods of time, we simply said an open-ended "goodnight" and a "sleep well."
"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow." ~ Juliet
It was an absolutely stunning way to end the Midsummer in Oxford 2014 program. So much laughter, so many tears, so many smiles, so many hugs, and so much appreciation and love.
Jeez, I'm getting so sappy! Haha do you think so? I sort of do... But I do many every single word. So yes, sappy; But yes, honest.
So how do I end my last post to this blog? How about I tell you how Oxford felt when us BADA students left. I know, because I was one of the few that stayed the following day.
Sunday morning and afternoon it rained. The skies looked like death and rain plummeted onto this town that had been so shockingly gorgeous weather-wise all four weeks of our stay. Oxford cried that day, just as we had the night before. It seemed that the town would miss us just as much as we would miss it. BUT that Sunday evening, while it still continued to rain at one end of Broad Street, on the other end blue skies slowly emerged, and at the point where gloomy gray sky met the budding blue, two rainbows formed. It remained me of that phrase that goes something like "Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened." That rainbow to me was Oxford smiling. Smiling because we had all earned our way to Oxford; because we had found and respected its beautiful, local hideaways and hangouts; because we had come to call it "home" whenever we were in another city for the weekend; because we had befriended the town just as we had befriended our classmates and teachers. And so, I smiled in response, and documented Oxford's smile with a picture and then shared it on Facebook with my friends, and hopefully it made them smile too.
Oxford's Smile
And so I also share it here, and hope that for you, whenever you may cry, whenever your skies let forth rains of sadness, you will remember that only with some rain can there be rainbows. So, that's what I am thinking now as I complete this blog having already departed from our beloved Oxford. With the best possible memories all written down here for safekeeping, I will not cry because they are over.
I will SMILE.
Because they happened. <3
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