Tuesday, June 21-

Doctor Faustus & Scotch Eggs

Today we slept in til 11am until Charlie woke us up with his singing. I did laundry and had toast & tea while talking to Sally. She told me that (since she cycles to work) motorists are very mean and even purposefully cause harm to them-- and that the fatality rates for cyclist are high in London. Scary. So Charlie insists that she always call him once she arrives at her destination. She has a bright neon vest and Charlie keeps on adding more blinking lights to her bike lol.

We went to class at 3pm. We told our weekend stories. The three girls went to Barcelona, Chase threw up a lot on his way to Dublin, Ireland, and Sterling hooked up with a girl at a gay bar lol. Tooooooooooooooo funny. We reviewed our articles after that. Then class was over! We BARELY have class let alone real assignments. LOVE IT! But truth be told we ARE learning FAR MORE with the guest speakers that talk to us and also our tours to television studios, schools, and theatre productions. No joke! Doing is more informative than lecturing.

Londoners read a lot on the tube. Newspapers, Magazines, & Books.

Chase & Hayley on the tube

After class we walked across the millennium bridge (wobbly bridge) and had dinner at the pub off of the Thames and next to the Tate Modern.

Pub next to the Globe

Sign Reads, "Pekish? Try Scotch Eggs!" And so I did...

It tasted TERRIBLE!!! I took one bite and it bit back! and it was COLD! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Amber tried it too and started tearing up. Way intense on richness, flavours, and spice!!!! By the end of the meal no one else would try it so Sterling gave it a go and kept eating bite after bite. He didn't like it but was trying to up his "spicey" intake for a future hot wing challenge he was getting ready for. By the 6th bite he started making faces and tearing up. I even captured a photo of the the tears-

Then we went to the Globe for The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play.

Arthur playing Mephistopheles (one in the red cape.)

"No Elizabethan play outside the Shakespeare canon has raised more controversy than Doctor Faustus. There is no agreement concerning the nature of the text and the date of composition... and the centrality of the Faust legend in the history of the Western world precludes any definitive agreement on the interpretation of the play..."

Arthur Darvill (Rory the Centurion in Doctor Who Season 5 & 6)

I snuck that photo opp- camera's weren't allowed during performances.

The play starred Arthur Darvill (Rory from Doctor Who! Now our 4th person so see out of the New Doctor Who Series!!!!) playing the devil Mephistopheles, it was hard seeing him in a serious devilish role after seeing him as the whipped wimpy boyfriend on Doctor Who but he was fierce and fantastic. Big nose but still quite handsome.

1st Act we had seats on the side of the stage which SUCKED! This teenager threw up in his hands because they had a scene where Faustus cuts his arm to sign in blood- way fake but too much for that boy. I couldn't see most of the stage let alone the background of the characters in which was being played with.

2nd Act I snuck down and stood with the groundlings RIGHT in front of the cat walk and saw Arthur and the other cast right 5 feet from me. I saw the whole stage and could hear all the projections perfectly. It was like I was part of the show! I could see so much details in the costuming, the scruffiness of their beards, and more than just an actor's arse when he mooned the audience from above lol. It was gritty, grime, and great!- but none the less tragic and dark. Even though Doctor Faustus was condemned to Hell for choosing to sell his soul to the devil, the play ended with a jaunty funny dance number and Arthur was playing on their little renaissancey guitars. Real cute. We concluded the night by making our way home by the wobbly bridge to the tube and stopped for sweets and bread from the corner store.