Today was our last full day in England. It goes without saying I am not looking forward to leaving. This has been such a wonderful experience, chances of a lifetime for me. The experiences and the things I have seen will stay with me forever. We started our last day with class in the bar. Were we discussed Oh Go My Man, Comedy of Errors, Sejanus: His Fall. This was a great discussion and helped me to expand my ideas about each of these plays.

National Theater at night, purple building

From here we made our way to the National Theater for a backstage tour. On our tour we saw auditoriums, scenic workshop, painting shop, backstage area and the main stage. The National Theater is one building that holds 3 theaters they do 18 show, have more than 300 actors, 500 costumes and 750 props used for whole year. The three theaters are Olivier an open- stage with searing for about 1,110 people, Lyttelton proscenium stage with seating for 890 people, and Cattesloe Studio or Black Box Theater with seating for 300 people. Having these three stages in one area gives the theater the advantage to have more than one show going on in the theaters.

We started our tour in the Olivier Theater; it is the third larges theater in England. It was named after Laurence Olivier because she was a one of the head directors while she worked their. That is also why all the chairs are purple in this theater because it was her favorite color. Its design was based Laurence the old Greece theater with its curved seating around the stage. This is done so that knows one has a bad view of the stage. The most impressive thing about this stage is it revolving center. It is 11 ½ meters and has a lift that travels four stories down or up. This gives them advantage of being able to do a scene change under the stage and bring it up for dramatic effect, or used it to travel to a different location in the story. Also it is a great place to store loose set pieces when not in use. This stage also has one of the most impressive fly tower I have every seen. They have 120 point hooks which gives them the ability to lift many heave objects. In theory they can lift a double decked bus in the tower spaces. The harness for the actors also allow for them be lifted up to give the effect of flying or to perform acrobatics in the air.

From here we went to the Lyttelton Theater, this is a proscenium stage and the seating area was kept very simple. This was done for two reasons first not to distract from the stage and the second was to keep the stage adjustable. The entire stage can be adjusted to be smaller or look bigger depending on the need of the performances. Also the stage built for most productions here is a platform on top of the stage. This allows them the ability for when they change the stage for a different performance to wheel the stage back and take everything with it to the back part of the stage.

After getting a chances to walk on this stage our tour guide took us to the back to stage to see how the sets and props were made. Many stages today are made with medial because it stages the abuse of use better but wood still remains an important tool in making sets. This theater has is own metal and wood shop that work together to create the set pieces. Also because of new technical they are using such tools as foam to give the illusion of hardness but the lightness to move with little effort.

The workshop that was the most amazing to see was the paint shop. They have a one massive wall that they can stretch the canvas against it. This canvas stretches the length of each of their theaters. It has three different lifts to allow the painter to reach the top and have many teams working on the same pieces. I was surprised to learn that they use many of the same house hold paints that you would use in your house. This was hands down the coolest backstage tool I had every seen. Our next stop was to get to play with some props. I was intrigued to learn that they had nine prop makers and three prop buys. That I wouldn’t give to have the job of buys things all day. Anyway the props they build are very realistic and fun.

The last part of our tour took us to the Cattesloe Studio or Black Box Theater. This theater was interesting in that it can be made to many different types of theaters such a trust or lifted stage. This theater was an after thought for the building crew so it is the smallest. In Cattesloe also mainly perform more experimentally pieces. The set designers have to be very creative in the area with lack of spaces and use lighting to help bring the dramatic feel. That shouldn’t be a problem due the mass amounts of lights. We ended our tour and made our way out to the main area were we ate lunch and got ready to see a matinee performance of Once in a lifetime.

To learn more about theater or tour click here

Once in a lifetime is about three New York vaudeville actors who deiced to jump on the band wagon of talking pictures and start a voice school. They grab the first train to Hollywood and look to make their fortune. Jerry and May have all the bigideas and their simple but sweet friend George is along for the ride. But when things start going wrong Jerry and May are hung out to dry, while George becomes the talk of the town. Want to learn more click here.

Image crustily from broacher National Theater

For what this show was a cheese musical, I liked it. It fit the elderly adult audiences and hit a time period that they would like. There was no deeper meaning or underlying theme we needed to find out, it was just about having fun. I feel it was perfect way to end our class theater tour of England. The title it self describes how I feel about this trip it is a once in a lifetime event. This show plot was simple and had its basic love story but the actors did the best they could with it. Also many of the jokes were slap tick and easy for everyone. The costume and the set are what really stole the show. Each actors costume was better then the last. They were fun, colorful and loud fitting with the Hollywood over dramatized theme. I kept having this overwhelming feeling to jump on stage and steal the costume for myself.

Dinner with friends

From the theater we were treated to a pre show dinner at Gourmet Pizza restaurant. In honor of going home I chose to have the Chicago pizza. Dinner was a great time we just relaxed and had good conversation about our trip. For me though the night was still young. Cate, Colleen, and I made our way to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to see The Producers the new Mel Brooks Musical. We bought our tickets for The Producers half prices at Lester square.

This show is about to Max Bialystock and Led Bloom who cook up this plan to make two million dollars by putting on the worst show in the history of Broadway. There are four simple steps to this plan. First find the worst play ever written, second hire the worst director, three fire the worst actors and lastly raise the money. After doing all this they put on the show sure to be a flop and who would have guessed it’s the biggest hit ever. To learn more about The Producers click here.

Image crustily from broacher of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

I loved this show. The tickets we bought were in the third row off to the side. We were so close that actors were right on top of us. Fred Applegate and John Sinclair did amazing jobs as Max Bialystock and Led Bloom. I didn’t think anyone could be as good as the original cast but this cast pulled it off. I felt like I was going to die from all the laughing I was doing. I knew the main plot and some of the songs coming into the show but I once they were all put together on stage I couldn’t stop laughing. The costume, the lights, and the sets were all perfect. Spring time for Hiliter was a hit in my book. This show was just non stop fun and I had the time of my life watching it.

So this ends my last day here in England. It was the best time of my life and this is one experience that I won’t forget as long as I live. Back home to Iowa we go.