Royal Ballet

On Tuesday March 21, 2017, we went to the Royal Opera House to watch the Royal Ballet perform. We were lucky to see a program of three different dances: The Human Seasons / After the Rain / the world premiere of Flight Pattern by Crystal Pite, and works by Christopher Wheeldon and David Dawson. The Human Seasons was a fascinating performance inspired by Keat's poem, The Human Seasons. It was interesting to put a powerful visual with the performance after having discussed the poem earlier in class. The performance showed the vitality and movement of humans and how they grow and shake during their life. After the Rain showed the beauty when normally people are fearful of getting wet. The dancers were strong through the entire performance and at the end one the rain had gone there was brightness and beauty left. Flight Pattern was the most literal one visually. The way the dancers moved and presented themselves made them easily become birds without much imagination needed. Their arms flew smoothly and they danced around the stage as a whole, having the flock fly smoothly. One Villanova student commented at the end that, "The ballet was more interesting than I thought it would be. So much emotion evoked through movement. The costumes really helped set the scene and I loved the group movement. I am really glad I got to experience this art form, it has definitely opened my eyes to another side of art."

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Rigoletto

RIGOLETTO

The version of Rigoletto put on by ENO (English National Opera) moves the original setting of Manua, Italy to our home country in the city of Little Italy New York. Although we were at first skeptical about this move, this play did an excellent job in adapting Rigoletto to an entirely new setting. The sets constructed by the stage crew, especially the Bar/Club scenes, evoked 1950’s New York so convincingly it felt as though we were there. Honestly, I now cannot picture Rigoletto being set anywhere else. I think I speak for everyone in the group when I say that I was not originally looking forward to seeing a three hour long opera; however, there is something about live orchestra music that never fails to send shivers down the listeners’ spines.

A downside though: hearing every single line sung did get a bit excessive. But at the same time certain dramatics were amplified by the booming voices. In Gilda's death scene at the end of the opera, for example, the powerful singing voices of Rigoletto and his daughter Gilda tapped into a raw emotion that would have been hard to stage otherwise. In all fairness, I don’t think the final scene could have been pulled off in a spoken play, at least not nearly as powerfully as in opera .

At least for me, this was my first introduction to opera. I didn’t expect to like it in any way, shape, or form, but I honestly thoroughly enjoyed my experience watching ENO’s Rigoletto. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to visit the opera to do so. I believe you will not regret it.

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul’s Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral and an iconic London landmark dating back to 604 AD. St Paul’s was founded by Saint Mellitus, a monk who arrived in Britain with Saint Augustine, in 604 AD on a mission from the pope. The present Cathedral is considered the treasure of one of Britain's most famous architects, Sir Christopher Wren, and is thought to be at least the fourth building to have stood on the site. It was constructed from 1675 to 1710 after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and the first services were held in 1697. This was the first Cathedral to be built after the English Reformation in the sixteenth century and is today the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London.

Image by Rowan Yeni

On our visit to the cathedral, we were first struck by the sheer size of the building. The structure is massive taking up a whole city block and a massive dome rising u and dominating the skyline on London. Upon entering the inside was just as impressive as the exterior. Sky high, magnificently painted ceilings, ornately carved archways, and a stunning golden alter all add to the grandeur of the brilliant cathedral floor. After a brief moment of admiration, we quickly made our way to the stairs to get an up close view of the iconic dome. 

Image by Rowan Yeni

We made our way up a spiral staircase until we reached the whispering gallery, the first level of the dome. From this platform, we were able to see the beautiful paintings covering the enormous dome. As we walked around the balcony we were able to experience the whispering the gallery is named after as other visitors whispered into the walls and we heard them from the opposite side. One student likened this to the whispers heard by Hogwarts students in the Chamber of Secrets, an apt reference for the eerie whispers of disembodied voices. From here we walked up another staircase to the first outdoor platform of the dome, the Stone Gallery. From the outside of the dome, we had an amazing view of London and enjoyed bing able to spot places we recognized and watch the city bustle beneath us. After taking in the sights we made our way back inside to climb up a final, seemingly endless, spiral staircase to the final level of the dome, the Golden Gallery. This platform was much smaller and considerably more crowded but had a breathtaking bird’s-eye view of the city. 

Image by Marisa Sully

Image by Marisa Sully

While we thoroughly enjoyed our visit we were confused as to why St. Paul’s charges for admission. As one Villanova student remarked, “I feel like a church should be free, it doesn’t seem right for a church to take our money just for a visit.” As a group we largely agreed and after our visit decided to look into it as we’ve encountered this in many churches around Europe during our travels. After returning home Lisa found an interesting article about a man who objected to paying a fee to see St. Paul’s. This man’s experience echoed our concerns and gave some interesting insight into the consequences of churches requiring entrance fees for people wishing to tour religious spaces. 

For more information please see:

Guardian article about one man's problem with having to pay an admission fee to see St. Paul’s: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/jul/20/st-pauls-entrance-fee-religion 

An article about why and how to visit St. Paul’s:

https://strawberrytours.com/london/landmarks/st-pauls-cathedral   

St. Paul’s website: 

https://www.stpauls.co.uk/

Banqueting House, Whitehall

Dramatic masques were performed in this space, after state dinners for James I (r. 1603-1625) and Charles I (r. 1625-1648).

Philip Bonner, Lisa Moore, Rowan Yeni, Marisa Sully, Felicity Petruzzi

The ceiling was painted by Peter Paul Rubens. The finished canvases were shipped from Holland, but had to be trimmed because foot measurements were not standardized and they did not fit.


Today, the hall has mirrors on floor stands visitors can adjust to comfortably study different parts of the ceiling.

Charles I stepped out the window of this room onto the scaffold where he was beheaded after being judged a traitor to the nation in 1649. His execution was theatrical in its own way, watched by huge crowds.

The Wallace Collection

St Marco's Basilica (photo: Felicity Petruzzi)

The Wallace Collection is housed in a lavishly decorated, decadent London townhouse, and each room is a museum in and of itself.  Perusing the many richly adorned galleries with their abundant colorful Rococo paintings, sculptures, and furniture was a lovely way to spend a Tuesday morning.  As we walked through each room, we often remarked on favorite pieces of art or how much we wanted to live in the building itself.  

One room in particular, however, caught all of our attention.  Looking at its contents, Marisa exclaimed that there was a painting of St. Marco’s Basilica, which we had just visited on our trip to Venice the previous weekend.  A glance at the room’s other paintings revealed that they were in fact all pictures of Venice, many of which depicted scenes we recognized.  Even though the paintings were over a hundred years old, the images of Venice were familiar enough to have been painted in the twenty-first century.  It was very touching to glance at the art in a famous gallery and feel connected to both the past and the present, and to know that we too had been inspired by the same sites of Venice that inspired the paintings’ artists’ with material so many years ago.

Rowan Yeni, Felicity Petruzzi, Lisa Moore, and Marisa Sully throwing up V's in Venice

The Grand Canal (photo: Lisa Moore)

Another view of Venice (photo: Rowan Yeni)

For Further Research

The Wallace Collection Museum’s website: http://www.wallacecollection.org

Marisa Sully’s travel photography website: https://marisasully.com

Venice’s tourism website: http://venice-tourism.com/en

Mary Stuart

MARY STUART

Almeida Theatre, Islington

The history play Mary Stuart is fast paced, captivating, and most of all, enjoyable. The foreign English monarchy can appear confusing with all of its Marys, Charles, James, and Henrys. And monarchy itself is unfamiliar for American audiences. However, on Wednesday night, the monarchy came alive. The performance began with a coin spin to assign roles to the lead actors. Heads you're Elizabeth, tails you're Mary. This introduces the idea of the monarch-cousins as indivisible opposites. Mary is Catholic and in prison, while Elizabeth is Protestant and on the throne. Lia Williams played Mary Stuart the night we attended. She appealed emotionally to the audience; we found ourselves cheering for her and becoming a part of her plea to Elizabeth for her life. The audience became invested in her survival and had hope in her determination to make things right between her and her cousin, played by Juliet Stevenson. 

performance in the round

Both actors captured the emotion and tension of the time. The modernly dressed supporting actors made the play come alive and were equally engaging. The play made Mary more sympathetic and more level-headed. Even though she was imprisoned and tormented, at the end she peacefully accepted her death and said goodbye to those she loved most. Elizabeth was left isolated at the center of the stage, the loneliness that she had caused psychologically imprisoning her. One could not help but feel sympathy. One Villanova student writes, “All in all this may have been the best performance I’ve ever seen and left me wanting more, as well as with many questions I’m eager to look into.”

For more information please see:

A brief history of Mary Stuart's life:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/mary_queen_of_scots/

The relationship of Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I:

http://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/elizabeth-i-and-mary-queen-scots

Account of the execution of Mary Queen of Scots:

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/maryqueenofscots.htm

Shaw Theatre's Antigone

The University College London’s production of Sophocles’ 5^th century BC classic Antigone was a generally disappointing and unengaging experience. As we trekked to the theatre, initially ending up at the Bloomsbury Theatre just to realize that the show was actually at the Shaw Theatre, we came to know that it was a college production. Having not done much research about the play, its director, or its mission prior to seeing it, we all approached the play with fresh eyes and minimal expectations. We had, of course, already read Antigone in the fall, and we hoped to see a plot and outcome with which we were familiar. We expected Antigone to bury her brother contrary to Creon’s decree and eventually die because of her defiance. Conflict would fill in the middle portion of the play. The staging and interpretation could differ, but we knew that the beginning and the ending were pretty set in stone. The first scene featuring Ismene and Antigone sitting beneath an olive tree dressed in traditional ancient clothing suggested that we were going to see a classic production of Sophocles’ work. As the play progressed, however, we saw a fragmented interpretation which was ultimately disappointing.

   Shaw Theatre

Writing about the play's “silly” chorus, Felicity identifies a central problem with UCL’s Antigone: its nonlinearity. Dressed in ripped black clothing with raggedy hair and white and black face paint, the chorus tried too hard to convey eeriness - an attempt to foreshadow? - but the performance felt melodramatic and disconnected from an otherwise modern, straightforward production. Imagine Halloween classic Hocus Pocus mixed with TV hit Mad Men: unappealing. The audience was left to wonder what this frenzied group of zebra-people chanting from the gallery was doing in the middle of the play. This mismatched setting, dress, and dialogue was our main issue with the play. Creon and his men wore slick suits with greased back hair. Creon himself sauntered around the stage emitting some charm reminiscent of a 1950s ad-man. Compared to Antigone and Ismene dressed in more traditional ancient clothing sitting beneath an olive tree on a wooden bench, the zooish chorus and elitist royalty just made no sense.

In short, nothing matched. Furniture seeming to come from locations ranging from Parliament to a traditional ancient Greek home to an American office building comprised the set, and the wardrobe artists appeared to adopt an “anything in your closet” attitude. The acting showed an earnest effort, and the general plot points of the original play carried on as usual, but the wardrobe and set discrepancies were utterly distracting. As Rowan mentioned in her journal, even the script took massive creative liberties which ultimately detracted from the experience of watching a familiar classic. The changes made to Sophocles’ original work by the UCL production team left us dissatisfied and with little to take away in terms of a thought-provoking production. We would’ve liked to see a production either portraying a classic interpretation of the play or presenting a newly meaningful interpretation to the classic work.

INTERESTED TO FIND OUT MORE?

http://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_sophocles_antigone.html

·      This link provides a comprehensive anaylsis and summary of Antigone’s original text.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wmna/hd_wmna.htm

·      This link provides a detailed description of everyday life for a Classical Greek woman.

https://wilmatheater.org/blog/adaptation-antigone-throughout-history

·      This link provides different adaptations of Antigone throughout history, a particularly useful tool when looking at the different adaptation produced by Shaw Theatre.