The American students who are studying at the Gaiety School got to go on a London Field trip for a weekend.
We left on a Friday and we got there about halfway through the day. We stayed at the Generator Hostel which was absolutely wonderful. They had a small restaurant and bar just off the lobby so we all stopped to grab a snack before we had to head out for our evening activities.
That Friday night we got to see The Humans. The great thing about this production was that it was the original cast and basically the original Broadway production just moved over to the West End. Although I'm not a huge fan of family drama plays I really did enjoy watching the show. The acting was wonderful and the design was gorgeous.
Since this was an evening play, we all went back to the Hostel for the night.
Saturday morning we got up early to go to the Globe Theatre for a tour.
There was a really cool museum inside that we got to look through as we waited for our tour. I was absolutely fascinated by the woven wicker animal props.
This is actually the third Globe Theatre, the original burnt down from canon fire from Henry the Eighth. After it was rebuilt, the second Globe was pulled down by puritans. Originally, most of the buildings in London were built with thatched roofs. After seeing how quickly fire spread between these thatched rooftops, thatched roofing was banned. The Globe Theatre is built as close to the original as possible so it is the only building in London that is allowed to have a thatched roof. In staying in line with the original, the Globe does not use any modern lighting or special effects in any of its outdoor productions. The matinee productions are lit by daylight and the evening shows are lit using white light to emulate daylight. The icosagon shaped theatre holds up to 3,000 people, including the standing room.
After the Globe tour we went to see a new show called "The Jungle".
The Jungle is based on the refugee crisis in Calais.
The entire stage was turned into a cafe, with a runway style stage going through the center and doubling as the cafe tables. We were lucky enough to have tickets that placed us right on the edge of the tables so the acting was happening right above us, it was incredibly immersive and so much more entertaining and emotional to watch right in front of you. At one point, one of the actors literally rolled into our laps as part of the show. Not only was it an entertaining and captivating show, it was absolutely heart wrenching. It's one thing to hear about a crisis like this but to see it acted so well and so truthfully right in front of you is an entirely different experience.
We had a few hours to kill and find dinner before we went to our third and final show called "Poet in da Corner".
It was a hip hop show/ coming of age story based on Dizzee Rascal's seminal album.
It was designed wonderfully and cast perfectly but we were all so wiped from the emotional experience that was "The Jungle" that it was difficult to view such an upbeat show and fully enjoy it.
I'm not a huge hip hop fan and I couldn't understand most of the lyrics so I don't entirely know what happened during this show but it was entertaining.
We all went back to the hostel after that, had a few drinks and crashed after a very long day.
On our final day in London, we had all day to explore and do whatever we wanted.
I woke up an hour and a half earlier than everyone else so I could go stand in line for 3/4 of that time to get my picture taken at Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station - which our hostel was conveniently right around the corner from. We got to pick which house scarf we wanted to wear. Someone behind me in line was making fun of Hufflepuffs so as soon as I got to the front of the line I loudly proclaimed I would like a Hufflepuff scarf and felt incredibly satisfied by the embarrassed look on her face.
A few friends and I went to the London Dungeons after that. The London Dungeons is a horror filled (if not equally cheesy) walkthrough attraction that takes you through the darker areas of London's past including the plague, Sweeney Todd, and Jack the Ripper. It was definitely cheese filled but it was really fun to go through, especially as actors.
The exit came out right under the London eye which we took some wonderful touristy photos of but were not willing to pay full price to take a ride on. We tried to see Big Ben but it was under construction until 2021 so we got a quick look at the clock face which was only partially obscured.
We had some time to kill before we had to get to the airport so we stopped at a little street fair and had some lunch. I had some amazing pesto and mozzarella tortellini from a pop up pasta shop. We sat and ate lunch at a bench on the Thames.
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