Friday, May 17, our first full day in London. We started the day by checking in with FIE and heading to an orientation for our program. I find myself forgetting that I'm also here for school and not just for fun since I am so excited for this trip and to live in London for a whole month! Okay, I should calm down. Onto the CineTREK.
We had to attend an orientation in the morning and then had the rest of the day to explore and get comfortable around the city. At 6 o'clock we were meant to meet with the group for our first CineTREK of the trip -- Sh!tfaced Shakespeare. I greatly enjoy theater so I was really looking forward to this parody performance of one of Shakespeare's most well-known plays, The Merchant of Venice. As well known as it is, I wasn't familiar with the play so I read up on it a bit beforehand in order to be able to keep up with the story.
It was an amazing experience to say the least. The theater was a fun small theater located underground. Having to walk downstairs into so many locales is one of my favorite things about London architecture. We walked into a space with a relatively small stage and two bars on either side of the audience. We were off to a good start. I grabbed a quick drink (my usual Jack and coke with a twist) and got comfortable for the upcoming performance. The lights were dimmed and it was time for the show. We were greeted by a woman who told us the premise of tonight's performance, one of the professionally trained actors was randomly chosen to be piss drunk for the show, and then she showed us what said actor/actress had to drink that night. She uncovered a cart with two empty beer bottles and a bottle of gin with only a quarter of drink left in it. The chosen actor was indeed, piss drunk -- and we were in for a treat.
As soon as Jessica entered the stage we knew she was the chosen actress to be drunk that night when she made the joke "is this a sex party?!" Her costars played along with the joke and it went on throughout the show. The actors, then, had to improvise most of the show around Jessica's drunken actions on stage. At one point, she told her costar she wanted a pet monkey and then proceeded to ask a member of the audience to join her on stage as her monkey. The "monkey" joined her for another whole scene, which I was not expecting. The audience was laughing throughout the whole performance, something I personally hadn't experienced at many (if any) plays. The play was lighthearted and filled with crass jokes and laughs among the cast members. It was also so fun to see Jessica jump from her character to herself while onstage, telling us she forgot her lines and laughing at her own jokes (I can relate with her on that). She even went as far as breaking that audience/actor barrier by telling us a bit about her costar's personal life. The actors went along with it and that also became a joke for the duration of the show, as many of Jessica's other jokes did.
The energy in the theater was amazing -- light and fun, something one doesn't often experience at the theater in America. The actors seemed to be having just as much fun as the audience and the play ended up seeming, personally, not long enough. I was ready for some more time seeing Jessica's drunk self onstage. What I found most entertaining and impressive, however, was the amount of improv the other actors had to do to keep up with Jessica, and how well they did it! They stuck to the plot of the play and their lines as much as they could, but they inevitably had to incorporate Jessica's unrelated jokes and actions into the show -- and oh, how easy they made it seem. Overall, it was not only a really fun evening but it also really showed off the actors/actresses talent on stage. That includes Jessica, who even while sh!itfaced, managed to mostly stick to the script and remember (most) of her lines. This also was a great representation of the non-traditional theater and entertainment culture here in London, and all the different type of performances London has to offer.
This was a wonderful start to our trip and set the bar pretty high for the rest of the CineTREKS -- bring it on, Bill!
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