London!
Hey boo! It's me again :) It's taken over a week for me to write this blog purely because I know there's so much that I need to write about and I didn't want to bore you all to tears so I've had to think about what I really wanted to include! Monday.. This day was pretty much us getting to London which was really fun because we were all very hyped up and we had loads of food haha! Even on the train on the way there Liam Edwards found his own little way of making a den under the chairs which was slightly strange but yanno.. I only realised when we'd got to Paddington station that I probably shouldn't have packed such a big suitcase as I'd completely forgotten about the amount of steps we have to ascend/descend to get to the tube. Let's just say I'm pretty buff for being able to do it.. This was also some peoples first experience of the tube, ever, so it was interesting to see their reactions to it all! In the evening we went to see Charlie and the chocolate factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and I had Aurora, Belle and Elsa sat in front of me which was amazing! The set for the show was absolutely amazing and the Oompa Loompas were hysterically funny, especially the ones tap dancing on top of the pipes whilst Augustus Gloop's plump face was seen being sucked through them underneath! I was slightly unimpressed with the glass elevator though as it was very jolty and looked as though there was a possibility of it crashing to the ground at any moment. We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed like good children :3 Tuesday.. This could also be called the day of workshops as we had a voice workshop with Dewi from the Salon Collective in the Cockpit theatre from 10:30 - 13:30 and then the Step by Step workshop with Nina and Steve at Pineapple studios later on. In all honesty I was expecting the voice workshop to be boring but I was completely proved wrong. It was hilarious! We did this one exercise where we had to speak in 'Outlandish' a language where vowels don't exist and have a conversation with someone (we made stupid noises to each other!!) and we then had to create a poem in outlandish for our partner to translate for us. Hilarious! Our step by step workshop wasn't exactly what I had expected as it was loads different from last year (we didn't have a brutal warmup this year!!). I don't think Steve and Nina were expecting us all to be quite so talented as with every exercise we did we seemed to surprise them.. This workshop ended with us learning a dance routine to 'Juicy!' From Charlie and the Chocolate factory which was really fun! :) That evening we went to the Fortune Theatre to watch The Woman in Black. I really enjoyed this show as it demonstrated how you don't need to spend loads of money on set or costume to create atmosphere or to put on a really good show. I can personally say that I was scared most of the way through it and at one point I jumped so hard that I cramped my leg and somehow had to find a way to straighten it out! I would honestly recommend this show to anyone who thinks that they don't scare easily. Amazing! We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed like good children :3 Wednesday.. We headed back to the Cockpit on this day for a Meisner workshop with Dominic. We started off by learning a bit about this technique and how it works by using your imagination to create emotion. We then were told to shit our eyes and think about someone we loved and to send them a mental message. We we asked to think about what they'd be doing at that very moment and where they'd be. We were then asked if we even knew if they were alive which was horrible as this is something you don't really contemplate. After this we were told to come back to our happy place which made me feel loads better. We then expanded on this by doing an exercise in which we imagined either a really good or really bad day and what we'd do once we'd got back in to our bedroom. One by one we'd go into the room and do this without speaking. This was a really good exercise as once you'd done yours you could bring yourself back to where you were and be yourself again which was amazing! In the afternoon we traveled all the way under the Thames to London Bridge to participate in the London Bridge experience (which has won the scariest attraction in Britain for the last 4 years running...). We learnt loads about ancient London such as how to prepare a decapitated head for presentation and about Queen Boudicca. Once we'd got into the tombs, that's when it really got scary. We were split in half and put into what seemed like a really big shed. The doors were shut on us and then they started being banged on and shaken (at this point I didn't think that the nail marks would ever disappear from my palm). The doors were then re-opened and we were told to get into a single file line and to join each others shoulders and to walk through the tour. My shoulders are still trying to recover and I think Louis may have burst one of my eardrums. They created atmosphere really well but the actors came out of character too quickly which sort of ruined it slightly.. Considering that I still nearly cried. When we were done we went for a walk down the embankment past the globe and the national theatre which was lovely. The evening was Mojo time at the Harold Pinter theatre. I never realised the seating in Theatres could be so raked! Seeing Rupert Grint in action was sososo good although you could tell he wasn't quite used to performing on stage yet! We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed like good children :3 Thursday.. We started off this day by doing a tour of the London coliseum which is absolutely massive. I learnt loads and was fascinated that they used to hold horse races and cricket matches there! We also got a glimpse of some of the ballerinas warming up which was really cool as they were all obviously so talented and hard working! When we left the theatre we were surprised by Mitch showing up early and jumping on us! We were then given our day of free time to do what we wanted so I hit oxford street with the boys which probably wasn't the best thing as I wanted to go clothes shopping.. I spent a good long time in the Disney store though which made up for it #lovinglife Our last show of the trip was The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales theatre and I have to say this is the event show I've ever seen. At the end I nearly cried because it was finishing. I know that I'm going to have to go back to London because it was just too amazing for words! The lyrics of the songs are so rude and outrageous that it can't help but be laughed at. I loved it! We got back to the hotel and played some cards in the lobby and then went straight to bed like good children :3 Friday.. Got some extra time in bed because I was clever and packed the night before ;) and then had to leave :'( if I had one negative about the London trip it would be that it's not long enough.. The train journey back was quite a bit more subdued due to everyone's tiredness but I still enjoyed it as I was listening to the Book of Mormon soundtrack that I'd downloaded ;) I'm gutted that I won't get to do this trip again. Sad times indeed. YOLO 2K13 Strike that. Reverse it. (But don't actually reverse it. Just strike it) YOLO 2K14 - ERIN