Saturday morning, the sun was shining, so we decided to finally make that visit to Kew Gardens. It was pretty far. So far, in fact, that we had to pay extra to get there on the tube. Not to mention, the garden wasn’t that cheap, either. But it was really cool. The gardens currently have 1/8th of the species of plant in the world, and their goal is to have 25% by 2020. We started off going through an old Victorian greenhouse, then headed over to something called the Treetop Walkway. Because it’s already so cold and wintery here, the trees are bare, so it was pretty boring. But we could see pretty far out over the garden which was neat. I won’t go through and say all the little details of the places we saw, but some highlights include an intimate moment with a male peacock, the UK’s largest compost heap, the world’s oldest potted plant, some carnivorous plants and pretty plants and cacti and a few animals (fish and lizards and frogs and turtles). Wow, so detailed. So interesting. I know.
It got pretty cold pretty fast and pretty early. Because the sun sets so early, the temperature drops really fast between one and two. So after some snacks and souvenir shopping, we began the long trek home. A brief interval at the flats, and then Sienna and I were off again to meet Susan and Tony (her aunt and betrothed) for dinner before we went to go see Peter Pan! The same production that had been in Kensington Gardens at the beginning of our stay in London had been revived for the Christmas season and is playing at the O2 arena, basically a giant concert venue. I had never been there, but it’s famous for its size, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew that it was round and white, from pictures, and along the Thames from maps, but that’s about it.
We had dinner at a nice pizza place where Sienna and I once again demonstrated our uncanny skill for ordering two dishes and cutting them in half to create the perfect meal for both of us. Then, we followed the signs to Neverland within the O2, which is basically a giant tent. All along the sides of it are shops and games and rides, and then on the inside I imagine is the main concert hall area. It fits tens of thousands of people, I don’t know the exact number. Just outside, however, was the much more quaint tent for Peter Pan.
There had been a necklace that I had been hesitating about the first time I went, and since Susan and Tony graciously bought my ticket for the show, I decided to splurge and I bought it. It’s the Kiss Exchange necklace, and has a thimble and an acorn and it’s very nice and delicate. Don’t worry, I also treated Susan and Tony to ice cream at intermission as a thank you. It was really interesting seeing the show again after the whole program, because the first time was before I had learned any of this stuff. There were a lot more kids at this performance, which was unfortunate, because it was late and not necessarily a kids show. The part where Tinker Bell dies was significantly different in that instead of murmurs throughout the theatre of “I believe in faeries”, it was little kids yelling and whooping all around the theatre of some variation of the same phrase.
It was also cool to see some different actors as Mrs Darling, Tink, Tiger Lily and Smee and some different fights. According to Gordon, who I talked to about it today, said that he already knew about all the changes because he knows the fight director for it, and gave me the inside scoop! Ooo… But what that experience mostly did for me was make me realise that theatre has become a completely different experience for me. I notice things that I was ignorant to before, which isn’t necessarily a good thing for the actors. They have a lot more work to do. But I love that play, and I’m really happy I got to see it again. It was a perfect bookend.
Oh god. I can’t believe I’m at that end of the bookends…
Sunday was also an exciting day (I’m certainly leaving London with a bang). Ignoring the fact that I had stuff to memorize, a paper to write, dances to go over, a movement project to choreograph and rehearse… you get the idea… I went to Oxford St to the HMV (a media store) down there to see if I could catch a glimpse of Tom Felton, Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis and Jessie Cave who were signing copies of the Half-Blood Prince Blu-Ray DVD. (In case you don’t know who they are, and I’ll forgive you if you don’t, they play Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Lavender Brown respectively in the Harry Potter movies.) So it was very confusing when we got there, and it turns out that the Blu-Ray DVD was not only cheaper than I was anticipating, and while it was Region 2 (which means that it’s not compatible with American DVD players) it included the Blu-Ray with all the special features (of which there are many), the regular DVD and a digital copy. So… I bought a copy. Possibly the stupidest purchase of my life. But that meant that I got to wait in line to meet all of them and have them sign it.
Long story short, I did. I wrote some of my paper while in line, but totally got to meet all four of them. It was totally awesome. My conversations with each of them went something like this:
Aylia - Hi!
Evanna - Hello! (You have to imagine it in her high airy voice.)
Aylia - Can I just say, you were the perfect choice for this character; just wonderful casting.
Evanna - Oh, thank you. (Insert a look here asking how to spell my name.)
Aylia - A-Y-L-I-A.
Evanna - (As she’s signing.) I like your look. I tried to get them to do something more mature like that with Luna, but they didn’t want to.
Aylia - Oh, that’s too bad.
Evanna - Yeah, I wanted them to give me dreadlocks.
Aylia - That would have been so cool! (I’m getting pushed away.) Thank you!
Evanna - Thank you.
Tom - Hi, how are you? (He’s clearly used to this. And insanely hot and blonde.)
Aylia - I’m good, how are you?
Tom - I’m alright… How do you spell your name?
Aylia - A-Y-L-I-A. (This is a recurring theme. I had to spell it a little more than once.)
Tom - That’s a very nice name.
Aylia - Thanks, it’s from Star Trek.
Tom - Oh, cool.
Aylia - How is filming for Deathly Hallows going?
Tom - Alright, alright. Almost done.
Aylia - (Getting pushed away.) Thank you!
Tom - Thank you.
Aylia - Hi!
Jessie - Hi, how do you spell your name?
Aylia - A-Y-L-I-A. (I lied a little bit here:) I saw you in Arcadia and you were a perfect Thomasina!
Jessie - Oh thank you! When did you see it?
Aylia - Oh gosh… (Fake trying to remember.)
Jessie - Was it early or late?
Aylia - Early.
Jessie - Oh…
Aylia - I mean, early for me because I only got here in late August.
Jessie - Oh, because it got much better.
Aylia - Oh, cool! (Getting pushed away. Now standing in front of Matt as I bid Jessie goodbye.)
Aylia - Hello!
Matt - Hey, how’s it going? (He knows how to spell my name because it’s written three times on my DVD.)
Aylia - Really good, how are you?
Matt - Good, yeah. It’s really hot in here.
Aylia - I know! My gosh!
Matt - Thank you so much for coming down.
Aylia - Thank you! Stay strong for the rest of the day!
Matt - Hahaha, thanks!
So that was pretty epic. All of them either wrote “x”s or some form of “love” or both. That was really exciting. Then I spent the rest of the night doing homework, and would you believe it? I got everything done!
Monday… our last Monday… Oh gosh. Vanessa and Clare were my partners for my Movement project, and we came in very early this morning to work on our project in the space with the music, which we hadn’t been able to do before. Then we did the projects and most of them went very well. I was reasonably pleased with ours, except that in comparison to Geoff’s and Sienna’s it was rubbish. As was to be expected. They’ll be online in a week. Oh gosh. Because I’ll have unlimited bandwidth in a week. Oh gosh.
After that was done, we had Historical Dance. That also went very well. All of the things we thought we would mess up, we pulled together. I don’t know how we did it, but after a semester of have the group not really paying attention, it went so well. Then lunch… and then Dramatic Lit. Turned in our papers, but not really interesting other than that except that it was our last one. Finally, end of the day creeping towards us, Stage Combat. We rehearsed a bit then had our showing for that. Those videos actually are online now, and also went well. Michael came to see them, and it was nice to see him. It was short lived, but fun.
And now the day is drawing to a close. I find myself memorizing and trying to make the days last as long as possible.
Tags: london
Endless bandwidth. At least something fun to go home to!
I am so happy you found the time to write and post another blog entry. We don’t have TV tonight, and once more, like when you were a tiny bitty little thing, you provide the entertainment for your doting parents. Thank you.
Particularly liked the dialogues.
Oh gosh.