I’m horribly transparent…

hello again.

As I’m sure you know, I’m back from Ireland. It was splendid.

I stayed in Dublin the whole weekend which is probably my only regret. I do wish I could have seen the Irish countryside and the supposedly rich irish rural culture. woah, that was a lot of adjectives.

But other than that, the trip was exhilirating. and exhausting. I went to go see my friend John Gowland and he really showed me a great time. He hadn’t had a chance since moving there to see a lot of what Dublin has to offer so we got to experience it together which was nice.

I saw the Book of Kells, the oldest existing handwritten Bible, written by monks in something like the 7th century. Very cool. Very ornate and apparently incredibly difficult.

We visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Actually, my first church to visit since coming to England, surprisingly enough. It was refreshing and absolutely stunning. Pictures can be found to the left.

We made a stop by the Guinness Brewery but didn’t get to see much because we came to late in the day.

SPEAKING of Guinness, that was probably the rest of my trip. The average Dubliner really knows the definition of nightlife. The party at most pubs started right after dinner and didn’t even begin to clear out until 5:30 in the morning. Each night we saw the sun come up as we made our way home and then John and his irish roommates proceeded to make irish breakfast before we went to sleep. This routine continued for four days and was quite obviously taxing.

When I got back, I had the EXTREME pleasure of seeing Simon Russell Beale in The Life of Galileo at the Royal National Theatre. The production in general was intellectually stimulating but lacked any real chutzpah (classic Brechtian piece). But like I said, Simon was excellent as Galileo.

Later that week I went out some friends and saw Alan Cumming (X-Men: nightcrawler) in Bent. It was shocking to say the least… the play basically beat the ideas of homosexuals in the holocaust over your head for two and a half hours. Alan Cumming was very enjoyable to watch though, needless to say.

I’m still thoroughly enjoying my time in London. I’m meeting so many people of different cultures (polish, brazilian, irish, etc.) London truly is the world’s melting pot of culture and ideas. But things are definitely settling down around here. I’m starting to really sense that I’m living here and reacting as such.

London’s still expensive, expansive, and confusing BUT I’m actually able to tell foreigners how to get places. “Oh yeah, take Oxford street then a left on…” I’m VERY confident, even when I’m not EXACTLY sure. haha.

People in the flat are getting sick… one by one, so I’m eating as healthy as maniacally possible. Lots of spinach (since the English know NOT to get it from the states) and oj and fruits and veggie stir frys and such. I’m determined to not get this hacking cough. determined.

I wish everyone well. I hope you all are having an exciting fall and are staying healthy and happy. I miss the whole lot of you and still offer my bed to any and all who would like to visit. haha. but seriously, c’mon.

cheers.

—m

oh and get this, this thursday, I see Patrick Stewart at Prospero in The Tempest by the Royal Shakespeare Company. yeah, I’m going to pee myself.

it’s been so long! it’s not right, it’s just not right. time is just flying. i called my parents yesterday and didn’t even realize it had been a week since i called them last. a week! i rarely go a day without calling them. it was very disconcerting.

in true actor-weblog fashion, i guess i’ll update you on the theatre i’ve seen.

most recently? the seagull by checkov. i don’t know if i have words to illustrate this one. impeccable performances. not actors, just people. they weren’t actors, they were characters that were real people. totally stimulating. i couldn’t tear my eyes away. not for a moment. that’s the kind of work i want to be a part of one day. if there ever was a goal or “end result” that would be it. total transformation. i was a part of new and different world for two hours and forty five minutes.

moon for the misbegotten by o’neill starring kevin spacey. yes, kevin spacey. it was very surreal to see him in real life. a working actor on the stage. there’s this other worldly feel that i get when watching him in a movie, he’s not a real person. but here, at the old vic theatre, was kevin spacey, in the flesh. the play was mediocre. not o’neill’s best written play. i love eugene o’neill but not a huge fan of moon. but interesting to watch anyway, as you can imagine.

i had a dreadful tour of the royal theatre drury lane (the oldest continual working theatre in the world [300 years]). the tour guides must have been hired from disney world (and they brought their costumes). we were treated like ten year olds. but the theatre was beautiful and nice to see regardless.

i’m still working on hamlet in advanced shakespeare scene study. with natalie. “get thee to a nunnery”. it’s going really well, i’m thoroughly enjoying working it and tearing it open. i think hamlet is officially my dream role (cliche i know, but when are dreams not?) either that or now constantine in the seagull. I’m doing sonnet work in voice with our linklater professor and incredibly fun clown work in movement class.

everything’s starting to calm down here. i’m feeling as though i really live in london now. which is a comforting and relaxing thought. i don’t feel the need to be out every minute and doing SOMETHING at all times. which is giving a much-needed break to my pocket book.

i bought a complete works of chekhov. i’m currently infatuated, can you tell? i plan on reading all of them in my free time. i think i might be moving into a new era. the era where michael loves chekhov more than shakespeare. ::gasp:: i know, what on earth am i thinking? but as i read more, the era moves nearer.

i miss a lot of people back home. mostly, my family. my friends. namely, brittany, mary, brendan, mitch, colin… just to name a few. people i used to talk to all the time; i shared anything and sometimes everything with them and now i have so little time to spend with them. i miss you. yes, you. i’m thinking about you. i hope you know that.

—-m

sorry about the long wait. well, that apology is assuming that all of you are waiting impatiently for each installment to this INTRIGUING travel weblog.

live theatre update:

Rabbit at trafalgar studios. we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into or if it was going to be even remotely entertaining. it turned out to be the most compelling piece of theatre i’ve seen here so far. stellar ensemble cast. not a weak link in the bunch. and the theatre was incredibly intimate and newly renovated. excellent… i cried.

Antony and Cleopatra at shakespeare’s globe. it was paid for through the program… and thank god for that. i was so disappointed. a real dud. i never thought i would see bad theatre at the globe. it just goes to show you that even the best facility doesn’t produce a flawless season. i stood as a groundling in the yard in front of the stage for the entire show. three hours of standing for horribly self-indulgent theatre. if anything, i learned not to become a jaded, self-gratifying actor.

Comedy of Errors at the globe again. i love seeing productions at the globe. five pounds gets you standing room at the lip of the stage and the acting is (almost) always worth triple that price. it’s truly shakespeare performed the way shakespeare was written. he wrote for that setting and it’s exhilirating to see the theatre take it back there. the show was hilarious. it brought back A LOT of memories of when i played dromio of ephesus in high school. those were the days. the show used a lot of “schtick comedy” as usual. lots of prat falls, and “slip on the banana peel” physical humour. most of the actors from titus were performing in this production as well. very interesting. i love the actors at the globe. one day… one day i will perform on that stage. what a rush.

i bought a “groundling” t-shirt a the globe. i like it alot.

i booked ALL of my plane flights for the semester. it was seriously frustrating. it took nearly four hours of computering to find the best deals but now that it’s over it’s such a load off.

—ireland in two weeks. Off to see john gowland and see DUBLIN in all its glory. brilliance in a pint.

—ten-day fall break in italy. i booked the flight to rome. in ten days i plan to see rome, venice, florence, and positano. i think this trip is going to be my real “backpacking through europe” week. hostel to hostel. train to train. city to city. i’m seeing it all, in fast-forward.

—a week in prague. the czech republic. my exotic trip for the semester. funny, this trip is the LAST trip of the semester and we have it planned the most thoroughly.

i’m having a great time. classes are going swimmingly. money’s disappearing before my very eyes but i’m getting better at managing it. this trip is really forcing me to grow up.

i guess that’s all for now. check out the photo website to the right. i’ve just updated it.

titus andronicus at the globe theatre. it was incredible. it was, by far, the most stimulating bit of theatre since i arrived. the night before that i saw in extremis (at the globe as well). for both I was standing in the yard which is the standing space in front of the stage where the lower classes would watch the productions back in the days of shakespeare. this was shakespeare’s home. his temple. what a phenomenal place for theatre. titus was bloody and gory as always. women with their hands cut off, tongues cut out, people eating pies cooked filled with their dead children. it was great! haha. a girl fainted right next to me and had to be carted out of the theatre. they say that a record 38 people have fainted during the run of titus. unbelievable. theatre truly does alter your “sense of being”.

i spent far too much money on a pair of pants in covent garden. but i loved them, they fit me perfectly, and if you can’t impulsively act on your emotions here in london, then where else?

i think i will go to see the seagull tonight at the national theatre. chekov would be nice tonight. i am seeing so much theatre and it’s making me so happy.

i love this city. i love my life right now… but in a really calm sort of way. i thought i would be literally running all over london 24/7 with 1000 watt smile permanently plastered to my face, not stopping for a moment to catch my breath. i thought my experience would be that intense. but it’s a different kind of intensity. i find myself calmer than i’ve ever been. sometimes quieter than i’ve ever been. i’m this silent sponge.

i visited the tate modern today. it’s the largest enclosure of modern and contemporary art in all of europe. i saw the kandinsky exhibit, just as i promised and it was brilliant. funny though, i liked the tate’s standard collection of abstract expressionists better than the kandinsky exhibit i had to pay for… they have this wonderful room of mark rothko’s work and i just sat on the ground in there for nearly a half hour. it was relaxing.

i’m off to buy hamlet at the bookstore. scenework with natalie for adv shakespeare class. “get thee to a nunnery…” and all that jazz.

—-m

Fool for Love. by sam shepard. I saw it…. starring Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear, the Other Sister) and Martin Henderson. it was gritty and trashy as always. you know what to expect with sam. i thought there was some excellent scene work done, especially on the side of martin henderson but juliette lewis tried too hard at times. and she sort of acted like she was missing a chromosome (hence, i recalled she was in the other sister). but all in all, that night was a blast.

Natalie’s father took us out to see the production and then we ate and drank at this little italian bistro called Little Italy. Contrived named, I know it…  but…. let’s just say, you might just find me at Little Italy every weekend. After 11, the bar is incredible. The bartenders are great, the music is ECLECTIC and great, and there’s dancing. but not too much dancing, fortunately. the only drawback is the pricey drinks. but it’s really worth a weekly visit or so.

The next night the program took us to see Guys and Dolls with Patrick Swayze. hahaha. I’m laughing with you. It acted sort of like a start of semester pre-paid event through the school so it was all the academic kids too. They loved it, naturally but you could definitely pick out us actors in the audience. It was dreadful. Swayze, what a washup lol.

I started classes today. SO incredible. so so so so incredible. London Theatre Analysis is incredible. what phenomenal professors and after that and playwriting we finished off the day with a good and long Linklater Voice class. Nothing like getting back in the swing of things. I really like our Linklater prof, Joanna Weir-Ousten. She’s the only certified linklater teacher in the UK and apparently helped write the new book with Kristin Linklater coming out this month. Very exciting.

I think that’s basically it. well, keep in mind, in between all those events has been lots of walking, wandering, drinking, eating, drinking, eating, and wandering. This place is incredible. I don’t think I’ll leave. no….. I won’t.

—–m

the damp, overcast skies of London never looked so inspiring. I arrived yesterday and I am so overwhelmed. I have the world at my fingertips and I’m so afraid I’m going to drop it.

grey september is also ironically the first line of the book I started today. The Actor Speaks by Patsy Rodenburg. I woke up this morning long before my flatmates, got dressed and just started walking. I found this coffee shop called Cafe Nero that I saw earlier and decided to stop in for a quick read n’ espresso.

Just walking down Charing Cross Road for the first time and I’m already connected. I look like the urban outfitters militia and I’m wearing neon red tennies so as long as I don’t open my big american mouth, I’m one of them. I’m already blending in… and not in a “I’ve given up my sense of origin” way, in a “London, I’m so ready to understand your rythym” sort of way.

I have a practical walking tour in less than an hour and thus going to finally learn where to buy a phone, groceries, essentials, beer (oh, that’s essential as well), etc. Then another free day in the city. Classes start Monday. I really want to see some theatre… NOW. I need Kevin Spacey as Richard III all over me, immediately.

I’m going to start unloading the ol’ camera now. check my flickr site on the right.

cheers.

oh and last night, I went pub hopping. yes, pub hopping. I hit nearly 8 pubs and had nearly 8 pints of beer… oh and a gin and tonic. momsy taught me well.

—m