London Theatre

At this very point in time, I am sitting on the Eurostar on my way to Paris! I thought I should take the time to review the London shows that I was able to see during the time I was there.

I was lucky enough to make it to three London musicals, namely The Lion King, Billy Elliot and Oliver! Each of which was fantastic, whilst showing three unique styles of theatre.

The first show we saw, The Lion King, was the one we had purposely picked out as the one we had to see if by chance we were only able to make it to one. Whilst I don’t think I ever watched the Lion King film completely from start to finish, the play almost followed the film script and soundtrack verbatim in parts. The costumes were very innovative, with the performers integrated into the animals they were portraying almost seamlessly.

The style of dance in Billy Elliot was much similar to that in the Lion King, very precise, more concerned with getting even the littlest of movements right. The acting was what you would expect from a drama, matching the original film performance. It was much more intense than either the Lion King or Oliver, particularly towards the close of the first Act when riot police took the stage. It was very powerful.

[Edit: Having watched the film  version of Billy Elliot on the plane from London to Tokyo, I am lead to conclude that the play was much better, in terms of delivering the plot and the power of the performances from the actors and dancers, Billy Elliot the stage musical is much an improvement on the film. Un-needed side-plots were ignored and the side stories that had a real emotional effect, such as Billy’s visions of his mother were emphasised].

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Both Billy Elliot and the Lion King worked well with the space they had on the stage, whilst I think they both had a lot of area to work with, it always felt like they were close to the audience. However, that is where Oliver differed. Oliver had a huge, deep stage, which they filled with a huge number of actors and dancers. Where Billy Elliot and the Lion King may have had a maximum of 20 or so actors/dancers on stage at any one time, Oliver would have had what seemed like 50+ at some points, on a stage setup like a massive streetscape.

All three of the plays used an amazing variety of sets and settings, the choreography of the set changes was almost impressive as the actors themselves.

I can’t see how anyone could ever be bored in London, regardless of all the touristy sights around the city, there are so many high quality theatrical shows, I think it would be impossible not to find something entertaining to do on any given night.

Tate Modern + Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

Yesterday (Wednesday) was set aside for my visit to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, where I saw a performance Troilus and Cressida. But as this didn’t start until 2pm, I thought I’d pay a visit to the Tate Modern, a museum dedicated to modern art.

Whilst the significance of the art was a little lost on me (as most art usually is…) there were some parts of Tate that I found particularly interesting. The building that is home to Tate Modern was once an old power station. As can be seen in the photos, they have maintained significant parts of the old station to give the building a really interesting feel. The entrance opens into the former turbine room, a huge open space that still maintains some equipment from its former life. One of the large combustion chimneys has also been kept to mark the entrance.

Whilst most of the exhibitions were a little too abstract for me to maintain interest, there was one that I was really fascinated with titles No Ghost Just a Shell. A group of artists purchases the rights to a manga character called Ann Lee from a character catalogue from Japan. They then proceeded to develop the character, giving it a life of its own, dedicating a collection to a character initially intended to be used as a filling, background character. They then ceased work, and transferred the characters copyright to the character itself, preventing anyone else from continuing the project or using Ann Lee again. I just found the concept interesting and specially the use of the anime/manga style in art.

A poster for Ann Lee, not one of my own images, but I’m fairly sure I’m not going to get sued by a character for copyright infringement…

Tate Modern from the Millennium footbridge across the Thames.

The Tate turbine room

Moving on and visiting the Globe theatre was a really cool experience! An almost exact replica of the original theatre partly funded by Shakespeare himself to become home to performances of his plays, it makes for a perfect place to present theatre. The play Troilus and Cressida was a pretty intense tragedy set in during the Trojan War, with Archilles, Hector, Paris from Homer’s Iliad all make an appearance. I felt really surreal sitting within the theatre watching Shakespeare, it allows you to appreciate how the performances would have been originally presented.

The actors really deserve to be commended as it started to rain during the performance, and due to the open roof, the stage and actors really were starting to get wet, yet the performance went on! I saw a matinee show yesterday and would really like to go back and watch a night show when I get a chance.

 

The modern Globe Theatre, again, disappointingly, they do not allow photography within the theatre.

I think I’ve finally gotten a handle on the London transportation system. The Tube is a little rougher than the Tokyo Metro system, the Tokyo trains run very smoothly and don’t have a 1 foot drop between the train and platform as some Tube trains due, but the Tube does seem to run more efficiency, particularly when having to make transfers between trains. The Tube only requires walking between platforms, where as the Tokyo Metro often involves switching between above and below ground trains, which you have to pay for separately. The Oyster card works just like the Tokyo Suica card, making travel easy, with trips getting cheaper the more you travel throughout the day (at some points yesterday, I was effectively catching buses for free!).

Speaking of the buses, the London bus system is fantastic! Also compatible with the Oyster card, the buses make shorter trips around the city so easy. They are clean and comfortable, much nicer than the Canberra bus system.

Tate Modern + Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Yesterday (Wednesday) was set aside for my visit to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, where I saw a performance Troilus and Cressida. But as this didn’t start until 2pm, I thought I’d pay a visit to the Tate Modern, a museum dedicated to modern art.

Whilst the significance of the art was a little lost on me (as most art usually is…) there were some parts of Tate that I found particularly interesting. The building that is home to Tate Modern was once an old power station. As can be seen in the photos, they have maintained significant parts of the old station to give the building a really interesting feel. The entrance opens into the former turbine room, a huge open space that still maintains some equipment from its former life. One of the large combustion chimneys has also been kept to mark the entrance.

Whilst most of the exhibitions were a little too abstract for me to maintain interest, there was one that I was really fascinated with titles No Ghost Just a Shell. A group of artists purchases the rights to a manga character called Ann Lee from a character catalogue from Japan. They then proceeded to develop the character, giving it a life of its own, dedicating a collection to a character initially intended to be used as a filling, background character. They then ceased work, and transferred the characters copyright to the character itself, preventing anyone else from continuing the project or using Ann Lee again. I just found the concept interesting and specially the use of the anime/manga style in art.

A poster for Ann Lee, not one of my own images, but I’m fairly sure I’m not going to get sued by a character for copyright infringement…

Tate Modern from the Millennium footbridge across the Thames.

The Tate turbine room

Moving on and visiting the Globe theatre was a really cool experience! An almost exact replica of the original theatre partly funded by Shakespeare himself to become home to performances of his plays, it makes for a perfect place to present theatre. The play Troilus and Cressida was a pretty intense tragedy set in during the Trojan War, with Archilles, Hector, Paris from Homer’s Iliad all make an appearance. I felt really surreal sitting within the theatre watching Shakespeare, it allows you to appreciate how the performances would have been originally presented.

The actors really deserve to be commended as it started to rain during the performance, and due to the open roof, the stage and actors really were starting to get wet, yet the performance went on! I saw a matinee show yesterday and would really like to go back and watch a night show when I get a chance.

 

The modern Globe Theatre, again, disappointingly, they do not allow photography within the theatre.

I think I’ve finally gotten a handle on the London transportation system. The Tube is a little rougher than the Tokyo Metro system, the Tokyo trains run very smoothly and don’t have a 1 foot drop between the train and platform as some Tube trains due, but the Tube does seem to run more efficiency, particularly when having to make transfers between trains. The Tube only requires walking between platforms, where as the Tokyo Metro often involves switching between above and below ground trains, which you have to pay for separately. The Oyster card works just like the Tokyo Suica card, making travel easy, with trips getting cheaper the more you travel throughout the day (at some points yesterday, I was effectively catching buses for free!).

Speaking of the buses, the London bus system is fantastic! Also compatible with the Oyster card, the buses make shorter trips around the city so easy. They are clean and comfortable, much nicer than the Canberra bus system.