Inherit the Spacey

Hello all!

As posted previously, an absolutely stellar part of my program is the fact that we get to go see shows in the West End in London with our school, at least once a week. Last Monday, we went and saw Inherit the Wind, a play written in the 50's loosely depicting the occurrences of the Scopes-Monkey trial in the 1920's. We went and saw the show at the Old Vic, a beautiful amazing theatre in the West End. The great thing about the Old Vic is that the artistic director is none other then Mr. Kevin Spacey, who was also staring in the show as the lawyer Henry Drummond. The show itself was good, not amazing, but good. The directing left a little bit to be desired. Kevin Spacey though, was out of this world. Everything about his performance, his physicality, his complete hold on the character, his stage technique, was all incredibly inspiring to watch. After the show was over, almost our entire program headed over to the stage door to see if we could catch him. Much to our excitement, we did -- he popped himself out of a little window that had a ledge upon which he could sign programs. He was incredibly humble and nice, with a smile on his face, and we were all left pretty speechless. Wouldn't you be? He signed all of our programs, left his little window, and the theatre went dark. Everyone in our program then proceeded to leave, as we were planning to do, to catch the tube, the bus, get home to finish a looming paper, etc.





Did we leave? Did we proceed home with only a small glimpse of Mr. Spacey? We definitely were on our way. The reason we held back was because we wanted to take pictures with the posters out in front of the theatre. We being me, and my good friends from my program Saul, Drew, and Amish.



After our picture taking, with much star-struck giggling involved, we then proceeded around the other side of the theatre to head to the bus stop which we hoped would take us home. Then, we saw another door leading down below the theatre, which we realized was the bar below the stage which we had seen during intermission. While Drew, Saul, and I wanted to be practical and go finish our theatre history papers, Amish was struck. He convinced us to go into the bar for a split second, just a second, to see if Kevin Spacey was inside. We walk down, and see him immediately, sitting at a table in the corner, having a drinking and talking with a couple of people. After being rooted to the spot for a few seconds, we turn away from him and head straight to the bar. We decide to get one drink, just one, to sip and be in Kevin Spacey's presence for the time it took to finish, and then leave. We order, and after only 1 weighted minute and with much "inconspicuous" glances in Kevin Spacey's direction, we see him stand up. We see him turn towards the bar. We see him start to walk. We see him walking DIRECTLY towards our place at the bar. He comes up directly to my right, about an inch away from me, and says with a sarcastic, joking tone and a smile, "Oh, they're letting the students in now are they?"

Not only did he recognize us from the stage door (someone had told him where we were studying), but he initiated conversation with us. He had come up to the bar to order another drink, but what proceeded was probably the most intense conversation of my life. He first asked us what we thought of the show, then it changed into us asking him questions about the Old Vic, about creating his character, about living in london, etc. Then it changed more into thoughts and questions about the craft, about acting, about auditioning, about living as an actor. By this time another actor in the show had come us to join the conversation, a young guy that had a bit part in the show that was all of about 2 minutes long. He was freshly graduated from RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the "cream of the crop" of drama students in London) and this was his first professional show after graduating. Not all bad, first professional show at the Old Vic with Kevin Spacey. His name was Paris Arrowsmith. Nope, not making that up. So the conversation was finally Kevin Spacey and Paris Arrowsmith giving us two different perspectives on theatre and acting, one from an wise veteran, and one from a young, new actor about to start his career. It was absolutely phenomenal, and one of the most life-changing things that has ever happened to me. Yes, because of course it was Kevin Spacey, and everything he said was filled with so much wisdom and truth, but it was also how he said it. He was so incredibly humble. He was not conceited or egotistical at all. He was straightforward and seemed excited to talk with us, to share what he knew, to pass on his thoughts on acting and performing to the next generation. On top of all that, he was funny, sweet, and extremely warm and open to us.

An hour and a half later, the bartender calls for last drinks, and the bouncer man starts to usher us out of the bar. For this entire hour and a half, we have been talking to Kevin Spacey at the bar, ordering more drinks, and trying to soak up everything we can without being too star-struck. He heads back over to where he was sitting, puts his hat and coat on, puts his dog on a leash (he brings his dog Minnie to almost all of his performances. We petted Minnie) and walks up with us out of the bar. We thank him profusely for speaking with us, he gives us a final smile and a "Good Luck" and walks away. Walks away after touching four very changed, very awed, VERY inspired theatre students only hoping to make it somehow, in our small part of the world. As we walked away in what was now pouring London rain, no idea where we were with the tube then closed, I could not believe what had just happened. I did vow one thing though, above all else -- if I have ever become that famous, that well know, and that successful in my acting career, never will I hesitate to speak to students willing to listen and gain a little bit if insight into this scary world we call acting. The amount that Kevin Spacey changed and affected me in that hour and a half is something I want to give to someone else down the line, someone who may be unsure of themselves or what they to do, and try and share with them what I love and why. You never know who is listening, and you never know how you can change them.

On a scale of 1 to Life-changing, never going to forget this, London is Magic, this is definitely life-changing, never going to forget this, London is Magic.

Magic.

6 weeks in -- Finally here!

Hello everyone!

When I first came to London at the beginning of September, I told myself I would start a blog both for my own benefit of documenting my experiences, and also to let everyone back in the states know of my happenings across the pond. However, when I did arrive, I was completely thrown into settling into life in London, getting acquainted with the other students on my program, and getting used to the rigorous schedule laid down by my school here. Now, six weeks in and after much request from friends and family from home, I have finally began a blog! Since I am going to be here until at least April, better late then never right? At first I was extremely opposed to the idea, as I felt documenting my experience would be much better actually written down in a journal or something similar, but I have no time for that either. So, here I am, and here you are. Hopefully. Hey there.

For those of you who do not know, I am studying at the British American Drama Academy, a conservatory-style actor training program which specializes in training students from colleges in American in Shakespearean, classical acting. The program is either a semester or year-long, and I have decided to do the year-long track, much to the dismay of the money Gods high above. However, I have made it work, and I am here! There are 42 other students on the program. From what I was told, about 150 people applied auditioned and 43 of us got in, which is kind of exciting. There are kids here from all over the country, from Los Angeles, to Seattle, to Dallas, to Chicago, to New York, To Philadelphia, to Maine to Montana -- everywhere you can think of. I have had an absolutely amazing time so far getting to know each and every one of them. The way the program is set up, we are broken up into three groups of fifteen, and we take all of our classes together with the other 14 in our group. This is huge aspect of the program, learning to work as an ensemble and learning to trust all others in your group, as you would in a cast for a show or something of the like. When you trust all of those in your group, you are able to go places you might not be able to in your classes, pushing yourself places you otherwise might not feel comfortable. When you trust your group, you know they wont judge you as you work as an actor and as a performer, which is extremely important.

We are on an extremely rigorous program, 5 days a week, 9-6 every day. We are taking eight classes all together -- Shakespearean Acting, Voice, Movement, High Comedy (Learning about the Restoration period and style of comedy, very different from the comedy of today), Stage Combat, Theatre History, Dramatic Criticism, and Modern Physical (more modern day comedy, and mask work). All of the classes are absolutely amazing, and I feel myself learning so much from each of them every day. The teachers really are masters of their craft -- directors, actors, and professors who have been a part of the theatre world for decades. The style of teaching, at least as far as the theatre goes, is much different here then in the states. Very complicated to explain -- just different. It has been amazing learning about acting and the power of theatre from a whole new perspective.

Another pretty amazing part of the program is that BADA takes us to see shows every week, an extremely important part of being a theatre student. With school so far I have seen some pretty phenomenal shows, unlike anything I have ever seen. So far they have been:

Lolita, with Brian Cox
Troilus and Cressida, at the Old Globe Theatre
Mother Courage and Her Children, with Fiona Shaw
All's Well that End's Well
A Winter's Tale (In Stratford-Upon-Avon, with the Royal Shakespeare Company!)
Judgment Day
Inherit the Wind, with Kevin Spacey (more on this in a bit)
Enron (about the Enron scandal, extremely fascinating from a British perspective)

Also, I have also been spending all of my money on theatre tickets as opposed to other unnecessary things such as food and living expenses. These shows have been:

Breakfast at Tiffany's, with Anna Friel (from Pushing Daisies)
Calendar Girls
A Streetcar Named Desire, with Rachel Weisz
Vanya, a modern-day adaption of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, extremely brilliant

The theatre in London is on a whole new level then in a states. There is no way to compare the two, they are just different. Everything here I have seen has been absolutely phenomenal in its own way.

Whew. I am tired. I think this is all I can write for now. I just wanted to get the basics down. Getting six weeks in in one post is difficult, but I promise to write much more and way more often, to flesh more things out and get more of the experience down for anyone who is willing to listen. Now that I am here, now that I feel like a true Londoner, writing I feel will be much, much easier and much more often.

The absolute basic basic: I am having an absolutely amazing time. I find myself changing so much as an actor, and as a person, since I have been here. The change only continues every day. London is truly an amazing city, and it has opened my eyes to so much theatre-wise, and world-wise. I hope I discipline myself to write about what I experience here, because it is one of the most important experiences I have had thus far in my life, and will be for the rest of my life.

Talk to you all soon!!!

Here are some pictures thus far. The beautiful pictures of the park are the path I walk every day to get to school, a 45 minutes walk, but very lovely! The ones of us holding tickers are when we got up at 6 am to buys the last tickets to see Rachel Weisz in A Streetcar Named Desire. Hands down the best thing I have seen so far. Also, Anna Freil in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The last is when we took a day trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon, and saw where Shakespeare was born and raised. It was amazing. Enjoy!