Monday, we saw our first live Shakespeare play: The Winter's Tale. It's an odd story, but was extremely well-done by the cast. There were some very well-acted roles, and some pretty famous faces. Ethan Hawke played Autolycus, a goofy cutpurse, more skillfully than I expected. There were some other famous celebrities whose names I can't recall right now. But the lighting was superb. I was able to snap a few pictures before and after the show that really are beautiful. The Old Vic, where we saw the performance, is really a gorgeous venue, and a great space to perform.

Wednesday, a man named Ben Crystal came to talk to us. He performs Shakespearean plays and sonnets, and has written a few books. He went over his allotted time (by an hour and a half!) but it was still really fun. He was really passionate about Shakespeare's works, and pushed understanding and interpreting the plays through performance even in the classroom, as opposed to treating the plays simply as works of literature.

In fact, I foolishly volunteered early in his presentation, and played Macbeth. He gave us a few tips about how to deal with metrical cues that Shakespeare gives actors, and then decided that we didn't sound nervous enough. His remedy for this was to make me and my Lady Macbeth run back and forth in the front of the room until we were breathing hard. It did have the required effect of making us sound nervous (look! Video proof!), but was a little embarrassing; especially, perhaps, since I slipped and fell part of the way through the running. Alas.

Well, I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here, and miss a lot of you at home! I hope you're all having a lovely summer holiday as well, and I'll see you soon!