St. Pauls

13 May 2011

Friday we have finally begun to get into the swing of things. The tube is no longer confusing (except when changing through many lines), the beauty of London has not become less substantial, but more a reality. Today we had a fairly busy schedule with seeing St. Paul's Cathedral and a backstage tour of the National theatre (the place we saw The Cherry Orchard in two days prior) and then of course a show in the evening, again at the National though this one was called The Holy Rosenbergs. 

To be honest, today was not a day I was all that looking forward to, St. Paul's sounded nice, but I was not very attached to the idea and seeing a backstage tour hardly held any sort of interest for me; that was until we actually begun the day (though isn't that how it always is?).

However, upon walking into St. Paul's it was as if I was blown away by the just utter grand divinite in the very building. I am not one to place that sort of reverence on stone and brick, but in this case it seemed almost necessary. There was something holy about the church. During my last visit I was not able to see St. Paul's (though I could not remember why) and I am glad that I got to go this time. 

It was jam packed with people (as many places have been), but even with all of the hustle and bustle you could still feel almost unique in the space. In the back of the church there was an area given and built to honor the United States help during World War II. I am not the sort of person to bang her fist and declare my patriotism (though I do enjoy being an American), but standing in front of the memorial (where there was an area left of the shrapnel that had landed in the church during the Blitz) I felt a sort of pride or in the very least camaraderie.

The actual building is filled with memorials, many to war heroes, but also to locals and even musicians, writers, and poets. No one has been buried there since 1937, though ashes now are allowed to be placed and are still being placed to this day. The shining moment as we walked through the crypt was walking through and realizing, as I looked down, I was standing on J.M.W Turner, an artist that I highly admire. There is something amazing about knowing just under foot (LITERALLY) a man is buried that just recently you were looking at his work and enjoying it. 

I could have spent hours in that church, the reverence was moving and it was calming in a busy schedule; unfortunately a busy schedule was exactly what we had and after a few moments to sit and enjoy the domed ceiling mosaics it was time to move on. 

The backstage tour scheduled at the National was again, not something I was looking forward too, but as our guide took us through the building I was floored and equally impressed by the work that was done there. They have a main work station area that was full of props and people and things that were finished as well as in progress for upcoming shows. It was actually really interesting to see how they worked together with the same space even with multiple shows going on. 

It turns out that at the National the actors get six weeks of rehearsal and if they are lucky they get two dress rehearsals. This meant nothing to me, but listening to Cat and some of the other theater design majors this turned out to be an odd thing indeed. Apparently in America it is more traditional to only get three weeks of rehearsal and then a week of dress, which is obviously different then what they were receiving. The crowning moment (for the time) was walking in to watch a dress rehearsal of an upcoming show One man, Two Guvnors and as we watched a man came onto the stage that I leaned over to Cat because I was fairly sure I recognized. 

Sure enough as we left the rehearsal our guide informed us that our suspicions were correct, James Corden was in the production. James Corden, for those of you who are not familiar with him, is a British actor from most notably (in America) the movie The History Boys. He's not very well known, but Cat and I are big fans and to realize he was only feet away was insanely exciting. Only, it turns out, that wasn't going to be our only sighting for the evening. 

As the tour drew to a close we had about an hour to kill before the play started and we began to wander around the bookshop. It was a nice space and had quite a few interesting reads that I toyed with buying. While looking at one in particular I felt someone step close up and glanced, only to take a double look. The man was quite undeniable another actor (though at the time I thought he was only a model) that I am a fan of; rushing as subtlety as I could to where Cat was looking at a different book I told her to double check, and sure enough...it was Eddie Redmayne. As we were trying our hardest not to geek out I'm pretty sure he noticed our trying not to geek out and when we looked up to see him again he was gone. I like to think I'm not easily star struck, but that was fairly amazing and even now I can't get over the fact I saw two famous faces in one day!

Which is not to say that the show was not amazing. The Holy Rosenbergs by Ryan Craig was actually fascinating and quite moving. It focused on a family both torn apart and forced together because of the Gaza conflict, his daughter part of the UN's report, and his son--killed in the war--on the side of the Israelites. The father merely trying to hold together his family but quite unable too. The seats were terrible, but the inter-workings and the poignancy of the emotions was so heartfelt. I had been vaguely aware of the Gaza situation (it was hard to miss) but until those moments I was not quite aware of the effect it had on people not actually there.