Wednesday Alan Rickman came and visited! I was pretty excited about it, to say the least. My favorite thing about him was how he stressed the importance of being a full and complete person when it comes to acting. When asked about his process, he said that it has much more to do with who he is as a person vs. him being an acting machine. Alan trained at RADA, and when asked about what he learned during his training years, he said that training includes being a person... staying informed in the world, reading good books, developing tastes. Essentially, putting something yourself into the world to get something out of it. He also said, "you can take no credit for your talent or you imagination. They were just put there with your arms and legs. You need to cultivate them so that they can thrive". It reminded me immediately of 1st Corinthians 1:31!
Thursday we had another amazing guest (or rather, guests). John Barton came back, this time with Jane Lapotaire. The two worked together in the series John Barton made, Playing Shakespeare, where he worked with Judi Dench, Ian McKellan, and other members of the Royal Shakespeare Compnay, including Jane. Jane was given five chorus pieces she had never worked on before, and John taught her while we watched. It was really great to see a seasoned veteran actor going through the same things young actors do... she even said to John Barton, "I feel in some way I'm not doing what you want me to do"! She was beautiful and incredible, and I thought it was really brave of her to go up in front of a bunch of young people and be directed in front of them.
Last scenes went well! I especially enjoyed my Richard III scene. We started the morning with a program-wide warm up in the pouring rain, which was actually quite nice. I've been on facebook and seen every one's statuses about heading back to Dallas, and I'm jealous! After being in a dorm at the top of a tower for a month, and gone for the whole summer, it would be really nice to be in my apartment with my old friends. But, not yet! Tonight is the final fancy dinner and dance, and I'll be so sad to say goodbye to my friends here! The good news is though, almost any where I go in the country I'll have someone to stay with, which I will be taking advantage of asap.
In other news, I've just started reading The Road, by Cormac McCarthy at the behest of many people, and it is incredible. I really suggest you pick it up and read it at your earliest convenience.
As I said, tomorrow we leave for Wales! I'll probably be exhausted, but we have a long drive to sleep through. After that, Julie and I will rendezvous over to Paris for a few days and set that town on fire. Then, Spain! I'll keep updating this, so keep coming back!
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