Happy Halloween From London!

It's been an amazing two weeks here! The weather has remained beautiful -- it's 60 degrees here today -- and we have had a fantastic weekend we've got to tell you about!

On Friday, we decided to get an early start and go into central London, about a 45-minute Tube ride from Uxbridge. When we arrived, Maria and I went directly to Westminster Abbey, because one of Maria's great-grandfathers is buried there. I stayed outside because of the horrendous admission prices they charge (we had forgotten it was about $25.00 each), and Maria went in instead. She did the smart thing- she asked one of the attendants about finding her relative. He not only conducted up to their very beautiful private library, he copied their records for her and let her take photographs of the site (Westminster Abbey strictly forbids photography!) She was so excited! SHe's really getting into her family tree and those of her clients, too, so anybody who wants quality geneological research done, get it from the woman who can now trace her ancestry back directly to both William The Conqeuror and Malcom and Duncan of Scotland. (I've always said she was a royal pain sometimes...)
After that adventure, we went to a little Italian place near the Leicester Square TKTS booth and had some great, cheap, pasta for lunch, then walked up Charing Cross Road to the "cinema", as they call their movie theatres here in Great Britain. By the way, they take their Halloween seriously here: there was a 100-person line just to get into a trendy Halloween costume store, and it got longer as the day progressed. Arriving at the cinema, we got our tickets for the new movie Anonymous, which we have highly anticipated seeing, since it included a pretty radical theory on the Shakespeare Authorship Question, namely that Edward DeVere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, in fact wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare of Straford-upon-Avon. Having met the director, Roland Emmerich, the screenwriter, John Orloff, and the star, Rhys Ifans the previous Monday at an event in London, we were VERY anxious to see the film!

It was everything a good Shakespearean play should be: a fine ensemble cast, murder, comedy, royalty, and pathos, and I'm going to have to see it again just to get everything I missed the first time! The backgrounds are beautifully created, the scenes are staggeringly realistic, and the acting is uniformly brilliant. Please go see it, even if your old English teacher is doing somersaults in her tomb...! And join the revolution if you so desire: one site I like is http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/, which has numerous followers and a tremendously balanced FAQ about the authorship question.

And if you're looking for reviews of the film, let me just say that Rex Reed and Roger Ebert and huge number of good critics liked it, and that's pretty high praise. Also note that there is an enormous amount of nasty name-calling and other vituperative behavior coming from those fully invested in the Stratford legend: as you all know, when you don't have the facts on your side, you insult the other side. It's pretty sad behavior, actually, and I think they're going to lose the battle eventually if only because so many of them are so pompous, rude, and condescending. One "expert", author and professor James Shapiro, intimated that the director (who is German) was actually a Nazi at one event, then proceeded to actually lie about Shakespeare's will and the possible inventory associated with it, but never found. It's kind of sad. Anyway, on to brighter things!

After Anonymous, and after seeing Alfie Boe on a side street (he is the star of Les Miserables here and played the role to world-wide acclaim at the 25th anniversary show), we had a quick dinner and went to get house seats for a show we have never seen and which has been in London since before I was born. That's right, we saw The Mousetrap Friday night! Great fun, and still playing to packed houses after almost 60 years! We saw Performance Number 24,555. Amazing, funny, and Maria had it figured out -- at least down to 2 suspects, one of which did it -- by interval (intermission is called interval over here)! She must have been a cop in a previous life...! Definitely a full day, and another great one!

Saturday morning, we were up early again and headed into central London, this time on the south side of the Thames and the National Theatre. It's pretty ugly on the outside, 1976-era concrete and dark glass, but the inside is functional and beautiful, too. Thanks to our friend Robin, we got a fantastic tour of the 3 theatres in the complex, and even got to "meet" one of the puppets from their incredible hit show War Horse. It was truly amazing to see how a very large thrust-stage theatre (the Olivier), a traditional proscenium theatre (the Lyttleton) and a up-to400-seat "black-box" theatre (the Cottesloe) are all integrated together back stage and in the shops. We highly recommend that tour, and it will be getting on the 2013 London trip itinerary!

After a morning tour, we got to see a new play, The Veil, at the Lyttleton Theatte. The acting, the sets and the costumes were all excellent, but the play's ending disappointed us both. It seems that the script was not quite as fully fleshed out as it could have been, possibly because the playwright also directed the show. Those of you who know me well know that one of my "doing theatre rules" is that you never direct yourself on stage. After seeing this show, it seems that maybe you shouldn't direct your own play on stage either. In any case, it was a quite fabulous afternoon, complete with double-cream ice cream at interval (I had caramel-hazelnut, which was simply divine!) Another wonderful day of discovery in London!

Sunday was church in the morning, studying in the afternoon, and then Buster, Maria and I settled in to watch a show at our favorite theatre venue -- Lakeland! Through the magic of Skype and our friend Leslie Carver, we had seats for the last performance of Jekyll and Hyde. it was great to see the show, and very nice to see all of the wonderful people who are taking care of Lakeland while we're gone. Thank you, everyone!

But it's Monday and I have to do two major presentations for classes on Wednesday, plus I have a Tuesday morning appointment with my advisor on possible dissertation topics. Thanks for reading!

Lunch at Rules Restaurant With Our Delightful Cousins and The Tempest With Voldemort

Another beautiful week in London, and we actually got to go into the West End on Saturday for a wonderful lunch with our newly-found cousins, Martin and Cathy Hurst. Before leaving home, Maria sent an e-mail out to a second-cousin of Wally's letting him know we would be in London and like to meet him. Martin and his wife Cathy met us for a wonderful lunch a "Rules". For anyone who has not eaten there, "OMG". We had a reservation for 1:15, got there around 1:00 and stayed until 5:45. First of all "Rules" is the ultimate in English fare. Meeting cousins and bonding with them for several hours intensified the enjoyment. http://www.rules.co.uk/ is the website: visit it and you will be amazed at the menu, especially the wild game, most of which is raised and bred on Rule's own wildlife preserve.

At Wally's urging -- he is studying Shakespeare, after all -- we then went and got "house seats" for The Tempest, starring Ralph Fiennes, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, just down from Picadilly Circus. This recently refurbished theatre has a grand and glorious history and has hosted performers such as Ellen Terry, John Gielgud, and most recently Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in a production of Waiting For Godot last year. We seated ourselves in the seventh-row center seats -- one of the advantages of being a producer is that you really can get terrific seats to shows anywhere (paying full price, of course!) -- and prepared to see a great production of Shakespeare's last play, his "farewell to theatre", as it has been described.

 We were somewhat disappinted, then, when we saw a bunch of terrifc actors in a not-so-great production. The set was fine, actually it was the old Godot set (confirmed by the staff), and the lighting was well-done, but the "special effects" were not that special, some of the costumes were not very good, and the music was bad, bordering on awful. (There is a music composer listed, but not a music director.) Very surprising, especially from Trevor Nunn, the director of Les Mis, Cats, and a dozen other towering and succesful musicals.

Even the star, Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, the Harry Potter films), seemed to be off his game last Saturday night. Some of his longer speeches actually took on a "sing-song" delivery at times, and at other times, he grabbed his head like a crazy man trying to stop the really loud voices shouting inside it. The flying was okay, but not really special: the actors playing Ariel went side-to-side and up and down only, no big movements at all, all slow; not very exciting, especially for a spirit who runs a lot on stage when he is not flying. While the costumes for the shipwrecked royalty and Miranda were fine, (except for their white-soled slip-on deck shoes for the mariners) Caliban wasn't much of a monster with a half-turtle shell on his left shoulder and a glove extending two fingers of his left hand. And poor Prospero, when he is "restored to his dukedom" near the end, puts on what is obviously a woman's dress with at least two dozen buttons up the front -- that he never does get buttoned very far -- and blue velvet bedroom slippers from the modern era. I guess we were disappointed that the production values were not as good as that cast. Trinculo, Miranda, and all the royals were very, very good, and the comedy in the play was done to perfection, well-timed and easy to watch. The music was off-key and shrill and the flying was lackluster, so the "ethereal" scenes were a complete dud for us.

We do better flying at Lakeland than they did, and we actually have a music director when we sing, too. Needless to say, we were dispappointed that the tech didn't match the actors' talents on stage Saturday night. We are really looking forward to seeing mark Rylance in Jerusalem soon, though! Thanks for reading!

An Ode to Wagagama's

Wally here, taking a break from studies for a quick entry.

Ah, Wagamama’s. For those who have never been to this wonderful and ever-growing chain of “Asian-fusion noodle bars”, let me say that you have missed one of the most subtle and un-subtle dining experiences afforded to those of us here in the United Kingdom. As you arrive, often going downstairs to a basement room here in the London versions of this restaurant, you are greeted by a person who tucks you into a row of tables and communal benches next to your fellow diners. Okay, you say, I’m eating right next to other people and there’s a paper placemat on the table. Nothing fancy here. You’re quite right – and oh, so wrong.

The menu has enough exotic stuff on it that your head is swimming just trying to make sense of it all, so you pick out some items that you know most of the ingredients that are listed, and go from there. Maybe an appetizer, too, if you’re feeling adventurous, like our favorites, the goza, or pot stickers or fried dumplings, depending on where you’re from.  Your server takes your order on a PDA, writing your order # down on your paper placemat, and the order goes right to the kitchen, where fresh ingredients are combined to make your food ready. The food is served as soon as it is ready, by your server or whoever happens by the open kitchen, so not everybody gets served at once. This allows those not being served yet to drool and lust over the lucky person(s) who have been served, possibly asking for a taste of that wonderful-looking dish, or remarking how big that serving is. The servings are large here, another non-subtle feature.

So where’s the subtlety, you ask? It’s in the rich and beautifully blended flavor of the food you are served. For instance, my ginger chicken udon was gloriously complicated by the flavors of ginger, light  soy, shitake mushrooms, carrots, sesame seeds, spring onions, regular onions, spices and even cilantro in it. The combination was spectacular. These people are not afraid to mix it up, and Maria’s dish was just as complicated and the Yaki Soba was just as good. Did I mention the noodles are impossibly fresh and so flavorful you might be tempted just to order them plain? Ramen noodles out of the box( or cup) will forever have you remembering what REAL noodles are like, and remembering Wagamama’s fondly.

And when you have finished or almost finished that giant plate of happiness, you might think your dining experience is complete. Not so, noodle-breath – there is dessert yet to come! How can dessert be different, you ask? How about a chocolate layer cake with a hint of wasabi in the frosting? How about my favorite, the white chocolate ginger cheesecake with a caramel/chili sauce on the side? That’ll liven up your dessert course, trust me. And again, the flavors work so remarkably well together you’re  enchanted by the amazing combinations.

Have I made you drool yet? Well, get a drool bucket and get over here. We’ll take you to Wagamama’s!

Loving It here in Uxbridge!

October 7, 2011

We are settling in now, at home and at school. Wally’s second week of classes is now over, and he has mountains of reading and two significant projects to do. Our instructor Elizabeth (Liz) Evenden kindly permitted Maria to sit in on a class this week, where we were deciphering ancient text together: everyone enjoyed it immensely, including Maria, of course!

Then Thursday Maria and I had our first German class, about 28 students learning together. One of the first exercises was learning where we were all from: two were from England, 4 from the US, and the rest were from Bangladesh, Uganda, Thailand, Iran, Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Mauritus, Norway, China, India, Spain, Chechnia, Taiwan, France, and Turkey. Wow! It was a great class, and it felt like the two hours passed in about 10 minutes. Looking forward to next week!

I had an entry written up for you last week, but my computer evidently didn’t like it. The highlights were Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the quad at school, the fact that they do have Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and Subway here – although Subway’s best- selling sandwich here is Chicken Tandoori – and the fact that we haven’t gone in any of these establishments will not be surprising to any of you who know us well.  The pubs here have better food and better names – The Queen’s Head, The Three Tuns (a “tun” being a about a pony keg of beer or ale or cider), and The Slug and Lettuce. We still have to explore about 8 more here in Uxbridge and surrounding towns, too.

The good news about the library: it is ultra-modern, including a device that lets  you stack all your books that you want to borrow in an opening/shelf in a machine – it’s enough space to hold 5-6 textbooks – and it reads  the books and checks them out to you in about 3 seconds. The other good news is that we grad students have our own study area just off to the side of the library that is available to us 24/7, reachable only by a postgraduate ID card. The other good news is that they are building/refurbishing the 3^rd floor (the 4^th floor in America) as another grad-student-only section inside the library, which includes the special Shakespeare Authorship Collection.

The only bad news is that it isn’t quite ready up there yet, so I have to avoid workers there during the day if I want to get into that section. (At night, it’s no problem. I just walk in like I own the place.) The best news is that, unlike the other three floors of the library, this is a completely quiet zone. On the bottom three floors, this place is quite abuzz with conversations, some quite loud at times. And they’re not small snippets of conversation, either – they’re lengthy epics that drive you nuts if you’re trying to concentrate. Before the top floor was accessible, I actually asked a librarian if they had a special “would you shut-the-h@ll-up” zone anywhere in this library? She laughed and said it was bad, but that it usually settles down after the first few weeks. Liz says she sometimes walks around and looks at the most blatant offenders and says, “exactly what are you doing here anyway?” She’s really mean, too – I like her a lot! Maria also talked to the assistant director of the library last night and she may soon be helping catalogue and shelve the new section!

In household news, we got a mattress topper and it seems to have done the trick for Maria’s back. We also bought a TV table and set our large dining-table-size coffee table on top of it, making it a nice work table and eating table, too. We have a friendly black cat who visits us regularly, jumping up into the window or through the back balcony railing to be petted for a while before he goes out again. Our apartment is really nice – we’ll try and post pictures soon – but our view out the back balcony is not much right now as they try and sort out an endangered species of newt that may or may not be living there. (Insert Monty Python reference here, all of you!)The weather is now changing after a month of warmth and sunshine, and we’re looking forward to a great autumn season here! More later, and thanks for reading!