Theatre in London: Sites, Sounds and Situations
by Catawba Theatre Students

Catawba College students traveling to London over holiday break will share their London Theatre experiences in blogs on the Catawba website. The students are all enrolled in the winter term course "London Sites, Sounds, and Situations" taught by Linda Kesler, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts.

Part of the students' course work occurs online, and part of it occurs during a two-week travel abroad experience to London. Some of the planned stops for the students include museums — British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum; galleries — National Portrait Gallery, Tate Brittain; performances — a traditional British holiday treat, the English panto Dick Whittington, The National Theatre's world premiere of David Hare's The Power of Yes; Backstage Tours — Royal Opera House, Theatre Royal Drury Lane; plus ringing in the New Year at Trafalgar Square; shopping in Camden Market; and visiting The British Library with its 13 million books.

"Imagine spending the day with the Bard," Kesler remarks, "no where else can we learn about Shakespeare by taking a walking tour through Southwark Cathedral, meandering up the South Bank past his old haunts to the reconstructed Globe, learning about his life and times in their exhibition hall, participating in a performance mid-afternoon (we've gotten tickets for half the group to sit as if royalty and half to stand as groundlings would have — at the intermission, we'll switch places) then walking on to the excavation site of The Rose Theatre. Later in the week we'll see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of  "Twelfth Night" at the Duke of York Theatre. What an adventurous way to study theatre history!"
 
The students' blogs and photos will be posted beginning January 4th.

Students enrolled in the course and making the trip to London include freshmen Brooke Beall of Raleigh, N.C., and Sean Henderson of Concord, N.C.; sophomore Vaughn Pollman of Overland Park, Kansas; juniors Caitlyn Garrison and Carrie Harris, both of Asheville, N.C., Zackary Lynch of Selbyville, Del., and Mary Alice Nichols of Conyers, Ga.; and seniors Brittany Bland of Alpharetta, Ga., and Luke Robinson of Monroe, N.C.

BLOG: Theatre in London: Sites, Sounds and Situations

PHOTOS: Theatre in London

RELATED CONTENT:

• London Itinerary
• Student Bios and Photos
• Theatre Arts