The Lover and The Collection

I saw a play (title above) last night starring Gina McKee (Notting Hill), Richard Coyle (Coupling), Charlie Cox (Stardust) and Timothy West (Ever After). I was blown away. It was 2 plays in one. And each of them were vastly different yet maintained mysterious and frightening qualities. The first was about a husband and wife who each had lovers on the side. They knew about their lovers but then TWIST they were each others lovers. BUT, they acted like different people during the day. It got scary when the male character seemed to confuse his daytime persona with his nighttime one and went mad. The second (with my favorite, Charlie Cox) was about a married couple where the wife supposedly cheated with this younger, more attractive man. The husband went a little mad but then he was also attracted to the younger man. Both stories were devilishly good and very sexy. Harold Pinter is the playwright and is a brilliant one at that. I would see the play again if I had the time.

So I went with my friend Mandy and we got standby tickets which are best available seats an hour before the show. We paid 20 pounds for 4th row! It was so worth it. The acting was superb and the plots were fantastic. Sorry about all the adjectives but I am just so happy that I saw it and want to share how it was.

What else has been going on? OH YEAH! I went on a pub crawl with my class this week. It was more like a pub walk a mile and hit another pub. It was an experience. Don’t worry there are pictures and I didn’t get too drunk. We saw some lovely, very old pubs. One was from the 13 century. It was called Blackfriars and the walls were covered with wooden carvings of monks and sayings. In one room there was writing close to the ceiling and continued all around the room. I thought it was interesting and something to consider. It said:

INDUSTRY IS ALL. HASTE IS SLOW. FINERY IS FOOLERY. DON’T ADVERTISE IT TELL A GOSSIP. SILENCE IS GOLDEN. WISDOM IS RARE. SEIZE OCCASION. A GOOD THING IS SOON SNATCHED UP.

We went to the Imperial War Museum this week also. That was tough. We started off in the exhibitions of WWI and WWII. Everything I was seeing, I have never seen before. I feel like we don’t really have easily accessible museums about war. Maybe in DC, but from what I’ve heard, this was quite different. The last stop I made was the Holocaust exhibition. It was incredibly detailed and full of videos, documents, stories about specific people involved and artifacts. I went through it in about 45 minutes but I rushed the last quarter of it because I was so overwhelmed. I felt like I couldn’t escape. I went through it with Mandy and we were both completely exhausted and saddened by all the things we saw and read. I will probably go back because I didn’t even see half of the museum.

Right now I am listening to a radio station on iTunes (All Flashbacks Alternatives). It’s 80s and 90s. It’s really good. I am waiting for my mashed potatoes to boil. Greg and I are making a southern meal for our homestay family. We are feeding 7 people, including ourselves). We are making cornbread, mashers (mashed potatoes), fried chicken and chocolate chip cookies for desert. Everyone is very excited.

I must go and you’ll hear from me soon I’m sure!