Monday, October 6th
I will start this post with an excerpt of discussion from my theatre class this morning, evaluating the play we attended last week: Chekhov’s Ivanov.
The play deals with the inner struggles of a man and his depression in late 1800’s Russia. It sounds rather depressing, and it is, but it was a wonderful production, with astounding acting, set, and atmosphere.
The overall theme is dealing with the idea of depression, life’s struggle, and how one approaches to handle it, and others around him. The main character, Ivanov, is terribly in debt, and has problems with his wife who has TB. His wife, who is dying, has the most lovely, positive attitude, and he is absolutely miserable, making those around him miserable as well. Ivanov struggles with the fact that he realizes the despair he is causing to himself and others, however is unable to bring himself to change.
The play portrays the character of humanity, such as the sincere, good-hearted wife, her husband, and the shallow gossip of the community. There were several climactic moments to demonstrate this as well, such as the dramatic scene where Ivanov is offered charity by his lender, in order to pay off his loan. In the ultimate humility, Ivanov collapses to the ground, with the little sense of pride he has left collapsing with him. I also enjoyed the symbolism of the fact that he does not look directly up at the audience the entire play, until the very end when he comes to the realization of the final decision he must make.
After much more discussion on the play, and a short introduction to ‘Brief Encounter,’ which we will be seeing tomorrow night, we quickly ate lunch and left for our International Studies class. Today’s lesson encompassed a walking tour around Georgian London and its architecture. Through a demonstration with several of the students, we learned about the structure of a typical household and its servants, and continued on to explore the most expensive parts of London. At one point, we walked past a shop that had a USED Rolls Royce Phantom for 129,000 pounds. double that to get American dollars. sick...
We toured on past the American Embassy, and some other fancy Georgian and Victorian parts of the city, and then finished next to a park bench, accompanied by statues of FDR and Winston Churchill, and took some silly pictures.
Mom, you would be proud of me. I had to use the sewing kit you had me bring along. You were right, I ended up needing it…
I will start this post with an excerpt of discussion from my theatre class this morning, evaluating the play we attended last week: Chekhov’s Ivanov.
The play deals with the inner struggles of a man and his depression in late 1800’s Russia. It sounds rather depressing, and it is, but it was a wonderful production, with astounding acting, set, and atmosphere.
The overall theme is dealing with the idea of depression, life’s struggle, and how one approaches to handle it, and others around him. The main character, Ivanov, is terribly in debt, and has problems with his wife who has TB. His wife, who is dying, has the most lovely, positive attitude, and he is absolutely miserable, making those around him miserable as well. Ivanov struggles with the fact that he realizes the despair he is causing to himself and others, however is unable to bring himself to change.
The play portrays the character of humanity, such as the sincere, good-hearted wife, her husband, and the shallow gossip of the community. There were several climactic moments to demonstrate this as well, such as the dramatic scene where Ivanov is offered charity by his lender, in order to pay off his loan. In the ultimate humility, Ivanov collapses to the ground, with the little sense of pride he has left collapsing with him. I also enjoyed the symbolism of the fact that he does not look directly up at the audience the entire play, until the very end when he comes to the realization of the final decision he must make.
After much more discussion on the play, and a short introduction to ‘Brief Encounter,’ which we will be seeing tomorrow night, we quickly ate lunch and left for our International Studies class. Today’s lesson encompassed a walking tour around Georgian London and its architecture. Through a demonstration with several of the students, we learned about the structure of a typical household and its servants, and continued on to explore the most expensive parts of London. At one point, we walked past a shop that had a USED Rolls Royce Phantom for 129,000 pounds. double that to get American dollars. sick...
We toured on past the American Embassy, and some other fancy Georgian and Victorian parts of the city, and then finished next to a park bench, accompanied by statues of FDR and Winston Churchill, and took some silly pictures.
Mom, you would be proud of me. I had to use the sewing kit you had me bring along. You were right, I ended up needing it…
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