The Theater Brothel. Day 22.

June 13 

Today we had a semi unsuccessful shopping outing.  I really wanted a backpack and board shorts for Spain, and underwear because I was running out of them and I was too lazy to do laundry at that point (plus there was just never ever time).  We went to Primeark (I think that was the name) and it was insane.  It was so crowded and huge and overwhelming.  It was impossible to get anywhere without getting trampled.  I managed to find a 4-pack of panties, but had zero luck on the board shorts.  I asked somebody where the backpacks were, and they told me to go “that way” and there were no backpacks there.  Then I asked somebody else, and they told me to go in the complete opposite direction.  I still couldn’t find them so I asked one more person and they informed me that they didn’t sell backpacks there.  That would have been cool to know the first time I asked.

At this point, I was kinda frustrated, but I got over it quickly because we had to hurry to the tube to get to class on time.

Class was super great this day for 2 reasons: We had it in one of the common rooms in the dorms. And, We did lots of improv exercises!! This made me miss theater a lot.  It was so much fun though!!

After class we had a small break before having to leave for the theater, so some of us went to get Mexican food at a place around the corner.  I was super excited for Mexican food because I hadn’t had it in such a long time..but I was not impressed.  There was waaaaaay more rice than beans, and the rice was all salty.  

I miss Baker’s.

We all made the journey to the Almedia Theater to see the Theater Brothel.

This was such a cool experience.  We were led backstage, through dressing rooms, and green rooms until we ended up on stage where we were asked a series of questions.  I can’t remember them all, but some of them were like

 “Epic, or domestic?”

“Do you like to play or observe?”

“Have you ever pretended to be someone that you are not?”

At one point, the person mumbled something and then growled at us.

This was all part of the selection process.  The Theater Brothel had 6 plays going on at once, and this selection process decided which 2 plays we were meant to see.

We were given 2 different colored tokens and were asked to wait in the lobby.

After some waiting, we were all directed to our assigned shows.

The first show I saw was called Tonight Sean Campion will Lecture, Dance, and Box.  This show was interesting.  It was difficult to grasp what kind of show it was going to be at first because we had no idea what to expect.  It turned out that it was extremely eventful.  As the title suggested, the actor lectured, danced, and boxed.  He would use members of the audience to “stand in” for particular random characters throughout the play as he lectured so there was some audience involvement. The overall “plot” of the story was that he was explaining the life of his relative that had many different identities.  I can’t remember all of the details.  At one point during the play, it seemed like he was possibly going mad and he stripped down to his underpants and ran around the lobby (where the play was taking place btw..not a stage).  He would also instruct us in making paper hats out of a paper filled with quotes that he would say at various times during the play.  By the end of the play, I felt that I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t sure why because a lot of it was complicated and extremely contradicting.  One of the girls who saw it with me felt like the play as displaying a man with “multiple personality disorder.”  As a psychology major, I liked the idea of the play surrounding the happenings of a mental disorder, but her interpretation of the symptoms of that disorder weren’t exactly right.  The symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder would not really be expressed in the way he was expressing them because he was so aware of all of the different scenarios and whatnot. 

...... Anyway, I apologize for the super-tangent.

The next play I went to was called A Prayer.  I was sent to a tiny dressing room and after awhile we all realized that there was a girl singing in the shower. She came out in only a towel and [her character] was clearly surprised to see us.  She ran across the room (still in just a towel which was not covering her ass at all) and threw on a dress.  She was in such a shock to see us…but it wasn’t really clear why at first.  We all figured we were supposed to be a certain character or group of characters in the play, but we could not figure out what.  She kept asking us questions about ourselves as a group asking us to perform tasks.  She asked if we could make things and she gave me paper and a pencil and a drew a flower.  She asked if we could destroy things and she handed my friend Marcus a glasses and he destroyed them.  She handed him a book and he destroyed that as well. The other members of the audience were kinda appalled at the damage to the book, but she thought it was amazing.  Eventually it was revealed that we were “God” to her.  The whole play was based on interaction and improv.  It most definitely intrigued me the whole time.  It impressed me how much the actress was able to think on her toes so well to have all the appropriate reactions, questions..etc.  I probably liked this play more than the first one.

After that we all waited outside for the other groups to get out of their plays and as we waited the actress from A Prayer was leaving and stopped by to say how cool it was that Marcus destroyed the book and she told her director and he thought it was brilliant. Hah!