THEATRE! (The BAFTAs and the Globe)

Let's work backwards for this. So today, we went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for 30 minutes. Some of you may be saying "The Globe? Wait a second, you said The Globe was destroyed and that it's now just an empty space?" That's true, this is a reconstructed Globe Theatre, rebuilt to what the architects believe it looked like with it's open ceiling and beautiful stage. Others might be asking "Why only 30 minutes?" Because that's literally all the time we had in there. We went in. Snapped shots, had an actor talk to us about performing in the Globe, and then we left to go talk somewhere else. A lot of us werereally excited to be in there and possibly get to go on stage. *sigh* oh well.

The actor that was talking to our group was very experienced. We got to re-enact a scene from Julius Caesar in the way that the Elizabethan actors would've rehearsed, which is only using cue sheets. You'd get the last couple lines of the person who speaks before you and then your lines. That's it. They did this in order to prevent other theatres from stealing whole manuscripts, and putting on their own productions of it.

The reconstructed Globe Theatre from the Millenium Bridge.

The Shakespeare Globe Theatre

The Stage

Cue script. This is how the actors had to memorize their lines.

Now to tell y'all the good story. Six of us (someone from our group actually WENT to it) went to the Red Carpet of the BAFTAs! It was fantastic. So our story begins Sunday morning at 1:00 in the morning. The six of headed out to the Royale Theatre to stand in an already long line of people to get wristbands for the public viewing area of the BAFTA red carpet. We stood out their for 6 hours until they started handing them out at 7:00am. After we'd gotten our wristbands, we ran back to our flat, snoozed for at least an hour and a half, then went back to the red carpet. They opened the public area at 1:00ish and we all dashed for any open or pretty close spot to the barriers. We all stood there, waiting for the stars to arrive at 5:00pm. We saw the stars, got pictures and autographs, then went back to the flat.

Hm, I feel like I'm forgetting something...

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Oh, yeah, I forgot. It was 37F outside and rained the entire day. So let me tell you this story again.

Six of us (someone from our group actually WENT to it) went to the Red Carpet of the BAFTAs! It was excruciatingly painful but worth every minute of what we got to do. So our story begins Sunday morning at 1:00 in the morning. The six of us, layered up and ready to take on our prolonged stay outside, headed out to the Royale Theatre to stand in an already long line of people, in the freezing rain to get wristbands for the public viewing area of the BAFTA red carpet. Every part of us got soaked. The comforter and rain poncho that we brought in order for us to sit down on the sidewalk got drenched, so we stood the last 3 hours. We stood out their for 6 hours in the cold and the rain until they started handing the wristbands out at 7:00am. There were only two people doing the wristbands, and one of them was just standing there holding them while the other guy put them on us. After we'd gotten our wristbands from the one guy who was the only one physically putting them on the hundreds of us there, we ran back to our flat, snoozed for at least an hour and a half, layered ourselves the f*ck up again, and went back to the red carpet where it was still raining. They opened the public area at 1:00ish and we all dashed for any open or pretty close spot to the barriers. We then waited in the freezing rain for the stars to arrive at 5:00pm. All the umbrellas went down when the stars came in order to get pictures and autographs, and those who still kept them up were written in many a burn book when the event was over, due to their obstruction of views and taking up of space. To top it off, in the middle of the red carpet event, it began to snow! So there we all were, packed like wet sardines in a refrigerator, shoving each other and our damp autograph books out on the red carpet in the hopes that the stars would grace us with their presence. When we'd all had enough, we booked it back to our flat. Every part of us soaked, cold, tired and exhilarated from seeing the stars. We got back, ate a bit of dinner, told our stories, then passed out on our beds (only to wake up the next morning for classes).

Now that I've got my story straight, I have to tell you, there were SO many stars! Below, are my photos and videos (separate post) from the Red Carpet. Just a heads up, I took a LOT of photos and videos. When a celebrity came it was either, record it or press the camera button furiously and hope one of them would turn out alright. A large percentage of the photos are blurry and the videos are long and are just a group of us shouting "MARTIN!" and "TOM!" at Martin Freeman and Tom Hiddleston. What y'all are seeing are the the best shots that I got and videos that aren't 3 minutes long.

Waiting in line for the wristbands.

It's 7am. Time to get our wristbands!

Simon Pegg!

George Clooney!

George Clooney's autograph! 

Olga Kurylenko!

Olga Kurlylenko's autograph!

Helen Mirren signing my history notebook that Cassie, a Bennie, offered to hold out for me!

Helen Mirren's autograph!

Sarah Jessica Parker!

Saoirse Ronan!

Sally Field!

Joaquin Phoenix!

Quentin Tarintino!

Ben Whishaw (Q from Skyfall)!

So yeah, I had a pretty exciting weekend going to the 9th circle of Dante's Inferno BAFTA Red Carpet. Looking back, if I knew the hell I had to go through in order to get to the Red Carpet, I wouldn't have done it. But it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I knew that I just had to do it. Spring Break is coming up soon. I'll be in Berlin, Prague and off to Nantes to see an old friend. I'll probably be busy working on finals and whatnot, so you might not hear from me for a while. If anything happens, I'll be sure to post. Till then, later!