I spent a wonderful week in London during my spring break. Saw some exciting theatre – “Deep Azure” by Chadwick Boseman and “The Tempest” by that Will guy. Both productions were at the Sam Wannamaker Playhouse which is right next to The Globe. At the National Theatre I saw “Summerfolk” by Maxim Gorky with a cast of twenty-five! The play reminded me of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” and Turgenyev’s “A Month in the Country”.

I always enjoy London but this trip was special because I spent one day at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (one of the premiere acting training schools in England). I had contacted Annemette Verspeak who is the Head of the Voice program at Guildhall, and she graciously invited me to watch one of her classes. The students were doing lines from Greek plays and she helped them make sense of the lines, connect their voices to their bodies and find the specifics of what they were acting. It was an enlightening experience to see and hear someone working with actors in much the same way that I do!!

After her two classes she said she was going to a Combat Demo. I asked if I could attend and I was given permission to attend. The same actors I had seen earlier in their voice class were doing the Combat Demo. Some swords, some fisticuffs, some knives – a bit of everything. And they were excellent in all of their scenes. I felt very privileged to see what the Guildhall Second Year students were doing. It had a lot of similarities to the NYU Grad Acting program. Annemette was the most gracious guide through out the day.

Guildhall was established in 1880 and was the first music college in England. Since 1977 the school has resided in the Barbican Centre. The school has classes for undergraduate and graduate study. A few of its famous graduates include Daniel Craig, Ewan McGregor, Orlando Bloom, Damian Lewis, Michaela Coel, Hayley Atwwell, Michelle Dockery, and Paapa Essiedu.