* [Optional events — seen by some]

Monday, December 27

Carlo Goldoni. The Servant of Two Masters (1743). Dir. Franko Figueiredo. Cast: Stuart Major (Arlechinno), William Tombs (Pantalone/Porter), Andrea Cullum (Clarice), Simon Lawrence (Silvio/Waiter), Jillian George-Lewis (Dr. Lombardi/Waitress). Lisa Benson (Smereldina/Waitress), Tereza Araujo (Brighella/Porter), Catherine Eccles (Beatrice), Marcio Mello (Florindo).

Tuesday, December 28

Dale Wasserman. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Dir. Terry Johnson and Tamara Harvey. Cast: Christian Slater (R. P. McMurphy), MacKenzie Crook (Billy Babbitt), Frances Barber (Nurse Ratched), Brendan Dempsey (Chief Bromden), Owen O'Neill (Dale Harding), Ian Coppinger (Anthony Martini), Dave Johns (Ruckly), Gavin Robertson (Frank Scanlon), Phil Nichol (Charles Atkins Cheswick III), Felix Dexter (Aide Williams), Lucy Porter (Nurse Flinn), Lizzie Roper (Candy), Katherine Jakeways (Sandy), Stephen K. Amos (Aide Warren), Tim Ahern (Dr. Spivey). [Adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey]

Wednesday December 29 [First Official Day of Play-going]

Introduction. Classes will normally be held each morning at this time to discuss plays we saw the day before.

Alan Bennett. The History Boys (2004). World Premiere. Dir. Nicholas Hytner. Cast : Teachers: Richard Griffiths (Hector), Frances del la Tour (Mrs. Lintott), Clive Merrison (Headmaster), Geoffrey Streatfeild (Irwin); Boys: Sacha Dhawan (Akthar), Samuel Anderson (Crowther), Dominic Cooper (Dakin), Andrew Knott (Lockwood), Samuel Barnett (Posner), Russell Tovey (Rudge), Jamie Parker (Scripps), James Corden (Timms), and Joseph Attenborough, Tom Attwood (piano player), Rudi Dharmalingam, Colin Haigh, and Pamela Merrick. [This play won the Olivier award for best new play of 2004; Richard Griffiths won the Olivier for best actor, as well.]

Marina Carr. By the Bog of Cats (1998). British Premiere. Dir. Dominic Cooke. Design by Hildegard Bechtler. Cast: Holly Hunter (Hester Swane), Adam Best (Joseph Swane, the ghost of her brother), Gordon McDonald (Carthage Kilbride, her sometime mate), Kate Costello (Josie Kilbride, Hester and Carthage's child), Sorcha Cusak (Monica Murray, a neighbor), Barbara Brennan (Mrs. Kilbride, Carthage's mother), Patrick Waldron (Father Willow), Brid Brennan (Catwoman), Trevor Cooper (Xavier Cassidy), Denise Gough (Caroline Cassidy, daughter of Xavier and new bride), Darren Greer (Ghost Fancier), Warren Rusher (Young Dunne, a waiter), Colette Kelly & Aoife Madden (waitresses). [Olivier nominee for Best New Play. A retelling of the Medea tragedy, set in the bogs of Ireland.]

Sleeping Beauty (2002). Written and directed by Rufus Norris. Katrina Lindsay designer. Richard Chew composer. Jonathan Gill music director. Lighting by Tim Mitchell. Choreography by Scarlett Macmin. Sound by Paul Arditti. Cast: Nicholas Beveney (Ogre), Nick Cavaliere (King Beauty / Ensemble), Daniel Cerqueira (Ogress / Ensemble), Elizabeth Hill (Ensemble), Hazel Holder (Minstrel / Ensemble), James Loye (the Princes), Helena Lymbery (witch Goody), Lyndsey Marshal (Beauty), Rhiannon Oliver (Ensemble), Katie Quentin (Queen Beauty / Ensemble), Jason Rowe (Ensemble), and Duncan Wisbey (Tableslave / Ensemble. [Based on Charles Perrault's story and what happens after Beauty awakens into a perilous world with a husband who is half human and half ogre.]

Nikolai Erdman. The Mandate (1925), trans. Declan Donnellan. Dir. Declan Donnellan. Cast: Martin Hutson (Pavel Sergeevich Guliachkin), Deborah Findlay (Nadejda Petrovna Guliachkina, Pavel's mother), Naomi Frederick (Varvara Sergeevna, Pavel's sister), Adrian Scarborough (Ivan Ivanovich Shironkin, the lodger), Sinead Matthews (Anastasia "Nastia" Nikolaevna, the cook), Bruce Alexander (Olymp Valerianovich Smetanich), Laurence Penry-Jones (Valerian Olympovich Smetanich, Olymp's elder son & suitor of Varvara and "Anastasia"), Daniel Hart (Anatoly, Olymp's younger son), David Collings (Caretaker/Autonom Sygizmundovich), Roger Sloman (Organ Grinder/Zotik Frazevich Zarchin), Sarah-Jane Drummey (Ariadna Pavlinovna Zarchina), Anabel Barnston & Alexandra Thomas-Davies (Tosia and Siusia, their daughters), Sean Jackson (man with drum), Carol Macready (Tamara Leopoldovna, Nadejda's friend), Michael Rouse (Krantic Narkis Smaragdovich), Harry Towb (Agaphangel, ex-soldier), Anne White (woman with parrot and tambourine/ Feliziata Gordeevna).

Lord Mayor's New Year's Day Parade. Over a hundred entries with a cast of thousands, US All-Star Bands, cheerleaders from highschools in Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Tokyo, the Universal Cheerleaders Association, cyclists on antique bicyles, steam engines, traction engines, floats, gigantic cartoon balloons, etc.

Nicholas Wright. His Dark Materials. Pt. I . (2003). Dir. Nicholas Hytner. Based on the trilogy by Philip Pullman. Set design by Giles Cadie. Puppet designer Michael Curry. Lighting by Paule Constable. Choreography by Aletta Collins. Music by Jonathan Dove. Fight design by Terry Kind. Sound design by Paul Groothuis. Cast: Elaine Symons (Lyra Belacqua), Jamie Harding (Pantalaimon, her daemon), David Harewod (Lord Asriel), Emma Manton (Stelmaria his daemon/Grimhild of Lapland), Samuel Roukin (Thorold his manservant/Balthamos), John Carlisle (Lord Boreal), Leslie Manville (Mrs. Coulter), Leo Kay (Golden Monkey, her daemon/Tullio of Cittágazze/Oxford library assistant), Adjoa Andoh (Serafina Pekkala, Queen of Lapland witches), Elliot Levey (Brother Jasper/Kaisa, Serafina's daemon), Michael Legge (Will Parry), Marc Buchner (Billy Costa/Paolo of Cittágazze), Helen Murton (Daisy/Pipistrelle of Lapland), Michelle Dockery (Jessie/Grendela of Lapland/Angelica of Cittágazze), Samantha Lawson (Lily/Tortured Witch/ Oxford Librarian), Vanessa Earl (Mrs. Lonsdale/Sister Clara of Bolvangar/Caitlin of Lapland), Rachel Sanders (Sister Betty of Bolvangar/Ruta Skadi, Queen of Latvian witches), Darren Hart (Roger Parslow, a kitchen boy), Victoria Moseley (his daemon Salcilia/Hester, Lee Scoresby's daemon/Perpetua, Brother Jasper's daemon), Don Gallagher (Professor Tonkin/ Iofur Raknison/Jeptha Jones/Mayor of Trollesund), Ian Gelder (John Faa, Lord of the Gyptians/Bear Patrol/President of the Geneva Consistorial Court), David Killick (Master of Jordan College/Farder Coram/Giacomo Paradissi of Cittágazze), Pascal Langdale (Ben/Bear Patrol), Iain Mitchell (Professor Hopcraft/Top-hatted man/Jopari a Shaman/Dr. Sargent), Chiké Okonkwo (Bearkeeper/Dr. Cade), Harry Peacock (Tony Costa/ Bear Patrol), Alan Perrin (Cawson, Steward of Jordan College/Lee Scoresby a balloonist), Alistair Petrie (Iorek Byrnison), Dodger Phillips (Dr. West), Nick Sampson (Fra Pavel). 3 hours. Olivier Award for Design.]

Sunday, January 2

Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne of Green Gables (2004). Dir. Andrew Loudon. Stage adaptation by Emma Reeves. Cast: David Baron (Matthew Cuthbert/Mr. Carr), Jenny Lee (Marilla Cuthbert/Marian), Ruth Gibson (Anne Shirley), Beccy Armory (Josie Pye/Mrs. Blewett), Matt Canavan (Gilbert Blythe), Joanna Croll (Ruby Gillis/Mrs. Barry), Tina Gray (Rachel Lynde/Miss Stacy), Lisa Hewitt (Diana Barry), Kali Nicholson (Katie Maurice).

Swan Lake (1995). Dir. and choreographed by Matthew Bourne. Musical Director Brett Morris. Wardrobe Manager Jocelyn Corderoy. Cast: Jason Piper (The Swan/ Stranger), Christopher Marney (Prince), Oxana Panchenko (Queen), Leigh Daniels (Girlfriend), Alan Mosley (Private Secretary), Ensemble of 31 other dansers. Based on Peter Ilich Tschaikowsky's ballet. [An Adventures in Motion Pictures Production.]

Monday, January 3

Jonathan Petherbridge, Writer & Director. Cinderella (1989). Tom Johnson Composer and Musical Director. A London Bubble Production. Cast: Minnie Crowe (Ella), Rachel Essex (Alberta), Dystin Johnson (Ruby), Tom Jude (Ronald), Cornelius Macarthy (Wilbert), Eric Maclennan (Charles), Simon Thomson (Florence), Katherine Vernez (Victoria). Rats from the Bubble ensemble.

David Eldridge. Festen (2004). Dir. Rufus Norris. Designer Ian MacNeil. Based on the Dogme film and play by Thomas Vintenberg and Mogens Rukow. Cast: Luke Malby (Christian), Rory Kinnear (Michael), Stephen Moore (Helge), Andrew Frame (Kim), Jane Asher (Else), Sam Beazley (Grandfather), Sam Cox (Poul), Andrew Maud (Lars), Ruth Millar (Pia), Lisa Palfrey (Mette), Patrick Robinson (Gbatokai), Claire Rushbrook (Helene), Michael Thomas (Helmut), Sinead Goodall (Child). [Olivier Award for Best Director; nominee for Best New Play.]

Tuesday, January 4

Henrik Ibsen. A Doll's House (1879), trans. Michael Meyer. Dir. Bruce Jamieson. Producer: Galleon Theatre Company (Alice de Sousa). Cast: Alice Grace (Nora), Stephen Russell-Bird (Torvald), Martin Beere (Dr. Rank), Alex Hutchinson (Krogstad), Kate Izon (Mrs. Linde), Stephanie Nielson (Helen).

Mustapha Matura. Playboy of the West Indies (1984). Dir. Nicholas Kent. Design by Adrianne Lobel. Cast: Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Peggy), Ben Bennett (Stanley), Shango Baku (Phil), Larrington Walker (Jimmy), Malcolm Frederick (Mikey), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Ken), Joy Richardson Mama Benin), Remi Wilson (Alice), Tracy Saunders (Ivy), Danny John-Jules (Mac). [Based on John Synge's Playboy of the Western World , adapted from Ireland to Trinidad. Twentieth anniversary production.]

Wednesday, January 5

George S. Kaufman and Howard Teichman. Solid Gold Cadillac (1954). Dir. Ian Brown, in association with the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. Cast: Patricia Routledge (Mrs. Laura Partridge), Roy Hudd (Edward McKeever), David Ross (Metcalfe), Lucy Briers (Miss Shotgraven), Fred Ridgeway (Gillie), Nick Haverson (Mark Jenkins), Kate-Lynn Hocking (Miss L'Arrier).

Thursday, January 6

Laurence Boswell. Beauty and the Beast (2003). Dir. Laurence Boswell. Set design by Jeremy Herbert. Costumes by Kandis Cook. Choreography by Stuart Hopps. Music by Mick Sands. Music Director John Woolf. Cast: Karen Paullada (Beauty), Gary Sefton (Beast), Beth Vyse (Beauty's sister Marie Claire), Sirine Saba (Beauty's sister Veronique / Beast's mechanical maid), Jan Pearson (narrator Helene/the good Witch), Darren Tunstall (Jean Louis, Beauty's father), Christian Flint (Beauty's brother Philipe), Daniel Tuite (brother Andre), Miltos Yerolemou (brother Emile/Beast's mechanical man).

William Shakespeare. Julius Caesar (1599-1601). Dir. David Farr. Design by Ti Green. Cast: Christopher Saul (Julius Caesar), Zubin Varla (Marcus Brutus), Adrian Schiller (Caius Cassius), Phillip Edgerley (Casca), Alex Avery (Decius Brutus), Merryn Owen (Cinna), Clifford Samuel (Trebonius), Richard Copestake (Metellus Cimber), Richard Clews (Caius Ligarius/Flavius), Patrick Romer (Cicero/ Lepidus), Andrew Melville (Popilius Lena/Cinna the Poet), Simon Scott (Artemidorus/Murellus), Laurence Mitchell (Octavius Caesar/Soothsayer), Gary Oliver (Mark Antony), Rachel Pickup (Portia, Wife of Brutus), Brigid Zengeni (Calphurnia, Wife of Caesar), Simon Watts (Lucius), Vanessa Ackerman (Antony's Servant), Endy McKay (Octavius' Servant), Emma Powell (Caesar's Servant).

Friday, January 7

Saturday, January 8

Stephen Sondheim. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979). Dir. John Doyle. Book by Hugh Wheeler, from adaptation by Christopher Bond. Cast: Paul Hegarty (Sweeney Todd), Karen Mann (Mrs. Lovett), Michael Howcroft (Beadle), Rebecca Jenkins (Johanna), Sam Kenyon (Tobias), David Ricardo-Pearce (Anthony), Colin Wakefield (The Judge), Stephanie Jacob (Pirelli/Fogg), Rebecca Jackson (Beggar).

Mel Brooks and Tom Meehan. The Producers (2001). Music and lyrics by Mel Brooks. Dir. and choreography by Susan Stroman. Cast: Cory English (Max Bailystock), Lee Evans (Leo Bloom), Sherrie Pennington (Usherette/Lick-me Bite-me), Emma Tunmore (Usherette), Kate Graham (Hold-me Touch-me), Hadrian Delacey (Mr. Marks/Kevin/Jack Lepidus/Sergeant/Trustee), Nicolas Collicos (Franz Liebkind), James Dreyfus (Carmen Ghia), Conleth Hill (Roger DeBris), Kenneth Avery-Clark (Bryan/Jason Green/Judge), Leigh Zimmerman (Ulla), Amanda Minihan (Kiss-me Feel-me/Foreman of the Jury), Gavin Staplehurst (Donald Dinsmore), Stephen Carlile (Lead Tenor), Simon Adkins (O'Rourke/Guard/Bailiff), James le Feuvre (O'Riley), Desi Valentine (O'Houllihan). [Olivier Award for Best Musical.]

Brian Clarke. Whose Life Is It Anyway (1978). Dir. Peter Hall. With Kim Cattrall (Claire Harrison). Janet Suzman (Dame Jane Millhouse), Ann Mitchell (Sister Anderson), William Chubb (Doctor Emerson), Amita Dhiri (Miss Hill), Alexander Siddig (Doctor Scott), Jotham Annan (John), Rachel Bavidge (Margaret Boyle), and Emma Lowndes (Nurse Kay Sadler).

Peter Whelan. The Earthly Paradise (2004). Dir. Robert Delamere. With Saffron Burrows (Janey Morris), Alan Cox (Dante Gabriel Rossetti), Sean Gilder (John Hennie), Nigel Lindsay (William Morris). [Based on the friendship of William Morris, his wife Janey, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in 1871.]

Jess Borgeson, Adam Long, and Daniel Singer. The Reduced Shakespeare Company's Compleat Works of Wllm Shksprr (abridged) (1994). Edited by Professor J. M. Winfield. Produced and performed by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield, Reed Martin. ["Brevity is the soul of wit!" — 37 plays in 97 minutes].

Seminar Participants:

Amanda Ahrens
Luke Arndt
Angela Ausen
Jacalyn Borchardt
Sara Cohen
Amanda Doyle
Aiesha Edwards
Celinda Gebhardt
Gabriela Jones
Cecil Hernandez
Ilana Kaplan-Slain
Samuel Kunjukunju
Jaime Lopez-Quigley
Christian Pulcini
Matthew Vnuk
Brenna O'Keefe
Geoffrey Bender
Kevin Cryderman
Russell and Ruth Peck

Although most students saw 18 plays (a few saw as many as 23), they were involved also in a host of other activities. Foremost, perhaps, is the fact that everyone got to know London well. Some took bus and boat tours, but mainly we did a lot of walking during the day and often at night would walk back to the hotel after plays — past the British Museum and Bloomsbury Square . Everyone went to several museums to see special exhibits as well as permanent collections: for example, the exhibits on the Ancient Treasures of Sudan, Japanese Swords, Mummy: The Inside Story, and the Matisse to Freud Exhibit at the British Museum (though mainly people simply wandered through the vast number of permanent holdings, especially the Egyptian and Greek); Winter in the Garden manuscript exhibit at the new British Library ; the Mariele Neudecker exhibit, the Turner exhibit, the paintings of Gwen John and Augustus John, and the PreRaphaelites, as well as the splendid 19th and 20th century holdings in general at the Tate Britain ; exhibits on international modern art, shrinking childhood, machinery, the Time Zones Exhibit, and Robert Frank at the new Tate Modern ; Art in the Making: Degas, and Raphael: From Urbino to Rome, as well as the fabulous permanent collections of Western European paintings in the National Gallery ; The G. F. Watts exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery ; the Eyes, Lies, and Illusions exhibit at the Hayward ; the Dali Universe at the County Hall, South Bank ; the Hermitage Rooms, the Gilbert Collection, and French drawings and paints from Poussin to Picasso at Somerset House ; the permanent collection of impressionist and post-impressionist painting and the Early Renaissance Gallery of Flemish and Italian Art at the Courtauld Institute ; the Imperial War Museum , with its exhibit on the Spanish Civil War (Picasso, Dali, and Magritte. plus documentary photographs, etc.); the Churchill Cabinet Rooms , which are preserved as Churchill and his staff left them at the end of World War II; England's Michelangelo, Visual Wit, and William Nicholson at the Royal Academy of Art ; the Architecture Gallery, Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Gallery, New Contemporary Glass Gallery, and Black British Style at the Victoria and Albert Museums ; Peter Pan: 100 Years and Still Flying at the London Theatre Museum ; The Wilde Years at the Barbican ; exhibits at the Public Record Office ; the Roman Technology, and The London Look: From Street to Catwalk, as well as the history of London exhibits at the London Museum ; the London Transport Museum with its exhibits of posters on the colors of winter and the glamour of London's night life; The Science of Christmas and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2004 at the always exciting Natural History Museum .

Students also visited famous places in London, such as The Tower with its special exhibit on the execution of the Earl of Essex, Parliament and Big Ben , St. Paul's Cathedral , St. Bartholomew's Church , the restored Globe Theater and museum, the excavation site of Shakespeare's Rose Theatre, Hampstead Heath , Kew Gardens , Hyde Park and the Speaker's Corner , Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, Westminster Abbey and the poet's corner, Kensington Palace and the Kensington Orangery and Gardens , Dickens House with its "Bright Faces" exhibit based on Nicholas Nickleby , Abbey Road , Kenwood House with its superb Vermeer collection, Covent Garden , Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum , the Wimbleton Tennis Museum , and Harrods , as well as famous pubs like the Sherlock Holmes , John Dryden's favorite pub The Lamb and the Staff , and the King's Head Pub where actors of the Royal Shakespeare Company gather after plays. In Stratford students visited Shakespeare's birthplace, his grammar school, and Holy Trinity Church, where he is buried. In London some rode the spectacular London Eye (the giant ferris wheel built for the millenium that now graces the south bank of the Thames — a marvel of architectural beauty comparable to the Eiffel Tower in Paris). Students also went to music events such as evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey , and concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Field . A few went to Windsor Castle , and everyone had a grand two hour interlude at Warwick Castle .