We are here in our third day in Scotland and we had our Tech Rehearsal tonight at Pilrig Studio and we open on Monday night. The theatre is actually Pilrig St. Pauls, The Church of Scotland, which was founded in 1843. The church building is French Gothic architecture made of stone with lovely yellow wooden laminated pews and altar, and soaring wooden arches. There is a huge pipe organ behind the altar. They have built a theatre into the hall above the church, and this is where we are performing Godspell. All the students are working at a fever pitch of excitement, and are totally immersed in either something related to the show, or going out and seeing as much of the performing arts as possible. During the previous days we have been exploring the city, and as a group, collectively, have attended more than 50 productions. A brief sampling of some of the shows we have seen: Chaplin - a wonderful story about his life away from the camera, The Alchemist - by Renaissance playwright Ben Johnson, which was performed in an alley behind a restaurant, Baby Wants Candy - an improvisational comedy show, and one of the hottest tickets at the Fringe, The Curing Room - about Russian soldiers locked in a bunker, The Odyssey - a musical about Odysseus put on by a childrens theatre, Lorraine and Alan - a play about a seal who turns into a woman, Sweeney Todd - you all know this title I am sure, and there have been many many more... Dan Unitas was in a group that saw 5 plays in one day on Saturday, and Elliot Queale is determined to best that on one of our future free days. John Moses purchased a real wool Scottish scarf. The band guys, Drew Bostwick, Andrew Vendelis, Quinn Hopins and Danny Vinton, earned 40 pounds playing music on the street for two hours. Many of the students have hiked to the top of Arthurs Seat which overlooks the city, and Danny Vinton has run to the top each morning. Dan ONeill attended church on Sunday morning at the University of Edinburgh. Mrs. Fink, the Musical Director is determined that we should go see the church where the DaVinci Code was filmed. The days are flying by, but really, we have just started our reason for coming here because Godspell opens tomorrow!
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 23:13:12 +0000