“Happiness is a state of mind! It’s just according to the way you look at things.”
-Walt Disney
I’m writing hot off the heels of my Dramatic Criticism class, where weekly, us students get together with our instructor to painstakingly point out all the flaws in every piece of theatre we see. I find it hard to take part in this class because it’s SO much easier to nit pick personal dislikes than it is to appreciate a certain director or actor or designer’s personal vision for a play. I know they’re just opinions…and I know we’re supposed to be critical (not mean!)…but if we artists don’t defend each other, who will?
So, that’s why the title is what it is! Just enjoy theatre, feel what you feel, if you go into the show wanting to find something wrong with it…well that’s just no fun at all!
ENOUGH! Let me tell you about my adventures this week now!
So, this weekend me and my roommates went on a guided bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath! (So, I guess you can say we got stoned and took a bath…..sorry. Okay, I had to. Stop. I thought it was funny!) On the way to Stonehenge we passed miles and miles of beautiful farmland separated by hedgerows and stone walls! The whole place really looked like a giant green patchwork quilt. The air was so fresh I could’ve bottled it and sold it to Chinese people who spend their lives breathing in smog! (MAXWELL.) Anyways, this is the crazy thing about Stonehenge…it was constructed between 3000 and 2000 BCE by prehistoric tribes of people. We don’t know WHY. The two types of rock used for the monument were blue stone and sarsen stone. The sarsen stone was dragged from 20 MILES AWAY. DRAGGED. BY PEOPLE. THESE 30-TON SLABS OF STONE. And the blue stone was taken from 3 miles away! WHY on EARTH did they drag these things all the way to THIS spot?? It blows my mind. And the blue stone is volcanic rock so it’s slightly warmer than the sarsen stone. The blue stone is in the inner circle of the formation, so scholars suggest this was a place of healing. Oh, what’s even more remarkable-The arrangement of stones matches up with the solar calendar AND the lunar calendar. (Yeah, big deal, Taylor, they can see the sun and moon, what’s so impressive?) WELL, voices in my head-People in that time lived only to be about 20. The lunar calendar is 18.5 years. Do you know how intelligent these prehistoric people had to be in order to track the movement of the moon over generations and then BUILD a giant stone structure that perfectly aligned with it? SO INTELLIGENT. I have one explanation:
ALIENS.
Okay, I’m kidding. (OR AM I) But seriously, though, how did they do it? This kind of mystery is so fascinating!!
After my mindblowing Stonehenge experience, our chipper tour guide, Alice, corralled the group on to the bus. From Stonehenge, it was another winding road through the countryside (past a LOT of sheepies!) to Bath! The best thing about Bath (besides how it has the only natural hot spring in the UK) are their building regulations! Since historic Bath was built with nearby quarries’ limestone, all new projects must use the architectural style and materials of historic Bath! That way, the whole town looks like this amazing, synchronized civilization! Tall, thin, yellowish buildings nestled in the valley emerged as the bus rounded the last hill. Rows upon rows of them became more detailed as we got closer, revealing the subtle differences and quirks in each. The cobblestone roads shined in the rain when we arrived, making the whole town look like a movie set. We toured the Roman Baths, which was a Roman temple and bathhouse built around an ancient hot spring. It was beautiful to see the hot water making mist in the cold winter air…I could imagine the allure of such a place before central heating became a thing. We all got to taste the water, too, which supposedly heals people because of it’s obnoxious mineral content. (Let’s be real, though, it tasted like pennies and playground equipment-and my sore throat was the opposite of healed!) But hey, it’s fun to pretend! After that, of course, we headed to the local Lush and bought ourselves a couple Bath bath bombs! (They’re bubbling concentrated soap bars that fizz in your bath to make one feel super fancy whilst you marinate in your own person soup-incredibly necessary after a long day in the rain.)
Alrighty, friends-that’s all I’ve got for you today! (PS- I SAW RALPH FIENNES IN THE MASTER BUILDER AT THE OLD VIC AND I CAN’T WAIT TO TELL MY FUTURE CHILDREN THAT I SAW VOLDEMORT PERFORM IN PERSON AND MY LIGHTNING BOLT SCAR DIDN’T EVEN BURN OKAY RANT OVER.)
Okay my mother and my two other favorite women are coming to grace me with their presence tomorrow and I MUST go to bed now so that the day comes sooner! SO FAREWELL! I can’t wait to fill you all in after my mid-semester break adventures!
Cheers!
Taylor