Thursday, October 05, 2006

London Calling

(Globe Theatre)

Here we are, safe and sound in London. This has certainly been an interesting, exhausing several days. But, that is the whirlwind nature of our program. We are staying in another place called International Student's House, but it is of a far lesser quality than the one in New York. Yesterday we went to the Globe Theatre and saw Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors. It was a very funny production, and it was pretty cool that the theatre is an open air one. I was just happy that we were sitting down and not in the standing room only section.

Our first New Media activities were today, and the more intersting of the two was our visit to John Wyver and his Illuminations television production studio. Wyver has worked with Illuminations for almost 25 years, and recently won an international Emmy (which is incredibly impressive). Illuminations produces art and avant-garde related programming for British Public Television. And as it turns out, John Schott and John Wyver have known each other since both were producers of arts programs in the 1980s. (I must admit that John Schott has the most amazing contacts, and they seem to be everywhere.)

During our session with Wyver, we discussed the differences between British and American public television, and how the British actually have an allotted amount in their television budget for arts programming, unlike in the US. It's sad to think that arts programming receives the shaft in the US, especially when it is innovative and interesting like the programs that Illuminations creates. As an example, they won the Emmy for their televised production of the opera Gloriana. It was an innovative production because it mixed footage of the actual opera with behind the scenes footage of the lead actress preparing for her role; all of this to establish both the main character and the actress that portrays her as the center of their respective realms.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home