Then Jenni and I went to the National Gallery of Art which is about a 2 minutes walk from my apartment. It was so much fun... the art was beautiful. I saw a collection of miniatures illustrations done for a Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales as well as loads of Irish painters from the 18th and 18th century.
After about 2 hours we head back home and made lunch (which included me eating more nutella). Then headed to Devising class. Then rushed from Devising to the show, 'La Clique' which was a 20 minutes run-walk from Gaiety.
The show... was INCREDIBLE. Oh my goodness. Let me just take a moment.
Fun Fact:I have been wasting my time dating actors and singers. I should pursue circus performers.
The show began with a large wonderful black man in drag singing Nessun Dorma.
The first act was two (extremely attractive) 'English' men (The English Gents... look them up.) in pinstripe suits who performed so FANTASTIC feats of acrobatics. I mean, this guy stood on his partner's head. Literally. Then switched and was on one had. Balanced on his partners head. Oh right... then they preceded to strip down to their Irish flag underwear... and do more crazy stuff. I have never seen muscles like that in my life.
Fun Fact: It was awesome.
The second act was a fabulous man named Mario, Queen of the Circus. The fun thing was... he performed juggling to a Queen song. Hence the name.
Then the was a man dressed as Betty Doll doing a hilarious Silks routine.
Then there was the beautiful awesome girl who performed hula hoop tricks.
Captain Frodo, the clutzy, hilarious contortionist who threw confetti for emphasis. He was a crowd favorite.
Then, was Bathtub guy. At least that is how we describe him. He was basically was in the bathtub... then he did this intense rope routine thingy. I can't really describe it but it was sweet.
Fun fact: Its called being an 'aerialist'. Good to know.
Intermission. And yes... I am going to describe ever act and YOU WILL ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF IT.
Ok.
Nessun Dorma came back and sang "Circle of Life/Umbrella" wearing a zebra print jump suit, a giant hot pink fro and matching leg warmers.
My old pal, Mario road a unicycle to Queen's "Bicycle Race" and juggled a bit more. I love him and his fake (painted) mustache.
Then this BEAUTIFUL (not using that word lightly) young woman performed the most haunting trapeze routine. Her feet were bleeding by the end... my friend Joey( who had worked with Circus people) told me that trapeze is all about the pain and that it never stops hurting. Made the whole thing more haunting and sad. Ah!
Then my adorable zebra man came back and sang some Radiohead. Made me think fondly of Rockband.
Then. Oh.My.Goodness. Came the The Skating Aratas. A moment of silence please. They are 7th generation circus performers. Yah. They... well basically I am not sure I can explain what the heck they did on that stage... there was some crazy stuff happening. It was like being ON the skating rink during an ice skating routine but 10 times more intense. I was literally about 8 feet from a woman being spun around at HIGH speeds holding on with her ankles around her partners neck. Then they did this thing wear she had the rope thing around her neck and was like spinning herself ... wait for it... BY HER FLIPPIN' NECK. Youtube that stuff, NOW. OH.MY.GOSH. It was act was extremely sexy actually which was a little weird when I found out they were brother and sister. But I digress.
Then we crowd surfed Mario to "We are the Champions". A whole new meaning to crowd interaction.
Captain Frodo came back and did some more double jointed awesomeness...
They all came back and the crowd was on their feet screaming and yelling and clapping like mad. It was insane. I haven't been that excited by a show is FOREVER. I mean I was literally beside myself. BLAH!
I came home feeling quite un-extraordinary and decided to eat more Nutella. I bought the jar Saturday... its basically gone. Yep.
The show was... AWESOME. Today was AWESOME. Dublin is AWESOME.
I basically did nothing today. Except eat. I did a lot of that.
Saw Dorian Gray with some folks. Very entertaining film actually.
Got out and got distracted talking to people and missed the last train home. :( Hung out with some people for a bit then Nina and I caught a taxi home. Our taxi driver was so cool though and chatted with us. He was a native Dubliner and told us that he works the night shift so he often gets people to give him directions via Pubs not streets. Brilliant. He didn't over charge us either which was refreshing.
I am exhausted but hopefully I will get my butt out of bed tomorrow and go to the Museum of Art. I have class in the afternoon then going to see 'La Clique' afterwards. First piece of Dublin Fringe Theatre... I'm intrigued.
Had Pub time with the roommates and Joey and Josh last night then went to the Eddie Rockets for Cheese and Garlic Chips. Not as 'yum' as I had desired.
This morning we all got up to go see a Fringe show... which was sold out. We did stumble upon a open air market. Bought a fruit scone. :) Wandered a bit more. Found another market and bought some fresh fruit. Decided that we were going to have Irish Breakfast for dinner.
Headed home for a bit then I took off on my own to find a closer grocery store because I was positive their had to be one. I wandered for about and hour with no success but it was so beautiful and nice out I didn't really care. I finally found a shop and bought groceries then began my trug home. Stop in the park since it was so wonderful out... I read " Protrait of Dorian Gray" in the park for a while before walking the rest of the way home.
I get lost in the city every time I go about myself. I don't care though. I love walking through this city so much it doesn't bother me.
Currently everyone is crowed around my apartment making Breakfast. Its loud... and smelly. I am listening to Irish music loud to drown out the arguing.
Started the day out right with some yoga followed by Acting with Donal, where, within a period of 2 and a half hours I was a blind, a bumper car, a child, and a prostitute. I learned a very valuable life lesson too... the answer is always Mel Gibson. Always.
Then we had Movement/Dance. This class kicks my butt. Bikrama yoga warm up to start. We continued learning this strange right brain/left brain dance/ movement combo-thing... I seriously don't know how to describe what the heck it is. Then we spent forever walking around the room emphasizing different traits we have followed by a lot of very Movement-y things.
Then, ladies and gents, came Contemporary Irish Drama. By this time I am so tired its a bit ridiculous. Its also 6:30 at night with no dinner break in sight. So the combination of low blood sugared tired sickness... but I digress. I titled my notes "Contempary Irish Drama." Yes. Re-read that. Off to a bad start, Jule. Bad form indeed. My professor, however, is... how do you say... a fox. Yes. I said fox. He could be described with the term foxy without any qualms from anyone. And not a "Oh he is an artist and a doctor and Irish" foxy. Just plain foxy-foxy. I am going to stop using the word foxy now.
Anyway. He also will more than likely eat my children. He is a scary quiet angry Irish man. With a PhD. Who has written a book. Who could not possibly be older than early 30s, and I mean EARLY.
Fun Fact: His name is Dr. Walsh. I know... mindblown.
No one came to the class having read the required first day reading... because we never got the syllabus. But before he knew that... he was very very angry. I coward in my seat. I got slightly more relaxed as the class progressed but not comfortable. No, that is not a feeling I believe I will feel during that class.
OK. Quick update. Classes are good. Great, in fact. I had Voice class this morning ( Movement/Dance, Acting and Devising yesterday). Went grocery shopping because I had run out of food because I eat way too much here.
Dublin is legit. I live literally a block away from where Oscar Wilde lived. A block. I walked by it not an hour ago. Now it houses the Irish American University, but still. I feel like every literature major HAS to come here. Its like a literature mecca. James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats...
Oh, and guess what? Conor McPherson is giving a talk in two weeks at the Gate Theatre. Conor Freakin' McPherson, ladies and gents. I have been re-familiarizing myself with his plays since I found out and its ridiculous because he talks about these pubs and streets and places... that I go to every day.
We aren't allowed to wear makeup to class, at all. Also, we wear all black to class every day. My individuality is waning... but getting ready in the morning is so much easier.
Today in Voice class we did individual hands on work with Cathal (our 'tutor' as he is called here). My 'tutors' are named Antoinette, Diane, Cathal, and Donal. Sweetest names ever, right? I think next month when my Voice and Devising classes become integrated with Irish students who are studying at the Gaiety we are going to meet Padreig, the head of the Gaiety School of Acting. The man who kicked Collin Farrell out of his school. Good lookin' out, Padreig. He is a large, very intimidating man I am told.
A large, very scary pigeon just landed loudly on my windowsill. People here have the weirdest obsession with pigeons. I have never seen people feed pigeons (and not old ladies in the park, we are talking young business men too) as much as they do here. Its the oddest thing.
