Author: William Larson Major: Theatre Performance Country: England Program: Faculty Led Theatre in London
On August 13, I finally returned home from traveling in Europe for three months. It was an incredible experience and I was surprised how much I learned that I hope will contribute to the final product of my honors thesis performance. My trip started with the university’s Theatre in London program, which was so much fun and, as I hoped, exposed me to a lot of theatre. My instructors were incredibly helpful and supportive of me pursuing my goals of studying European circus and how they can be used to tell stories One of my favorite occurrences was when we saw A Midsummer’s Night Dream at Bridge Theatre. The classes we had were a nice discussion-based class where we got to express our thoughts of the work we witnessed together and dissect different meanings and interpretations that made seeing the work more engaging. It was fascinating to me because I got to see how they used circus and aerial performers add to the narrative and create a clear separation between the faerie world and the mortal world. Once the university program concluded I began my backpacking tour across Europe. It was thrilling trekking around and visiting all the sites and major cities. I tried to experience as much of the city and culture along with observing the juggling scene. Some of the top cities I visited after London were Bruges, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Pamplona, Zurich, Rome, Berlin. I rode in a ton of trains using my Eurail pass that let me admire the continent’s countryside. I tried to experience as much of the culture I could in my short stay so I attended lots of walking tours and tried to eat as much local food as I could. I visited multiple juggling clubs and met several jugglers across the continent, but the most influential events were when I attended circus festivals and juggling conventions. I attended the Underbelly Festival in London, the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, Le Mans Circus Festival, The French National Juggling Convention, The European Juggling Convention, and Lastly the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I got the privilege to see so many theatre and circus shows. One of my favorite shows I saw was in the French National Convention. A company called La Mob a Sisyphe was showing their work in progress that was completely mesmerizing to me. It was a piece of circus theatre called The Eighth Day in reference to the eighth day of being unemployed and the struggles of boredom in fruitless, Sisyphean existence. The three players had to do things to entertain themselves which could involve a playful pratfall competition, to be creative on how you prepare chocolate milk, to producing an elaborately choreographed routine of throwing a single light bulb around. I happen to be reading the Myth of Sisyphus at the time so after the show, I spoke with them extensively and asked them to sign my copy of the book. They all thought it was funny and they look forward to seeing my future creations. What was so incredible about this trip was all the interesting people I got to meet along the way. I often stayed with jugglers that help me get to know the city and the juggling scene in the area. It was their incredible generosity that made this trip so special. Sometimes I would arrive in a city without any idea where I was going to be staying the night or what I was going to do, and a juggler would extend their kindness to me. One friend I made in Rennes later housed me in Edinburgh, he even gave me his pass so I could see free shows all over town. Another friend I met in El Paso a few years back gave me backstage access to one of my favorite juggling groups in The European Juggling Convention. That is what I most admire about the juggling community. We are all connected through this one odd passion of manipulating objects in space and with that shared motivation we become closer. I made so many incredible friends that I am excited to see them again in the future.
I would recommend the Theatre in London study abroad program to any student who loves theatre and wants to experience another culture with low risk. But for the experienced traveler, I would greatly recommend becoming a juggler and touring around Europe and meeting these fantastic people. I just wish I did a little bit more planning, so I had more of an idea of what I was doing each day. The first thing I did when I got back home was go to Wendy’s, because they have all kinds of American fast food ingrained in their society, but I never saw a Wendy’s.