Me looking out at the city from the Tower Bridge glass walkway

Author: Jackson Smith | Major: Theatre | Semester: Summer 2023

This summer I had the opportunity to spend a month in London as a part of the Theatre in London study abroad program. While open to students of any discipline, this program was especially valuable to me as a theatre student because it gave me the chance to take in a lot of high quality theatre that I can use to fuel my own designs and other theatre pursuits in my career. Rather than being a more traditional class structure where we all meet daily to have lectures or discussions, the Theatre in London program was largely an experience based course. Every day we would have new places in and around London that we would go to and explore as a group, whether it be the Tate Modern, St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, or even day trips like the ones we took to Bath or Oxford, we were always taking in art and history in a more direct way than you can get in a classroom setting. The other main aspect of the course was the shows that we would go to see as a group. Included in the program were tickets to 11 pieces of theatre, ranging from fringe shows with a month-long run to shows on the West End that have been running for over 70 years. We even got to see two shows at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, those being A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Comedy of Errors.

We often had free time in the evenings, giving us the opportunity to explore London’s theatre scene even further, and during these times I was able to see an additional 6 shows that interested me. Of these the most impactful shows were a brand new production of The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh and the current West End production of Cabaret. In total I saw 17 shows, and while not all of them were my favorite, each one of them taught me something new about theatre, or left me with a piece of inspiration that I am sure I will pull from as I now enter my professional theatre career.

This program marks the end of my time at the University of Arkansas, and I could not have asked for a better closing act! London was a fantastic city full of history and art, and the culture around theatre there was such a refreshing change of pace from how theatre is often viewed in America. Everyone seems to have such a respect for the artform, and it really reinvigorated my passion for theatre, I could even see myself moving to London someday to work in the theatres there. I have known about this program since my freshman year, but originally had little interest in it and had practically decided to not study abroad at all. However, something changed this last year, and I’m not sure what it was, but I decided to go out on a whim and give the program a shot. It was certainly stepping out of my comfort zone, as I have never left the country and had no idea how I would feel being away from home for a month, but I am so glad I did it. If you’re feeling how I felt my freshman year, uninterested in the idea of studying abroad and skeptical of how impactful the experience would be, then I urge you to just give it a try. If you hate it, it’s only a month, but if you love it like I did, then it will stick with you forever.