Producing a Producer: Melanie's New Adventure: Musical Theatre Intensive, Oxford Adventures and A Few New Shows

This week we had a three day intensive for our Musical Theatre Writing class. This marks the end of class meetings for this elective but we still have our final project to finish in these remaining weeks of the term. A 15 minute musical must be written and will be performed at a very low tech event, the last week of term. I am looking forward to this project. I'm paired with a student composer, a German musician whose last name is Wagner so, I feel I am in good hands.

This week also brought trips to the theatre. Tickets were bought for our class to attend a show Thursday evening called The Government Inspector. The play is a classic Russian satire by Nikolai Gogol and the adaptation we saw is by David Harrower. Harrower and I have a history. I worked with him on a play for the Masters I did in Scotland at the RSAMD. The Government Inspector was a touring production from Birmingham Repertory Theatre and was performed at Stratford East Theatre. Our class will tour Stratford East this coming week and it was wonderful to see the space in action prior to our tour.

Saturday was a big day. My friend, Trish and I took a little adventure over to Oxford. Oxford is an easy trip from London. It is only about an hour by train. Both Trish and I had been to Oxford before but, it had been many years for both of us. I wanted to seek out a piece of family history my cousin told me about. In the dining hall of Oriel College, which is one of the colleges that make up Oxford University, is a stained glass window with the coat of arms of one of our Wiliford ancestors. Edmund Wylsford was a vice chancellor at Oxford around 1515 and his legacy is represented in the stained glass window at Oriel College. We also took a walking tour of Oxford and were guided through some of the town's highlights. It was a lovely day and wonderful to get a little history lesson.

Today I saw two shows. Both were part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe Series. The matinee was called In Celebration of Mo. The playwright is my friend and fellow 8Squared producer Dale Neuringer. The evening show was called I'm Not Jesus Christ by Maria Manolescu. I don't know the writer of the that one but Trish does and that's how I came to the show. Both shows were at pub theatres. Pub theatres are popular here in London and are what they say on the tin, a theatre in a pub. Many are small black box like performance spaces upstairs from the bar. This makes post show drinks super easy and is a great way for the pub to increase its foot traffic.

This week is full steam ahead. I have meetings and appointments and lots of work to do on all my assignments, projects and presentations. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, have a look around your area and see if any pubs or restaurants also offer any artistic programs.

Until next time!
Take care!
-m