K. - S. - i - n - g

You’ll never guess whom I saw tonight.

I saw KEVIN SPACEY. *go wild*

This afternoon, my friends and I nabbed student tickets to see Spacey staring in Eugene O’Neil’s Moon for the Misbegotten! We saw it at the Old Vic Theatre, where Spacey is the artistic director. Apparently he’s received criticism in the past for not appearing in enough roles, so this performance has been especially anticipated by London.

We got second row seats for only 12 pounds, the student rate! Unfortunately, they weren’t quite the second row seats we imagined. Rather, they were second row seats on the first tier, pushed allll the way to the right side of the semi-circular theater. In order to see the stage, I had to lean all the way forward with my chin on the banister. Still, I felt really close to the actors, especially since the size of British theaters is much more intimate. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! Whether I liked it or not.

And luckily, I did like it! Spacey was AMAZING. O’Neil’s work is typically marked by a sobering emotional sensitivity, and Spacey really did justice to the play. The first act was much slower than the second. I spent a good part of it in awe of the fact that I was just meters away from the guy in Superman and The Usual Suspects (kind of distracting). But the second half was so moving, I cried through a good portion of it. At one point, Spacey as Tyrone just sobs and sobs into someone’s lap, and I just started crying out of the pure empathy of the moment.

Like any classic, the play reaches down into some of the most haunting and delicate struggles of being human. Even though the characters are older, I think young people would do especially well to see it because of the way it addresses certain insecurities and threats to innocence.

Anyway, since most people haven’t seen or read the play before, this is all a bunch of gibberish, and I don’t want to get too English-y (whoops, too late). So I’ll just say anyone who is a person should see it. There.

After the play, we went over to the stage door to see Mr. Spacey! After several minutes of lunging at people who turned out to be no one we recognized, a little window opened up, and Mr. Spacey received autographs through the little hole. At first I didn’t want to go up because I thought I would be annoying. I felt bad that he must get this all the time.

But my friend Liz gave me good advice. “You’re being lame,” she said and pushed me into line. He was clearly a really nice guy, but I still felt nervous. I stepped up to the window and slid my little brochure toward him and stammered, “Thank you so much for your performance tonight. You were really amazing.” There was a pause, and he looked up, just realizing I had said something.

“Thank you,” he said. I nodded.

But boy was I happy that Liz made me go!

This is how I felt when I got the autograph:
















Even though this is how I looked when I asked for it:
















And here's a picture of all us who went. Note that we took two pictures and somehow I was talking in both. Whoops.

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Last night, I had the best meal I’ve had in England so far! I spent the afternoon with Shann at the Picadilly Circus Waterstones, where I had tried in vain to find some books for class. So, we went upstairs and plopped ourselves down on a red, cushiony couch. I read my class packet and then 60 pages of Jane Eyre (a book I Love so far).

Afterward, I met my two Chinese flatmates to go eat at a Korean restaurant! Technically, only one is my real flatmate and the other is my flatmate’s friend who is living out of the same room because he has no home yet. But, puh, what are technicalities?

I met Vincent (the one without a home) in Oxford Circus where we met Johnny, the other guy. The Korean restaurant was really nice, with frosted glass separators between restaurant sections. They ordered a TON of food: two orders of glass noodles, kim chee, kim chee with tofu, two orders of stone rice, a huge pot of soup noodles, ribs, bugolgi, and pork. Vincent also ordered a bottle of wine for us all to share, since he had acquired a taste for wine while traveling in Paris. Vincent and Johnny frequently say the phrase, “It’s really very nice,” which they applied to every single dish that came out.

At the end I was STUFFED SILLY but very happy. Vincent was really nice, too, and picked up the bill for all of us!

Pictures from the night:

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I am thinking about purchasing a space blanket for when I travel, since I get really cold and have no portable blanket with me. Is this a good idea or bad idea?

Anyway, it’s really, really late now. This post took Forever because my iPhoto's export function is broken, so everything takes a long time. Tomorrow Martha and I are going to the Senate House Library to read for class.