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Megan Kunkelman ’07 (Narvon, Pa.) is a Marquis Scholar with a double major in English and music. She spent her winter break in London and Dublin taking the three-week interim-session course The London Theatre, taught by Michael C. O’Neill, director of theater and associate professor of English, and Mary Jo Lodge, assistant professor of English. Below is a first-person account of her experiences. Many students share their experience and images of interim-abroad courses in “Through My Eyes, In My Words.”
Having never traveled outside of the U.S. before, I wasn’t too sure what to expect on my trip to London. I grew up in the farmland of Lancaster County, so when I got separated from my group on our first night in London, it occurred to me that the weeks ahead may prove more challenging than I anticipated. And this was certainly the case.
During my time in Stratford-upon-Avon, London, and Dublin, I was exposed to a variety of theater performances and forms, ranging from musicals, to plays, to operas, to avant-garde. This trip challenged my perceptions of what theater is and should be, as well as opened my eyes to the many different forms, conventions, designs, and directorial choices employed in each and every production for specific and (hopefully) effective reasons.
We saw a total of 13 productions, with some of my favorites being Spamalot, History Boys, The Seafarer, and Pericles. Some productions I loved, others I didn’t. But regardless of the performance, each one presented specific challenges and difficulties, whether emotional, intellectual, or moral. And regardless of my personal opinion of each production, I learned throughout the trip how to be an informed theatergoer and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each production.
However, I could have just as easily become an informed theatergoer without traveling across the Atlantic, right? Wrong. One of the greatest benefits of this trip was seeing the very sites that played a role in the production of some of theater’s works. We toured the Globe Theater in London, where all of Shakespeare’s works were originally performed, visited Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-upon-Avon, and we toured the many pubs in Dublin where some of the greatest Irish playwrights did their work.
Even though this was a course in the London theater, the trip certainly had much to offer outside of the theater realm. There was no mistaking that London is very much a city embedded with an individually unique history. Much of our free time was dedicated to visiting sites such as the Warwick Castle, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, and so on. I experienced everything from the hectic activity of the open-air markets to the ritual changing of the guard.
My favorite site to visit was Westminster Abbey, an Anglican church that is also the burial grounds for much of England’s royalty. The church is architecturally beautiful and the interior breathtaking, but as a Christian, the most exciting aspect of this visit was having the opportunity to worship there during their Sunday morning service. It was exciting to know that men and women have been attending this church for nearly a thousand years to worship the same God that I do today.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time abroad—immersing myself in both the theater and the culture of England and Dublin. Although I’d strongly recommend this trip to anyone looking for an entertaining and educational experience, I must also caution you as well. Enjoy the theater, marvel at the sites, but do not be fooled, the London Bridge is highly overrated.