Westminster Abbey

Friday May 20, 2011

National Theatre & “The Holy Rosenbergs”

Today we went on a Tour of The National Theatre; there are 3 theatres in the building! We went into all three and backstage as well. All production happens in house for each show. Two of the theatres have a storage area where they can move an entire set into storage allowing them to set another set in its place. There can be up to 6 productions running at any given time. The Cottesloe Theatre is the smallest and most intimate. It is considered a “blank canvas” stage because it is an open area that can be arranged in many ways. It does not have a set stage.

After our tour we watched a very touching production called The Holy Rosenbergs. I was in tears at the end of the play and loved how intimate the space of the theatre was. During the intermission we were able to walk onto the set and take a closer look at it. That was y favorite part. The set was in the middle and it was the living room of the Rosenbergs. It was as if we were the walls looking upon this family who was dealing with a crisis. The actors did an amazing job at interpreting their characters. The script was great and it looked at family relationships closely and put out their pain, their joy and fears all out there for the audience to take in.  After we did stay and asked a few of the actors for their autographs.