A dozen drama students to travel across seas to study the art of acting
Shakespeare wrote, “All the world is a stage.” However, Shakespeare’s theater productions, and many other traditional greats, were all created and performed in England.
A dozen USU students will get to experience the theatre history of England firsthand this summer.
For the sixth consecutive year, the USU theatre department will have students go to England for five weeks to live and study at Northampton University. They will perform a play at a historic English manor and travel throughout Great Britain and Europe. Additionally, they will experience the theatre community of England by attending five plays in London and visiting museums such as a costume museum in Bath, England.
“I know of no other university that does a trip like this,” said Lynda Linford, a professor in the theatre department who organizes the program and directs the student play. She said other universities go to England to study and produce summer plays, but no other program performs inside a museum or mansion such as the Kenmarsh Estate.
The group will rehearse their play at least four times a week in England beginning the first day, Linford said. Students are expected to have their parts memorized before they arrive so they can take advantage of their already limited practice time.
This year the USU group will perform “The Constant Wife” by William Somerset Maugham. The play, set in the 1920s, begins as a comedy but evolves into a debate about the equality of the sexes, Linford said. While the play was written in 1929, it enjoyed a recent revival in both England and the United States, where it was nominated for multiple Tony Awards.
Linford attributes the enduring nature of the play to the complexity of the piece and its relevance of its message today.
“We need a piece of literature worthy of intense scrutiny,” Linford said. “Actors and actresses of stature would want to do it.”
The group goes far beyond their rehearsals to learn the play. Their experience is designed to help them immerse themselves in the setting of the play. They will read other works of Maugham’s and information about the 1920s era. However, they will also go beyond the books by immersing themselves in the era through the art, theatre and history in England.
Northampton University proclaims in its summer manual to live by the educational maxim, “He who looks, sees; he who listens, hears; but he who DOES, understands.”
The entire Northampton program is designed around helping students experience the setting of the plays they are in, Linford said. During this trip. The students will visit English historical landmarks and museums that help them get into their characters and setting of “The Constant Wife.”
“It’s like being inside a painting instead of looking at a painting from the outside,” Linford said.
Additionally, being in England helps students learn and practice their British accents for the play, Linford said. “You start thinking in a British accent,” she said.
However, while learning the accent was easier, Leticia Minharo, a junior theatre major who participated in the England trip last year, said it was nerve-wracking to perform the British dialect in front of an invitation-only British audience at their concluding concert at Kelmarsh Estate.
The Kelmarsh Estate has been visited by princes, dukes and queens from across Europe, including the Queen Elizabeth, Linford said. It still stands as an example of an 18th century aristocratic setting, although it was decorated by noted interior decorator Nancy Lancaster, who helped define the traditional country house look, according the Estate’s Web site.
Although the program is centered on the group’s theatre experience, they also are able to travel throughout England and Europe. They will spend a weekend in Florence and Venice, Italy, and some students have visited Paris, Scotland and Amsterdam, Linford said.
“I’ve always wanted to study abroad, and this is one of the best ways I could do it,” said Jenna Carrington, a freshman theatre major at USU who will be going to England this year.
Minharo said the England trip has helped her with her school program this year.
“I didn’t stop working on my major during the summer,” said Minharo. “I was prepared a little better (in the fall) and was more comfortable. It helped me stay in the groove.”
The theatre department’s England studies will begin on July 7 and continue until Aug. 10. The theatre department is still looking for extra participants for this year’s England trip. Previous theater experience is not required. Anyone interested can contact Linford at 797-3050 or by e-mail at llinford@hass.usu.edu.
-tliljegren@cc.usu.edu