Day 30 VCUK-8 July 2019

Today I got up early and did laundry and then went to the cafe around the corner called Fork and had a pot of tea and a scone with clotted cream and jam for breakfast. I worked on my blog and I uploaded all my photos to facebook. I got a big pimple over night which sucks.

Then I went back and had a sandwich for lunch and then worked on the bench with Jess. I made a little app interface for it since I felt like I didn't do anything since she made the bench mockup. Our bench is two seats with a partition in the middle and the partition has a screen that will connect you to the person next you or to another person around the world that will help you socialize and make friends.

We went and presented it to Andrew of Greyworld and he showed us some more of his work and then we all presented. He was impressed with everyone's benches and our decks. Our bench is really flawed so I think it was the second worst but I don't really care cause I'm not putting this in my portfolio anyway. The partition sorta prevents people from talking but then again most people wouldn't just start up a conversation with people next to them. I also feel like the "friend bench" was one of everyone's first ideas. That and a bench that pops out of the ground from stepping on a pressure plate which is what "won". He liked it the best cause it could be actually made which everyone's a bit miffed about because he said that it could be whatever and didn't have to be makeable. He also really liked Emma and Xander's which was naked people in weird positions that looked and felt like real people but are benches and it's a metaphor and would be in a museum space. It was creepy cool and I think it would be cool to actually exist.

Then I went back to the flat and hung out in Radish's flat and watched Hwarang. Then I had sandwich for dinner and then went to Piccadilly for the show!

Mom bought me a ticket to see Everybody's Talking About Jamie because apparently all her friends are talking about it. It was good! At first I wasn't feeling it cause the guy who played Jamie wasn't a great singer and all the music is eh pop music but the show was funny and the best friend character had an amazingggg voice. Also there were 3 drag queens! And then there was a guy who was in drag sometimes and sometimes not. I'm sorta upset cause Jamie was never in drag sorta. The plot is pretty basic: Jamie is different, he's gay and wants to be a Drag Queen and his only support is his best friend and his Mom and Aunt. The teacher at school tells him it's not a career and that he can't dress up like that cause it's against policy. His Dad is fully absent and hates him cause he's "not a boy". Jamie's mom buys him shoes and then he meets a drag queen at the drag queen store who becomes his mentor and gives him a dress for free and sets him up for his first gig. Jamie is nervous about the gig but then there's a song and he does it. He quick changes on stage into drag but he never turns around and then they just sorta show a video of him in drag on a big curtain which is fine and all but I was expecting at least one good drag performance out of him. His drag performance is great and all his classmates saw and now love him and then he's super flamboyant at school and gets in trouble again. All throughout this there's one bully who actually kissed him once but is still super mean. Then he wants to go to prom in drag but the school finds out and says no. Then he find out his Dad doesn't want him and his mom's been lying his whole life and he goes out and gets beat up. Then there's a Mom song and then a son song. Then there's a "you're beautiful" song from his best friend which was pretty and she has an amazing voice. It ends happy and he goes to prom in a dress but not drag and then the teacher says no but all the students refuse to go in without him and then she allows it. I'm a bit confused cause I thought they didn't have Prom here?

A super cool thing was that the cast was super diverse (but sadly no asian representation) and had two hijab characters (the best friend and another girl)! I'm curious if the drag queens were actual queens who can sing or if they just hired actors and then taught them drag. I feel like the three were real queens since they were always in drag the whole time and their drag was good. Then the one guy mentor who was in and out of drag I feel like is just an actor. The Jamie actor redeemed himself by the end he did have a great voice. He was just didn't put too much emotion in some of the songs but his voice was clear and he could riff really well. I think my favorite part was the dance. It was super cool. The one song had a contemporary piece of a girl and a guy and it was about relationships and it was cool. It looked like something from XFactor or something. The other dances were all cool hip hop.

The set was an extended stage into the audience that was just a square with a tile flooring but the grout was lights that they turned on and off and changed colors to signify rooms or paths or just be graphic elements. The whole stage had a bar of light around it that pulsed and changed colors and what not. Then there was a two level structure at the back of the stage that held the pit on the second floor and then the bottom floor had a door and then had the kitchen of Jamie's house that opened up when they were in it. Then there were a bunch of desks that they moved in and out and made different scenes. The desk tops lit up and the chair was a bench that slid in and out but was connected to the desk.

My seat was in the "grand circle" which is the super top section but I was front row! It was only 20 pounds! Pretty good if you ask me. My view was good I could see everything but I had to sit up straight on the edge of my seat or lean on the bannister in front of me to see. Strange thing: they don't do playbills here. You have to buy them and there more of a book. I think that's a thing here to help with recycling and being ecofriendly because in all theatres and museums I've been in you have to buy the maps or playbills.

After the show I took the tube home and facetimed mom. She's finished Outlander and likes it! I hope we can watch Season 4 together after I read it. Then I took a shower and went to bed.