A Theater Major's Journey to London
Posted on February 28, 2025 by Autumn Bryant
I have always wanted to travel the world, whether that be for pleasure or work. But,
I never thought that I could do it for school. In spring of 2024, I went to the study
abroad fair to look for a program that could give me credits and a great experience
out of the country. While I picked up many papers for programs, none of them were
a direct hit for my major and that was something I was looking for. But just as I
was starting to leave, I saw one of my theatre professors and he told me about the
trip he was leading to London. I was ecstatic. I immediately called my parents, told
them about the trip and not long after I was committed to going to London to learn
more about Shakespeare.
Before going on the trip I was worried that there wasn鈥檛 going to be a big theatre
presence in London because that is not something the city is known for. Boy was I
wrong! Theatre comes in many different shapes and forms and in London, it is not something
that is ignored. We saw many street performers and attended many shows. It was an
amazing experience getting to see professional actors do something they love everyday
and you can tell that they love it because of the passion they put into each song
or line. I will never forget when we watched 鈥淭aming of the Shrew鈥� by Shakespeare
and me and three other girls who went on the trip were all crying by the end of the
show. The actress who played Katherine really showed diversity in her emotions and
what it means to be broken in many ways. I was so captivated by her performance, her
final monologue, and the look of pure fear at the end of the play that I had no choice
but to cry. It inspired me to do better in my performances and to be on that level
of acting. I still get chills to this day when I think about that performance. My
favorite part about theatre in London was seeing the National Theatre. Fun Fact -
it has been named the ugliest building in all of London for 10 years now. We heard
that on the first day of exploring London and that made me nervous to see what the
inside looked like. As soon as I stepped into the building I was astonished! I couldn鈥檛
believe that people came to work here everyday. There are no words to describe how
beautiful I thought that building was. It quickly felt like home to me and I immediately
started to picture myself working there.
Leaving London was like leaving home, I wanted to turn around and go back. When I
arrived back in the states, I sat down with my mom and told her that I was moving
to London to work at the National Theatre and pursue my dream. I looked into many
options that the theatre had to offer, when to apply, how to apply, if I needed a
Visa, etc. I was not letting go of this trip and I still can鈥檛 let go of this trip.
Sometimes I think that I have to search for theatre when in reality, it鈥檚 right there
in front of my face, I just have to open my eyes. I am extremely grateful for the
trip I took and I believe that everyone should have an experience like that. 