{"id":683,"date":"2017-07-04T20:32:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/04\/last-day-of-colloquium-albee-at-the-west-end-and-a-long-walk-in-whitehall-and-westminster\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T04:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:59:47","slug":"last-day-of-colloquium-albee-at-the-west-end-and-a-long-walk-in-whitehall-and-westminster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/04\/last-day-of-colloquium-albee-at-the-west-end-and-a-long-walk-in-whitehall-and-westminster\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Day of Colloquium, Albee at the West End and a Long Walk in Whitehall and Westminster"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nFriday, June 23, 2017<\/span><\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMeeting my Former Concierge Arben:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>I did not wish to leave our accommodation in Holborn
\nwithout saying hello to Arben, the concierge at the former building in Holborn
\nthat I had occupied, a few years ago. And so, on my way to the colloquium, I
\nset out just a little early in order to walk to 7 High Holborn. I was delighted
\nto meet him and spend about ten minutes chatting with him and finding out about
\nhis family\u2019s successes. Then walking quickly towards Bloomsbury, I arrived at
\nour campus at NYU.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLast Day of Colloquium<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span><\/span><\/b>The last day of our Colloquium at NYU dawned in what
\nseemed like a heartbeat. The final panel was as absorbing as the others had
\nbeen\u2014plus we had a fine summing-up of the day\u2019s many lessons and the things we
\nwould take back to our teaching practice. By the time it ended, my head was
\nsimply swimming with ideas that I would like to experiment with and include in
\nmy own pedagogy. Plus, I had made friends with some really fascinating
\ncolleagues whose research interests were a real eye-opener. All of us felt that
\nit had been a very successful conference indeed and we were far richer for
\nhaving attended it.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLunch at Pisq<\/i>
\nin Fitzrovia:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>Although many of our colleagues had already started
\nmaking their steps home-ward, quite a large contingent of us were present for
\nthe farewell luncheon that was held at a Peruvian restaurant called Pisq<\/i>. Now I had never eaten Peruvian
\nfood before and did not know what to expect. But being a foodie and always
\nready for a new gastronomic experience, I looked forward to the meal.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>We were offered a few choices from a set three-course
\nmeal that was very impressive indeed. I started with the Sea Bass Seviche which
\nwas my first time trying seviche. I found it absolutely delicious\u2014soaked in
\nlime juice that had \u2018cooked\u2019 the fish to a tender consistency, it was terrific.
\nMy \u2018main\u2019 was actually two choices\u2014as my colleague Afrodesia and I decided to
\nsplit two of them: I opted for the Steak Tips and she had the Pork Belly\u2014hers
\nturned out to be better than mine, but they were both palatable (if not
\noutstanding). For dessert, I opted for the Chocolate Mousse served with Matcha
\nice-cream (the mousse was glorious, the ice-cream was the blandest, most
\ntasteless kind I have had\u2014it was not even sweet enough for my palate). Still,
\nas meals go, it was a treat to share it with my colleagues who were all filled
\nwith the sense of recent accomplishment at having made presentations that were
\nso well-received. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOff to the Royal Theater Haymarket:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>I did not waste much time after lunch, but walked with
\nBrendan to my office at NYU to meet Quentin from the IT Helpdesk who was helping
\nme send a grant application online. As soon as I managed to get the task done,
\nI left our Bloomsbury campus and took the bus to Piccadilly where I was
\nscheduled to meet Shahnaz who had spent the entire day at the National Gallery
\ntaking Highlights Tours, attending shorter gallery lectures and even learning
\nto sketch. Best of all, she had managed once again to get us day tickets to see
\nThe Goat or Who is Sylvia<\/i> by Edward
\nAlbee at the Theater Royal Haymarket which she had reached at 10.00 am.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA Drink Before Dinner:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>I was much too stuffed with our three-course lunch to
\neven contemplate dinner but Shahnaz was starving (not having taken a break for
\nlunch during her day at the British Museum) and when I spied a \u201cTwo Drinks for
\nthe Price of One\u201d deal at the Kitchen
\nMarket<\/i>, a restaurant at Haymarket, I suggested we go there for sundowners
\nbefore the show. How annoying it was to find out that we could not have one
\ndrink each for the price of one\u2014we had to each have two drinks and pay for just
\none!!! The cocktails we chose are far from memorable but Shahnaz did tuck into
\na Chicken Cesar Salad (which I also nibbled) before we rushed off to see the
\nplay.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nDamien Lewis, Sophie Okenedo and Jason Hughes in The Goat or Who is Sylvia<\/i>?<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>All I knew about this play is that Albee wrote it and
\nDamien (Brody of Homeland<\/i> fame) Lewis
\nwas in it. That was enough for me to feel determined to see it. And at five
\npounds (yes, five pounds because apparently our seats offered \u2018restricted\u2019
\nviews), we were in the theater and seeing what I think is probably the best
\ndrama I have ever seen! Seriously! The play itself is perfection in terms of
\nconstruction, writing and wit. As might be guessed, it is about a middle-aged
\narchitect with a very successful marriage and a teenaged son who falls in love
\nwith a goat! The consequences of his infatuation threaten to tear his marriage
\nand life apart until the awful and quite unexpected denouement. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nThe
\nperformances were simply unbelievable. Lewis, of course, stole the show\u2026but he
\nwas ably matched by his co-star Okenedo (who, I believe I have seen in Selma<\/i>). Jason Hughes whose performances
\nas Sergeant Ben in Midsomer Murders<\/i>
\nwas also excellent (although he has put on heaps of weight and I had
\ndifficultly even placing him). The young chap who played Lewis\u2019 son was amazing
\nfor his age and shows all the makings of a future star. Truly, we could not
\nbelieve that we were enjoying such stupendous theater for the cost of a cup of
\ncoffee in Starbucks! It more than made up for our previous night\u2019s disappointment
\nover Annie<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA Walk Along Whitehall and Westminster:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>Flushed with the joy of seeing a really superb piece of
\nwork, and finding that it was still very bright when we emerged from the
\ntheater, Shahnaz and I decided to take a very long walk\u2014we arrived at Trafalgar
\nSquare (its fountains and Edward Landseer\u2019s lions beautifully illuminated),
\nturned down Whitehall and stopped to take pictures at the Cenotaph. Across the
\nstreet, we admired the lovely military and memorial sculptures along Whitehall
\nbefore we arrived at Charles Barry\u2019s beautiful buildings that comprise London\u2019s
\nHouses of Parliament where we took many pictures with Big Ben in the
\nbackground. Not content with reaching the banks of the Thames, we walked along
\nthe Embankment past Westminster Pier and took more pictures with the London Eye
\nand the Royal Festival Hall in the background. Past Charing Cross we strolled
\nuntil we arrived at the Theater District. We entered Covent Garden which wore a
\nstrangely deserted look and jumped into the Tube for one station as Shahnaz was
\nso pooped, she could barely take another step. She is learning rapidly exactly
\nwhat it means to take a trip with me! No doubt, when she gets home, she will
\nneed a vacation from her vacation.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>It was about midnight when we arrived in our room at the
\nhotel\u2014thrilled with the last night of the first lap of our travels. We would be
\nleaving early the next morning for Devon\u2014so we showered super quickly, got our
\nthings all packed up and ready, set our alarm for 5.30 am to leave our hotel at
\n6.00 am to catch the 7.30 am coach to Devon.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, June 23, 2017 Meeting my Former Concierge Arben:             I did not wish to leave our accommodation in Holborn without saying hello to Arben, the concierge at the former building in Holborn that I had occupied, a few years ago. And so, on my way to the colloquium, I set out just a little… <\/p>\n

Read<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1933],"tags":[88,227,228],"class_list":["post-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-musings","category-united-kingdom","tag-west-end-theater","tag-westminster","tag-whitehall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4893,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/4893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}