This whole week I've been stressing about getting my essay plan done for one of my modules. I'd gotten some books out but not found time to actually get it done due to things that kept popping up. And a boyfriend with man flu (which has now been passed on to me - thanks). On Thursday I finally started and completed that. It took me much less time than I expected because I got really interested in the topic. I even actually read a few of the extracts I was meant to be bigging up. The essay plan basically consists of 'I will write...' and 'I will use this extract because it... It is useful because...'. Considering I had only scanned or read the blurb of most of my extracts, this was a little difficult. That said, I had read a few of them already because a few were taken from the actual course reader.
On Friday, to support the third years, I went to see a final year production. As I've explained in a previous post, productions in the Drama department are completely student run during production week. First years do the box office and the quick changes as well as preparing the costume by sewing on and unstitching and cutting and doing the lower jobs on the set such as painting and shifting things around. Second years look after the first years and mark them, as well as getting stuck in with assistant stage management and some sound and lighting jobs. The third years pretty much run the show backstage and, of course, are the acting company. It was £5 to see the show. This particular one was a celebration of the MA in Playwrighting at Birmingham. It was called 20/20 and was a compilation of 20 short plays. It was split into two halves, as standard. The first half was owned by one acting company who performed ten plays. There was an interval then another acting company performed another ten plays. The whole evening lasted about four hours, so it was a very long performance night compared to the other productions but it was worth it to see the range of plays used, all of which were written by graduates of the MA course and had never been performed before.
Saturday was a packed day. I walked to the centre in the morning and did about half an hour of browsing New Street and the Bullring then went over to Millenium Point to the IMAX. As Tim Burton's particularly fabulous creation (Alice in Wonderland) was released on Friday, I'd booked tickets for the first showing on Saturday. Millenium Point houses both the IMAX and Think Tank, the science museum I've yet to visit. Whilst the ticket prices are inflated in relation to a student ticket from Cineworld or the Odeon, I do recommend a visit to the IMAX to anyone who hasn't been before. They were the first to bring 3D screens and the quality beats Odeon's try by quite a bit. It definitely beats The Deep 3D screen in Hull. That was just naff. The film itself was pretty awesome, by the way. That's a given, though.
After Alice, Oliver and I wandered down to the Hyatt where we checked in. We questioned our motives for staying there for the night: "We're students, what are we doing?". We stayed in a King Room, which is one of the lower end rooms (but still ridiculously nice), which set us back £109. Going halves, we paid £54.50 each. To me, that isn't too bad. I remember paying something like that (£50, not £100) to stay in Pimlico in London when I went to see Chicago last June and that was just for a tiny B&B. Our room at the Hyatt was rather large in comparison.
Birmingham is a massive city so places to dine are not hard to find at all. We chose Wetherspoons simply out of familiarity and student budgeting. If we had a bit more spare cash we could've gone to Strada, which is a posh-ish but still well priced restaurant (I wrote about it in a previous post). And then onto the NIA! A few months ago, Oli bought two tickets to see the Stereophonics in Birmingham. I'd been looking forward to, and counting down to, that night ever since. Ah, it was good. As Kelly said, the NIA is a "big ol shed." The Hip Parade were the support. I'd class them as 'a good student band'. I could imagine going to see them at a student event and being impressed. I'm not quite sure the NIA was the right size for them. The Phonics were, as I expected, incredible. They played a really, really good set and didn't include any gimmicks or add-ons. It was just them, the audience, some flashy lights and awesome music. That's exactly what I wanted and expected. That, by the way, was about £70 for two tickets including booking and postage. Walking back from the NIA to the Hyatt felt like a cool summer evening in Spain or France. Somewhere mildly exotic. The joke of "Shall we go to the beach tomorrow?" could have been a genuine question.
After really milking out night at the Hyatt by going to sleep at silly o'clock in the morning and checking out as late as possible, we ventured out into Birmingham for breakfast. Adding breakfast onto our bill would've taken about another £30 from Oli's wallet. No, thank you. Instead, we opted for a midday Greggs pasty. That'll do! The sun was shining beautifully and as we sat in Victoria Square looking out at the fountain and gallery/museum we felt, again, like we were on holiday somewhere abroad. Good times indeed.
Unfortunately, my concern for Oli's health during his ordeal with the dreaded 'man flu' meant that I, too, was getting the sniffles. I'm now nursing a very red nose and going through tissues very quickly. I also got a bit addicted to grapes as I was watching QI on the iPlayer. Now I'm off to sip chicken soup with noodles whilst watching The Bubble. Maybe I'll attempt to read the play I need to start and finish for Wednesday. Sniff sniff.
Name: Vici Royle