Submitted by Heather McAdams on the 2015 winter session program in London sponsored by the Department of English and the Department of Theatre…
As a student with the English and Theater program in London, I have seen a great deal of performance art in addition to museum art. Museums in London are (usually mostly) free, so our group has been to a couple. What is astonishing is the extent that the art of London reflects its history. The Wallace Collection, for example, is a house-turned-museum that has been entirely preserved in its condition since Sir Richard Wallace inhabited the building in the nineteenth century.
The play War Horse is a fantastic example of England’s history shown through performance art. The setting in particular is World War I, which marked the last (major) use of the British cavalry. The play brilliantly portrays the range of emotions of the common British man throughout the devastating war. Of course, this also results in some dramatic irony: the audience cringes when the officers announce the beginning of the war with Germany, cheerfully guaranteeing that they will return by Christmas. As we all know, Britain’s deep conviction of victory was trampled when the countries remained at an impasse for years.
As the play marches on, the British soldiers become less and less hopeful of even personal survival, and even the sympathetic German soldiers are cursing their own Kaiser. At the end of the production, survivors return home, but collapse wearily into the arms of their countrymen as they do so. This alone illustrates the difference between the people starting wars and the people fighting them, as it leaves the audience with the question of how World War II could possibly happen only two decades later. It implies that fighting in a war is no longer an honor for the men of Great Britain, but a horror. Perhaps this shift in attitudes further contributed to the fall of the British Imperial Empire.
The history of a country should be free for anyone to learn and because much of London’s history is projected through art, it is no wonder that both museums and theater are so much more affordable than in the States. Most museums are free, and my ticket for a West End production of War Horse was only 22 pounds (about 33 US dollars)—and for arguably the best seats in the house.