AUDIENCES WILL GET REAL THING; SCOTTISH STUDENTS BRING AUTHENTICITY TO CALARTS ROLES.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer Two actresses in a CalArts play to be staged next month may bring a touch of authenticity to the tale of 19th century Scottish farm workers that thespian talent alone couldn't supply. If Marnie Baxter and Suzanne Harbison deliver their lines in accents that sound like the genuine article and seem to have an instinctive affinity for the material, it wouldn't be strictly coincidence. It's because they are visiting Scots who enrolled at California Institute of the Arts California Institute of the Arts known as CalArts U.S. private institution of higher learning in Valencia. Created in 1961 through the merger of two other art institutes, it was the first in the U.S. for the fall semester. Baxter, 20, and Harbison, 29, are exchange students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), founded in 1845 by the Glasgow Educational Association, is a university of music and drama in Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated in the city centre, on Renfrew Street, just north of Sauchiehall Street. . They will graduate next summer from the conservatory in the industrial seaport city of Glasgow. ``Bondagers,'' written by Scottish playwright Sue Glover, will be staged Nov. 4-7 at the Mary Lou and George Boone George Boone was the grandfather of the famous pioneer Daniel Boone and his brother Squire Boone, Jr., and the father of Squire Boone, Sr. He and the rest of his family sailed to America from Bradninch, England on August 17, 1717. Coffeehouse Theatre on the CalArts campus. Admission is free to the shows - one matinee mat·i·nee or mat·i·née n. An entertainment, such as a dramatic performance or movie, presented in the daytime, usually in the afternoon. and three evening performances. Bondagers was a term given to females in the 1800s who worked on large farms along Scotland's border with England. In those days, men were hired as farm workers on the condition that they brought a female - a wife, daughter or even a stranger - to work alongside them and handle the domestic chores. The play, set on a Scottish farm in 1860, follows the experiences of these bondager Bond´a`ger n. 1. A field worker, esp. a woman who works in the field. women. Baxter, who hails from the Scottish island of Shetland - like the ponies - said she has enjoyed the fish-out-of-water feeling that only someone far from home can recognize. ``People find it hard to understand my accent here,'' Baxter said in lilting speech peppered with expressions like ``load of rubbish'' and ``wee bit'' that make it obvious she hails from the other side of The Pond. Local dispositions, Baxter has concluded, seem to match California's sunny weather, just as Scots' moods are influenced by that rugged climate. ``People here are a lot more outwardly open,'' she said. ``In Glasgow, people kind of walk with their shoulders hunched hunch n. 1. An intuitive feeling or a premonition: had a hunch that he would lose. 2. A hump. 3. A lump or chunk: "She . . . . They look like they're really closed off,'' she explained. ``You don't walk with your head up . . . when it's raining and blowing wind in your face.'' Harbison, a Glasgow native, has noticed a similar shift since she's been here. ``For me, the best thing that's happened so far is we can relax a wee bit more,'' she said. ``My shoulders are usually really tense. It's either the classes or the sunshine.'' Harbison noted another distinction between Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and her homeland. ``The main differences would be the swimming pools and the palm trees,'' both of which are ``noticeably lacking'' in Scotland, she joked. ``In Glasgow, it's always really rainy and cold and . . . it'll be getting dark really early.'' Born in Africa, Harbison's family lived in Zambia and Kenya until she was about 10, when her parents moved the family back to their native Scotland. With that rather cosmopolitan background - ``I know a vague bit of Swahili, (and) I can sing the Kenyan national anthem,'' she said - Harbison jumped at the chance to spend part of her senior year of college abroad. ``For me, a complete change in environment is going to benefit me,'' she said. ``I think it's a good way to leave college . . . and taste the water.'' Harbison said she hopes to work in theater, probably in London and perhaps someday in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , after she graduates with an acting degree from the Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy is Scotland’s premier organisation promoting contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote and . ``I think initially I would like to work for the Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), a British repertory theater. The company, established in 1960, was based on the earlier Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon. It is a national theater supported by government funds. ,'' she said. ``I used to be a manager of clothing shops. Eventually I realized I hadn't fulfilled my ambition or my dreams,'' she said, explaining her belated entry to college. The idea to spend a semester in the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. came about because last year two CalArts theater students studied at the Royal Scottish Academy, Harbison said. CalArts spokeswoman Anita Bonnell said that while this year the campus has roughly 160 international students from about 30 countries, Harbison and Baxter are among just a half dozen exchange students. The two room together on campus. Baxter said American-style customer service - ``going into shops and being treated like a queen'' - has made a big impression on her. ``At first I didn't like it very much, but now I love it,'' she said. In Scotland, ``there's much less emphasis on (merchants) being really nice to you. The waiters just bring you your food, but they don't really talk to you,'' Baxter said. She has acquired an appetite for the Mexican food that is so popular among her CalArts classmates Classmates can refer to either:
pig stomach filled with oatmeal, minced offal, suet and seasoning and cooked like a large sausage. - a Scottish dish of sheep or calf entrails en·trails pl.n. The internal organs, especially the intestines; viscera. - that's a staple back home. The cost of clothing, alcohol and cigarettes is markedly less here, Baxter noted, and slang expressions take on new meanings even when English is the common language. ``At home, we would say `fag' and we'd mean cigarette,'' she said. ``When I first got here, everybody said `What's up?' all the time. I don't understand what I'm supposed to reply to that,'' Baxter recalled, saying she presumed the asker wanted her to recount her life story. She's since learned the expression is just a friendly salutation, requiring only a brief answer. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) Suzanne Harbison, left, and Marnie Baxter are exchange students from Scotland studying at CalArts during the fall semester. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
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