Afternoon: Independents arrivals. Welcome meeting and reception in hotel at 6:00pm.

Dinner: Excluded to allow participants the opportunity to enjoy New York restaurants.

Evening: Free

Lodging: East Side Marriott

Breakfast:

Morning: Free morning.

Lunch: Not included on land.

Afternoon: Group transfer by coach to embarkation of Queen Mary II, approx. 2:00pm.

Dinner: On board ship. Watch the Manhattan skyline as we depart New York.

Lodging: Aboard The Queen Mary II

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast:

Morning: Shipboard activities: Enjoy the QM2’s many educational and entertainment activities, which include: a guest lecture series; a book club with literary discussions with the ship librarian; and classes in watercolors, computers, wine tasting, ballroom dance, bridge and board games. You may also take acting lessons or a course in celestial navigation. Musical entertainment includes the Julliard Jazz School series, as well as singers and dancers in stage shows in the Royal Court Theatre, or pianists, string quartets and a movie theater. Enjoy personal fitness activities such as swimming, tennis, yoga, Pilates, aerobics and spinning. Or simply take tea and enjoy a museum-quality exhibit that takes you back to the golden era of transatlantic ship crossings.

Lunch: On board ship.

Afternoon: Giles Ramsay, a theatre producer and director based in London, presents a colorful and informative lecture: What is Theatre and Why do we need it?

Dinner: On board ship.

Evening: Shipboard activities.

Lodging: Aboard The Queen Mary II

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: On board ship.

Morning: Shipboard activities.

Lunch: On board ship.

Afternoon: Medieval drama, the Reformation and Christopher Marlowe. Welcome cocktail party.

Dinner: On board ship.

Evening: Shipboard activities.

Lodging: Aboard The Queen Mary II

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: On board.

Morning: Free day. Shipboard activities.

Lunch: On board.

Afternoon: Shipboard activities.

Dinner: On board.

Evening: Shipboard activities.

Lodging: Aboard The Queen Mary II

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: On board ship.

Morning: Shipboard activities.

Lunch: On board ship.

Afternoon: Shakespeare's Life and Verse.

Dinner: On board ship.

Evening: Shipboard activities.

Lodging: Aboard The Queen Mary II

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: On board ship.

Morning: Shipboard activities.

Lunch: On board ship.

Afternoon: Lectures: 300 Years of British Theatre.

Dinner: On board ship.

Evening: Shipboard activities.

Lodging: Aboard The Queen Mary II

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: On board ship.

Morning: Shipboard activities.

Lunch: On board ship.

Afternoon: Lectures: The 20th Century: Wilde, Coward, Pinter, Orton, Osborne.

Dinner: On board ship.

Evening: Shipboard activities,

Lodging: Aboard The Queen Mary II

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast:

Morning: Disembark Southampton and transfer by coach to London via Winchester. Field trip: Winchester Cathedral.

Lunch: Winchester Cathedral Refrectory.

Afternoon: Transfer continues. ETA London hotel 3:30pm.

Dinner: In the hotel.

Evening: Theatre performance. 7:30pm. Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi Theatre. The musical score is written by Stephen Sondheim whose credits include seminal Broadway musicals such as Follies and A Little Night Music, and takes us down the murky back streets of London in the 18th century where ‘the demon barber of Fleet Street’ sets out for revenge for his false imprisonment. Helped along the way by the local pie-shop owner Mrs Lovett, Hugh Wheeler’s book is terrifying, horrendous and wonderfully weaved with wit and humour. This new production is directed by Jonathan Kent with designs by Anthony Ward. Cast Information The original cast from the Chichester Festival performance will be coming to the West End, with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in the leading roles. Michael Ball plays Sweeney Todd himself, and is no stranger to the stage having performed in Les Miserables, Hairspray, The Phantom of the Opera and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Imelda Staunton plays the role of not-so-lovable Mrs Lovett, and is well-known for playing Professor Umbridge in the Harry Potter films. He has also appeared in Vera Drake, Shakespeare in Love and Guys and Dolls. Joining the principal cast will be Luke Brady, John Bowe, Robert Burt, Peter Polycarpou, Gillian Kirkpatrick, Lucy May Barker, James McConville, an Adam Pearce, amongst others.

Lodging: Melia White House Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Full English and continental breakfast in the hotel.

Morning: Discussion "State of the Nation" with a top national journalist.

Lunch: Excluded.

Afternoon: Free afternoon.

Dinner: In the hotel.

Evening: Theatre performance. 7:30pm. Hedda Gabler at the Old Vic. Anna Mackmin returns to The Old Vic to open our 12/13 season directing Brian Friel’s adaptation of Ibsen’s seminal work, Hedda Gabler. Olivier Award-winner, Sheridan Smith stars in the title role of this major new production alongside Buffy Davis, Anne Reid, Adrian Scarborough and Fenella Woolgar. Ibsen’s brilliant masterpiece on the conflict of the requirements of society and those of the individual, explores the descent of Hedda Gabler into the treacherous void between expectation and reality.

Lodging: Melia White House Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Full English and continental breakfast in the hotel.

Morning: Field trip to the world famous Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), new home to the theatre collection. Theatre and Performance galleries dedicated to the performing arts, display works of art, costumes, ephemera, video recordings, puppets, posters and photographs. The V&A's Theatre Collections hold the UK's national collection of material about live performance in the UK since Shakespeare's day, covering drama, dance, musical theatre, circus, music hall, rock and pop, and other forms of live entertainment. The collections were founded in the 1920s when a private collector, Gabrielle Enthoven, donated her extensive collection of theatrical designs, memorabilia, books and photographs to the Museum. She continued to add to her collection, and worked on it as a museum volunteer until her death in 1950. Since that period, the collection has continued to grow, and has provided a home for many other significant objects and archives. Between 1987 and 2007, some of this material was housed at the V&A's branch museum in Covent Garden, the Theatre Museum. New galleries devoted to the performing arts opened at the V&A in South Kensington in 2009.

Lunch: Excluded.

Afternoon: Field trip to Leighton House, one of London's best kept secrets. Located on the edge of Holland Park in Kensington, the house is one of the most remarkable buildings of the 19th century. The house was the former home and studio of the leading Victorian artist, Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896). Built to designs by George Aitchison, it was extended and embellished over a period of 30 years to create a private palace of art. The Arab Hall is the centerpiece of the house. Designed to display Leighton's priceless collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, mostly brought back from Damascus in Syria, the interior evokes a compelling vision of the Orient. The house's pseudo-Islamic court has featured as a set in various film and television programs, such as Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Brazil, and an episode of the British television drama series Spooks, as well as the music videos. Leighton House, which has reopened to the public after a ?1.6m restoration, is a testimony not simply to one man and his vision but to a particular moment in British cultural history. Visitors gazed at the spectacular Arab Hall, with its golden dome and indoor fountain. Meanwhile, closer acquaintances, including members of the royal family, might attend one of Leighton's famous musical soir? in the cavernous studio which doubled as an assembly room, complete with minstrels' gallery. Intimate friends might be invited to spend the evening in the dining room, a red jewel-box hung with glittering Middle-Eastern ceramics and set off by crimson floorboards. Fellow artists, meanwhile, could lounge in the Silk Room, a cosy second studio space where Leighton, always a generous collector of other people's work, stacked his recent purchases on chairs. Today performers from around the world stage events against dramatic backdrops.

Dinner: In the hotel.

Evening: Theatre perfomance. 7:45pm. Chariots of Fire at the Gielgud Theatre. Adapted from the legendary Oscar-winning movie, this spectacular and ingenious retelling of Eric Liddell's and Harold Abrahams' quest to become the fastest men on earth is an electrifying and immensely moving tale two men's rivalry, and their unwavering determination to conquer the world in the face of prejudice, immovable beliefs and overwhelming odds. Bring me my Bow of burning gold; Bring me my Chariot of fire! 1924. The Paris Olympic Games. A devout Scottish Christian runs for the glory of God. The son of an immigrant Lithuanian Jew runs to overcome prejudice. Two young track athletes who live for the beautiful purity of running and who prevail in the face of overwhelming odds. Adapted from the legendary Oscar-winning movie, this spectacular and ingenious retelling of Eric Liddell's and Harold Abrahams' quest to become the fastest men on earth is an electrifying and immensely moving tale two men's rivalry, and their unwavering determination to conquer the world in the face of prejudice, immovable beliefs and overwhelming odds. Featuring the original, hugely iconic Vangelis score and a magnificent ensemble cast, Chariots of Fire brings alive the incredible true story of two British athletes whose honour, sacrifice and courage brought them glory and immortality on the greatest sporting stage of all. In an extraordinary Summer, this is one event that will leave you breathless with excitement. Jack Lowden as Eric Liddell James McArdle as Harold Abrahams Directed by Edward Hall

Lodging: Melia White House Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Full English and continental breakfast in the hotel.

Morning: Guided field trip to Shakespeare at the British Museum. The British Museum is staging a major exhibition on the world of Shakespeare, in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The exhibition provides a unique insight into the emerging role of London as a world city, seen through the innovative perspective of Shakespeare’s plays. Part of the World Shakespeare Festival which is part of London 2012 Festival The exhibition provides a unique insight into the emerging role of London as a world city, seen through the innovative perspective of Shakespeare’s plays. It also explores the pivotal role of the playhouse as a window to the world outside London, and the playwright’s importance in shaping a new sense of national identity. London as it was around 400 years ago is brought to life through contemporary performance and amazing objects drawn from the Museum’s collection and across Europe. Maps, prints, drawings and paintings, arms and armour, coins, medals and other intriguing objects are all examined through the lens of Shakespeare’s plays.

Lunch: Excluded.

Afternoon: Free until a special afternoon tea at Soho's Secret Tea Rooms at the Coach and Horses with a theatre critic.

Dinner: Excluded.

Evening: Theatre performance. 8:00pm. Love and Information at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. By Caryl Churchill. Someone sneezes. Someone can’t get a signal. Someone shares a secret. Someone won’t answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone’s not ready to talk. Someone is her brother’s mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone’s never felt like this before. In this fast moving kaleidoscope more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Directed by James Macdonald.

Lodging: Melia White House Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast

Breakfast: Full English and continental breakfast in teh hotel. Some departures may leave before breakfast.

Morning: Transfers to London Airport for departure flights home.

Meals Included: Breakfast