Saturday 21st July 2007

The Globe Theatre

To London again but a rather different day as we are staying in the same place for a feast of Shakespeare!  We entered London after England had suffered its worst downpour in living memory the previous day.  London escaped without too many problems, although our journey in was diverted because of a flooded underpass.  We arrived on the north side of the River Thames so that we could walk across the Millennium Bridge, London's newest pedestrian bridge opened in 2000 only to be closed almost immediately because it wobbled when people were on it!  After some re-engineering the bridge re-opened and it is fine now!

Into the Globe Exhibition and we discovered about the history of the original Globe and the new Globe, brought to life by American Sam Wanamaker.   Then into the theatre with a guide who explained about its construction and layout.  The Globe is an amazing building, made out of unseasoned oak and built in the traditional Elizabethan way.  It is the only building in London that has been allowed to have a thatched roof since the Great Fire of London in 1666.

We had lunch in front of the Tate Modern art gallery and prepared ourselves for the matinee performance of Othello at the Globe.  As Groundlings we stood in the Pit for the whole performance just as the audience in Shakespeare's day would have done.  Watching Shakespeare at the Globe is a totally different experience - the actors play to the audience and indeed performers enter the stage through the Pit, pushing Groundlings aside!  It was a truly memorable performance and the story was played out before us with passion and heart.  All of us felt that we had seen something quite special and the comments buzzing around were most complimentary.  Not bad for a three hour show, punctuated by rain and in which we stood throughout.  The Bard's magic is not diminished!