When Ken asked me if I would like to join him in London while he worked on a project, I naturally jumped at the chance. It remains a favorite city for us, and we still find new things to see as well as old favorites to do. Lucky for us, this time of year means that Shakespeare’s Globe Theater is in full swing, and we took advantage of it.
My first experience watching a play at the Globe took place almost a decade ago. We decide to take in the true Globe experience by joining other “groundlings” standing in the space between the gallery seats and the stage. Similar to Elizabethan times, the groundlings are required to stand during the entire play making the price for the ticket very cheap. I quickly learned, though, that standing through 3 hours of Julius Caesar didn’t prove as fun as I thought it would. Needless to say, I remember much more of the beginning of the play than the end when I felt faint. Ken, however, loved it! He jeered and cheered with some of the other groundlings and loved the fact that Caesar stood so close that his spit landed on Ken. To each his own.
Since that time, Ken and I agreed that he could continue the joys of the groundling experience while I rent my cushion for my bench seat in the gallery. During this trip, we saw the great tragedy, “King Lear” and the silly comedy, “ Merry Wives of Windsor”. Although they are complete opposites, we thoroughly enjoyed them both. The actors blew us away with their well deserved standing ovation performances, and we left speaking in early modern English style. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it."
(By the way, can you spot the standing groundling and the seated noblewoman in the pictures above? You might have to click on the pictures to see them better.)
When Ken asked me if I would like to join him in London while he worked on a project, I naturally jumped at the chance. It remains a favorite city for us, and we still find new things to see as well as old favorites to do. Lucky for us, this time of year means that Shakespeare’s Globe Theater is in full swing, and we took advantage of it.
My first experience watching a play at the Globe took place almost a decade ago. We decide to take in the true Globe experience by joining other “groundlings” standing in the space between the gallery seats and the stage. Similar to Elizabethan times, the groundlings are required to stand during the entire play making the price for the ticket very cheap. I quickly learned, though, that standing through 3 hours of Julius Caesar didn’t prove as fun as I thought it would. Needless to say, I remember much more of the beginning of the play than the end when I felt faint. Ken, however, loved it! He jeered and cheered with some of the other groundlings and loved the fact that Caesar stood so close that his spit landed on Ken. To each his own.
Since that time, Ken and I agreed that he could continue the joys of the groundling experience while I rent my cushion for my bench seat in the gallery. During this trip, we saw the great tragedy, “King Lear” and the silly comedy, “ Merry Wives of Windsor”. Although they are complete opposites, we thoroughly enjoyed them both. The actors blew us away with their well deserved standing ovation performances, and we left speaking in early modern English style. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it."
(By the way, can you spot the standing groundling and the seated noblewoman in the pictures above? You might have to click on the pictures to see them better.)
No comments:
Post a Comment