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On Friday it was back to London for a weekend of theater with Kia. After our arrival in London, we made our way out to our hostel and then back into London where we took our pictures at Platform 9 3/4 and then went to the British Library. We spent quite a bit of time marveling at the Treasures of the British Library which included Shakespeare's First Folio, the Magna Carta, music by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and the Beatles, Leonardo da Vinci's journals, a Gutenberg Bible, Dante's Divine Comedy, and a copy - the real one has been taken off display until October - of the Lindisfarne Gospels. It was pretty great. We then headed back out to our hostel to change and eat before going to the Apollo Theater to see Wicked. The show was amazing, even if we were up in the nosebleed section - hey the tickets were only 15 quid, so I can't complain! The music was wonderful and the end of the first Act was spectacular! I liked that the musical has given a bit more direction to the book and made the storyline quite clear. I had a small problem with the ending, but I
don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I will leave it at that.
Saturday morning we headed off to Westminster Abbey, but ran into a snag almost as soon as we were out the door of our hostel. Part of the Tube line that we were on was closed for the rest of the weekend. So then we had to take a bus for part of it which made the journey to and from the hostel quite long. But it worked and got us where we were going. Westminster Abbey seemed more like a museum to the dead than a church. It was really cool to see Elizabeth and Mary's tomb and Mary, Queen of Scots. Not to mention Henry V! We also spent a considerable amount of time in Poet's Corner where tons of writers are memorialized. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is the only American poet who has a memorial there, quite an honor to be memorialized with Ben Johnson, The Bronte sisters, and Shakespeare. The stained glass in the Abbey was very cool as well and I found St. George represented at least 3 times. It is really interesting to see the changes that St. George has gone
through over the centuries. In the nave of the church we found a memorial to FDR and then on the outside a statue of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. among the statues of 20th century martyrs. The rest of the afternoon we spent reading and writing in front of the Globe waiting for them to put out the Groundling's sign. We were second and third in line for the opening night of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Consequently, we were front and center leaning on the stage for the performance. Kia was right next to a step that the actors used and was practically stepped on several times. The performance was wonderful!! The stage had two crescent extensions that were used for all the running in and out that the confused lovers and rude mechanicals do in the course of the play. It was so cool as the sky above went from light to dark, and they had an orb hanging from the "ceiling" that they gestured to as the moon. The rude mechanicals were amazing! The play of Pyramus and Thisbe had everyone helpless with laughter - even the royal party on stage. I suspect, and am pretty sure,
that the mechanicals' play had not been seen by the other actors before. I thought that Theseus, the king, was going to die from laughter and was amazed when he got his line out after the play has ended. Demetrius wasn't far behind. Moon and Wall and Lion were so good. And Bottom! Bottom did a wonderful job, both as a man and a donkey and especially as Pyramus. Watching him "ruin" the mechanicals' play would have made you feel sorry for Peter Quince if you hadn't been laughing so hard. I was also very excited to see Puck. I have dreamed (ha ha) of seeing this play since I read Susan Cooper's King of Shadows - good book, you should read it. And I really liked the mischievous sprite. There were a few times when we thought he was going to leap over us or come crashing into us, but he used the step instead. Oh yeah, they also had a little boy play the Indian child who Oberon and Titania fight over - he was so cute! The confused lovers were also such fun to watch, especially after they had had the love juice squeezed onto their eyes
and both Demetrius and Lysander were chasing after poor Helena. All in all, a great night.
On Sunday we had a lazy start and were back sitting in front of the Globe again. We did treat ourselves to a piece of cheesecake for breakfast though. Once again we were at the front of the line and this time there was a protrusion off the front of the stage so we stood alongside that, which turned out to be a wonderful choice. The sword fight at the end between Edmund and Edgar happened right above us, almost on us! Amazing!! Lear was so good; he really acted the madness well and made you feel sorry for how he was mistreated, even if he did sort of bring it upon himself. One scene that I really liked was when both Goneril and Regan turn on their father. The staging was really good and left poor Lear standing confused and abused in the middle of them. The putting out of Gloucester's eyes was also well done. Kind of gross as it involved Regan and her husband using their bare hands, a lot of stage blood, and fake eyes, but also great. After that
scene, Regan was wiping at her hands as if she couldn't get the blood spots out and I was waiting for her to say Lady Macbeth's line. At times it seemed as though three characters were trying to play the fools part - King Lear, who was actually a bit of a fool, and then the Fool and Kent. After reading this last year it was really great to be able to see it performed, and in the Globe no less! After the play ended, we made our way to Kensington Gardens to eat a very late lunch/dinner and relax before taking the National Express back to Nottingham. A very long bus ride later, we arrived back at Nottingham and made our way home where we were greeted by everyone else who had been gone to Sardinia and Ireland this weekend. It was quite late before we finally got to bed.
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Mom
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A true actor/actress's dream come true, or at least Mrs. Menden's! A Midsummer Night's Dream at the globe to too incrediblly cool. It sounds like Wicked was all you thought it would be. What a great way to spend a weekend before finals and coming home.