Day 9: London- 3rd day of study tour

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Day 9: London (3rd day of study tour) Globe Tour and AfterLife at the National

We had group breakfast again with the students and heard all about their lovely ventures of the evening. We headed out to the Globe Theatre for our tour. The tour guide was fantastic. We went in and sat and she gave the students the history of the Globe and talked a lot about the current shows in rep. I love that theatre. Being inside for the tour made me more excited about seeing King Lear there. After the tour was free time and Adam and I decided to go back to the Tower of London so we could go inside. A bunch of the students decided to go with us so we had some lunch and then headed to the tower. We had planned on meeting Stephanie at Camden Market but as we learned in London everything takes much longer than you expect. By the time we got to the Tower we went inside the first part… it would have been time to leave to go to Camden and we hadn’t seen the crown jewels, the torture chamber, or the weapons yet. So we decided- since we paid to see the crown jewels we were going to get in line. They shuffle you through a bunch of rooms where there are video screens and people were just standing and watching the jewels on the screen- we made our way through the crowds and finally got to see them. Again- we couldn’t use a camera but WOW! That building is worth more than any other building I may have ever been in. We saw all the crowns and scepters, but they also had a lot of the silver—the plates- silver and gold cups the robes, dresses- all of it - it was a neat experience and I’m glad we did it. Then the students decided to leave and adam and I hung around a little longer. We explored more of the castle- found an interactive thing- by the way, according to a computer I am an excellent archer! Then we found the torture chamber… ewwww…. What they used to do to people is awful! Absolutely awful!!!! We saw a live joust which was cool and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the National Theatre. Luckily we made it there with plenty of time to spare. Since we were early Stephanie and I walked across the street and found a film store an walked around for a bit before the show started. Afterlife was odd. .. and therefore I kind of liked it. At first I don’t think anyone really knew what was going on. It was written by Michael Frayn who wrote Noises Off. Occasionally in Theatre Appreciation Adam and I teach that play so a lot of the students knew that play, which is very farcical… which is what I thought this was going to be. It was not farcical although strange and the first half just didn’t seem like Michael Frayn wrote it, until there was what I like to call the dance of the servants and characters… At intermission Stephanie and I sat and talked about and tried to figure out exactly what was happening. The second half was better than the first. Again… it was not a fantastic ground breaking play but interesting enough to watch and talk about. Trying to figure out exactly what was happening and listening to everyones interpretations was pretty interesting. After the play we all broke up into little groups. Adam, Stephanie and I found another quiet spot to relax.

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