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Published: June 16th 2011
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there was no blog last night -
By the time I got back to my hotel my wifi access had just expired, and I wasn't going to pay another 10 pounds when I was leaving early the next morning. So, I will do my best to compress the last two days into one entry.
I decided to start off yesterday with the exhibition and tour of The Globe Theatre. Finding that there were no underground stations right by the theatre, I knew I was going to have to make a bit of a hike (but I've been getting used to that, my legs are getting so strong, and my feet so sore). I decided that I was going to do one of the things I had debated about - I was going to cross the Millennium Bridge -- a pedestrian-only bridge that goes across the Thames River. As I walked towards it I got a bit nervous, especially when I saw that there were only two major supports for it coming up from the water. Which meant that I was going to have to drag my neurotic, acrophobic mind across a long stretch of bridge with no support under
it at all. As I walked I kept my sights on the Tate Modern Art museum and the Globe Theatre that lie before me. Breathing in and out, and reminding myself to just keep my feet moving I made it across. I even met a Louisiana mother and her son who were also walking to The Globe and got them to take a picture of me, just to prove that I did it. I made it across with much relief and felt prepared for the other test to my acrophobia that was to come later.
The Globe was an amazing place. During the tour we even got to see tech rehearsals for their production of Marlow's
Doctor Faustus. After the tour I got to meet and speak with people from their education department. It was very helpful as I even spoke to a British Secondary teacher and we discussed the ways that we've tried to communicate Shakespeare to students who, in some cases, have a limited English proficiency to begin with.
One of the key things that I'm getting from the experience is that Shakespeare is not only meant to be read out loud, but those studying should
be up, creating their own visualization of the play as they go through the text. Now to work on ways to do this with students that will only - with great hesitation - read aloud, much less get out of their desks to do so. I gave my e-mail to one of the instructors who said she'd send me some of the things she has done with her students.
My next stop was going to be The London Eye. I began a good 20-minute trek down the South Bank of the Thames, stopping once for lunch, before I got to the mammoth structure. Looking up at it made me second-guess if this was really a good idea - but as I continued to make my way through the queue I struck up a conversation with an older couple from York. I listened to the man tell me stories of the beautiful countryside of York, which he swore I should visit, and before I knew it we were in front of our pod. Turns out the hardest part of the ride was getting into the pod since they don't stop it from turning as you're stepping on. A few of
us stumbled, myself included.
All and all it was not as scary of an experience as my mind made it out to be. I took as many pictures as I could, looking out at all of London from 443 feet up in the air. And any time I started to feel a bit nervous, I simply sat down on the bench and busied myself with my bag. I even took a picture of a nice, young French couple, and they returned the favor taking a picture of me, again just to prove that I did it.
I decided to leave the London Dungeon for next week as my ticket for that is good for a month. I went back to my hotel and rested for that night's performance of
As You Like It at The Globe.
The performance was wonderful, and it turned that play into one of my favorites of Shakespeare's comedies. The whole play was put on by eight actors who played multiple roles - including a bearded man who played both Duke Senior and, in drag, the country girl Audrey, to many laughs from the audience.
As I went through the underground after
the play I happened on an older gentleman who was carrying a program. We struck up a conversation about the play and he told me about how he hadn't seen a Shakespearean play in years and was surprised as to how much he enjoyed it. He told me about studying the play in his youth (in the 1950's) and how he was made to do thorough analysis of the scenes and memorize select passages by rote. He said that he enjoyed the play in his youth, but this comment was made without the enthusiasm he had when talking about how much he liked this evening's bawdy production of the play.
So, this morning it was on to Stratford-Upon-Avon, where I am now. This is a beautiful little town in Warwickshire, and a place that I wish I had scheduled more time to be in. The Shakespeare Birth House was a wonderful place to be, with the exception of the British school teacher leading her class of what looked like 12-year olds and constantly stopping to correct and yell at one or more of them. SuperNanny would not approve.
Without exception the highlight for Stratford, and of the trip
so far, has been the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of
Macbeth. The production was so good, I don't know if I can go into too much of it right now - it might deserve it's own blog entry (maybe something to do on the train tomorrow). It was dark, nightmarish, violent and very bloody. The most stunning, and wonderful, alteration to the text was the replacement of the three witches with three corpse-like children. When they entered they descended from the ceiling, their heads down with rope by their necks, as if they had been hung by a lynch mob. With each of their first lines they lifted their heads and released themselves from the suspension cables that held them. They taunted Macbeth and Banquo with their prophecies and their 7-year old giggles and their faces which looked o-so-very dead. They would appear and disappear at different times through out the play, sometimes watching the scenes from the penthouse above the stage. The twist with the children came when it was shown in the 2nd half of the show that they were the children of MacDuff that are ferociously slaughtered my Macbeth's henchmen. This and so much more made this
the best night of theatre I have ever seen.
Ok - off to bed as tomorrow I take my train back to London and then its off to Belgium and Holland.
Cheers!
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Kelly
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Outstanding!
Sounds like you are getting SO much out of this trip - great experiences, awesome theater, info/resources for your students and classroom, and you are even facing your fears! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!