Friday, September 26th
Today was amazing. My international studies class took a tour of the Globe Theatre, which was nice because we just had watched “The Merry Wives of Windsor” only a few days before. Our tour guide wasn’t that great, but it was nice to be able to walk around the theatre and see the rest of it. It is a lot smaller than I had imagined, but the acoustics are engineered amazingly. During the performance, none of the actors used any sort of microphone, and you could hear all of them perfectly.
We stuck around for a bit after the tour because we heard that at 1:00 you could go back to the box office and get tickets to one of the afternoon shows from tickets that had been returned. We definitely wanted to stay because the afternoon show was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” At 11:30 or so the guide lady ran up to us and told us that there had just been some tickets returned, so we ran over quickly and bought tickets for the 5 of us who were still there. Cody was so excited that she called her boyfriend immediately.
We looked in the gift shop and walked around town for a little bit because the play didn’t start until 2:00. We came across a cool ship, some markets, and walked along the shore of the River Thames. We stopped at a restaurant called “EAT” simply because I thought the name was so witty. Straight to the point though I guess. Also, down the street was an awesome marimba player that we listened to for a while. Have I mentioned how much I love street musicians? Ultimately we ended up at a park in front of a really pretty church that I didn’t catch the name of. We relaxed there for a while, and then made our way back to the theatre.
Once again, we had standing tickets, but honestly, I think those are the best seats in the house. You feel like you are right up in the action, almost like you are in the play. Subconsciously, you become so immersed into the emotion of the play, that really, you are.
I had no previous background knowledge of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” so luckily Josie, who had performed in it once before and had seen it several times, was able to give me a little bit of background knowledge. Even still, I had some trouble analyzing the play, so I will have to do more research to figure out exactly what was going on in all the subtleties in the play. I thought it was really funny, especially the play within the play. I am growing rather fond of Shakespeare’s comedies. They are GREAT! I never knew of any of his works besides the basics, Romeo and Juliet and more serious ones like those before now.
One of my goals for this trip was to learn more about theatre, and in my first week, it has grown so much already. I have always had an appreciation for it, but I want to learn so much more about it. This theatre appreciation class is going to be very good for me. Even paying attention to the little things, such as the projection of the actors’ voices, and their body language when other actors are speaking- it is the subtleties such as that, that make the show all the more impressive. The costumes, actors, set, and everything as just so incredible. Even the weather seemed to be in coherence with the play, with the wind blowing the long draping blue silk screens in the backdrops during the dramatic parts of the performance. I did feel bad for the actors though, because there were several planes that flew over the theatre, and as it is an open top, you can hear them loud and clear. There were so many times where you couldn’t even hear the actors speaking. They couldn’t stop for the plane to go overhead because that would cause disturbance to the motion of the performance, but you could tell sometimes, that the dramatic pauses carried a little longer than necessary if the opportunity presented itself.
I am SOOO impressed by everything that I have seen at the Globe. I literally had to sit back and take it in, the fact that I was sitting in the Globe Theatre, watching perhaps some of the best theatre in the world. How impressive is that?
We came back after the play, I did more journaling, ate dinner, and then went through some trouble at the front desk because I have been expecting a package for about 2 weeks now, and apparently ISH lost it… Cody turned to me and asked if it was possible for me to have any worse luck than I already have. At this point I don’t even care about something like this; it’s not a big deal, and there is basically nothing that could ruin this trip for me. It is a dream come true!
We went to the ISH bar later because that is where everyone hangs out, but it was kinda weird because there was a special event for the nite where they had a bunch of drag queens come in and do some acts. Not exactly my thing, but we stayed for a few minutes because everyone else was there. Most people ended up leaving and going clubbing, but Cody and myself decided that we would stay back and attempt to watch the season premiere of the office. We went back to my room, ate some nutella (amazing!) and attempted to watch the most amazing show in the world… however, it didn’t really work, so we both went to bed and decided to try another time. Oh well, it will be ok…
Today was amazing. My international studies class took a tour of the Globe Theatre, which was nice because we just had watched “The Merry Wives of Windsor” only a few days before. Our tour guide wasn’t that great, but it was nice to be able to walk around the theatre and see the rest of it. It is a lot smaller than I had imagined, but the acoustics are engineered amazingly. During the performance, none of the actors used any sort of microphone, and you could hear all of them perfectly.
We stuck around for a bit after the tour because we heard that at 1:00 you could go back to the box office and get tickets to one of the afternoon shows from tickets that had been returned. We definitely wanted to stay because the afternoon show was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” At 11:30 or so the guide lady ran up to us and told us that there had just been some tickets returned, so we ran over quickly and bought tickets for the 5 of us who were still there. Cody was so excited that she called her boyfriend immediately.
We looked in the gift shop and walked around town for a little bit because the play didn’t start until 2:00. We came across a cool ship, some markets, and walked along the shore of the River Thames. We stopped at a restaurant called “EAT” simply because I thought the name was so witty. Straight to the point though I guess. Also, down the street was an awesome marimba player that we listened to for a while. Have I mentioned how much I love street musicians? Ultimately we ended up at a park in front of a really pretty church that I didn’t catch the name of. We relaxed there for a while, and then made our way back to the theatre.
Once again, we had standing tickets, but honestly, I think those are the best seats in the house. You feel like you are right up in the action, almost like you are in the play. Subconsciously, you become so immersed into the emotion of the play, that really, you are.
I had no previous background knowledge of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” so luckily Josie, who had performed in it once before and had seen it several times, was able to give me a little bit of background knowledge. Even still, I had some trouble analyzing the play, so I will have to do more research to figure out exactly what was going on in all the subtleties in the play. I thought it was really funny, especially the play within the play. I am growing rather fond of Shakespeare’s comedies. They are GREAT! I never knew of any of his works besides the basics, Romeo and Juliet and more serious ones like those before now.
One of my goals for this trip was to learn more about theatre, and in my first week, it has grown so much already. I have always had an appreciation for it, but I want to learn so much more about it. This theatre appreciation class is going to be very good for me. Even paying attention to the little things, such as the projection of the actors’ voices, and their body language when other actors are speaking- it is the subtleties such as that, that make the show all the more impressive. The costumes, actors, set, and everything as just so incredible. Even the weather seemed to be in coherence with the play, with the wind blowing the long draping blue silk screens in the backdrops during the dramatic parts of the performance. I did feel bad for the actors though, because there were several planes that flew over the theatre, and as it is an open top, you can hear them loud and clear. There were so many times where you couldn’t even hear the actors speaking. They couldn’t stop for the plane to go overhead because that would cause disturbance to the motion of the performance, but you could tell sometimes, that the dramatic pauses carried a little longer than necessary if the opportunity presented itself.
I am SOOO impressed by everything that I have seen at the Globe. I literally had to sit back and take it in, the fact that I was sitting in the Globe Theatre, watching perhaps some of the best theatre in the world. How impressive is that?
We came back after the play, I did more journaling, ate dinner, and then went through some trouble at the front desk because I have been expecting a package for about 2 weeks now, and apparently ISH lost it… Cody turned to me and asked if it was possible for me to have any worse luck than I already have. At this point I don’t even care about something like this; it’s not a big deal, and there is basically nothing that could ruin this trip for me. It is a dream come true!
We went to the ISH bar later because that is where everyone hangs out, but it was kinda weird because there was a special event for the nite where they had a bunch of drag queens come in and do some acts. Not exactly my thing, but we stayed for a few minutes because everyone else was there. Most people ended up leaving and going clubbing, but Cody and myself decided that we would stay back and attempt to watch the season premiere of the office. We went back to my room, ate some nutella (amazing!) and attempted to watch the most amazing show in the world… however, it didn’t really work, so we both went to bed and decided to try another time. Oh well, it will be ok…
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