Days 14 & 15 (Our Wed. and Thurs. Weekend): Henry IV, part 1 and Stratford-upon Avon

So my plans of a quiet, restorative, self-caring day on Wednesday were altered when someone offered me a matinee ticket to Henry IV, part 1 at breakfast.  I had heard good things about this production, and so I decided I could take a yoga class and do laundry any time, but I could only see this production here and now!  Also, the yard tickets to stand are only 5 pounds.  Another friend from the program was also going so I grabbed a sandwich, my sunhat, and a drink, and we secured spots near the front of the line and made a bee-line for our spot with our elbows on the stage, just left of center stage.  I wolfed down my sandwich like a true groundling and then turned around, admiring the banners which dressed the theatre for this production.

Panoramic view of The Globe dressed in banners for Henry IV, part 1

 I just loved this production; it was my favorite so far of the season.  The performances were nuanced and fresh, there was much interplay between the actors and the audience, and it starred three strong actresses in the major male roles: Michelle Terry, who played Hotspur and is also artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe, Helen Schlesinger, as Falstaff, and Sarah Amankwah as Prince Hal.  There were other women on stage, as well, playing both men and women.  The Globe has a policy of casting an equal number of female and male actors each season, as well as color-blind and ability inclusive casting.  Schlesinger's Falstaff conducts an actual catechism of the audience on the nature of honor, and besides the usual bits of stealing and drinking people's beers, will meet eyes and carried on an extended silent conversation with raised eyebrows and chin juts with me, in the scene when the character has either fallen asleep or is playing dead on the battlefield.  When Terry's Hotspur died, my eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and it felt like the most important moment of the play.  We will see Henry V on the 27th, which is the sequel to this, and I can't wait.

Thursday was to be bloody hot, 100 in London and 95 in Stratford but about fifteen of us went to Stratford-upon-Avon anyway.  My group met in the lobby at 7AM, to take the tube to Marlebone Station where we would take the train to S.A.

Marlebone Station, London

We bought pastries and pasties and coffee for breakfast, activated our e-tickets, and boarded a comfortable, air-conditioned train which arrived on time.  Some practiced their lines but I read Henry V, which I am trying to finish before we see the play.  After changing trains we arrived in Stratford shortly after 10.  We used google maps to find the Shakespeare Center, where we bought tickets and walked through the house where William Shakespeare was born.  Personally, I scooted through the exhibit to get to the house and gardens.

In front of Shakespeare's birth house; that's me hiding under the sunhat and sunglasses.

Gardens at Shakespeare's birth house, where some very hot (literally) actors were performing scenes.

Entryway at Shakespeare's birth house

Shakespeare's father's glove-making workshop.  His father was a tradesman who purchased a coat-of-arms at one point to improve the family's status.  William Shakespeare didn't attend university but received a very good grammar school education with Latin and Greek and studies of the great mythology and narratives of the classics.

My next goal was to find Trinity Church, where William Shakespeare, his wife, and his daughtersare buried.  This walk probably seemed much longer than it was due to the heat and my not knowing exactly where I was going.  I also took the scenic route: I walked down the town's long main street to the slow-moving river Avon, and walked along the river until I got to the end of the park, past the RSC Theatre, and thence to the church.  I used my CityMapper app to find my way, entered the church through an atmospheric graveyard, and walked to the back where the Shakespeare tombs and displays are, where 4 pounds donation is requested.  I will admit, I was in awe.  This is the same church where the family would have attended services, possible the church where he was married, and the same church he was baptized in. 

William Shakespeare's grave.  The inscription (in iambic pentameter) reads: "Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear, /
To dig the dust enclosed here. / Blessed be the man that spares these stones, / And cursed be he that moves my bones." 

  

Entries from the church registry: William Shakespeare's baptism and burial

Interior, Trinity Church, crossing, oldest part of the church

Leaving the church I felt contemplative and was glad I had split off from my group to make the pilgrimage on my own.  I checked the time and realized I would have time to see Hall's Croft, which is a lovely, graciously proportioned house where Shakespeare's oldest daughter, Susanna lived with her doctor-husband, John Hall, prior to inheriting Shakespeare's New Place upon his death.  

Hall's Croft

Interior (apothecary) Hall's Croft

There was even a pleasant tea room on the premises where I enjoyed a fresh lemonade and a berry scone.

Then it was time to get to the theatre for As You Like It, performed by the Royale Shakespeare Company.  As I walked back through the park I ran into a group of friends who had taken a later train and we all walked together and talked about what we had seen.  

The arena stage was wonderful: an oval shaped theatre with seating almost all around, very vertical indeed.  Instead of a center thrust area, this production was designed with two diagonal thrusts, stage right and left, so actors could enter and exit from the house, as if they were coming along a forest path.  Touchstone, a character who is sort of like a low-born Falstaff, or one of Shakespeare's fools, was full of antics which it was hard to tell if the matinee audience was enjoying or suffering, as he abused them by pouring various detritus on them, and making lewd gestures.  However, the show was stolen by an enormous Bun Raku puppet, worked and voiced by three actors, representing the Greek God Hymen, to bless the marriages of the characters.

After the play we all re-convened at the Black Swan, aka the Dirty Duck, where we saw a few of the actors retiring to a private room and enjoyed hearty food but suffered for lack of air on this very hot day.

To recover, four of us headed out on a walk that was longer than expected, as we sought Anne Hathaway's cottage, a rural house amid gardens, where Anne and William are thought to have met and romanced.  Our long, hot walk took us through suburban neighborhoods and along at least one busy street, but at last we found ourselves there.  It was too late to enter or even walk in the garden, but we could lean on the fence and look.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

As many people are aware, Anne was 26 and William 18 when they married.  Is is suggested that their romance began when he was helping at the harvest at the Hathaway farm since they married hurriedly, without the usually three readings of the bans.  Baby Susanna was born six months after the wedding, nine months after the harvest.

Our sight-seeing group split again, as my guide book had mentioned a footpath one could take to the cottage, and I was craving a quiet path over suburban pavement.  We found it and meandered to the train station where we joked with the young man selling cold drinks from an airstream trailer and tried to beg the gift of extra ice to little avail.  Who knew that ice could seem such a luxury?  The return trip was delayed due to the heat of the rails which meant the trains had to slow down and a few trains were also cancelled so we were quite crowded.  Lucky for me a nice young man offered me his seat, and I took it with thanks, right across the aisle from two lovely border collies who must have been even hotter than I.  And so, we made it "home", and were ever so grateful for showers and fans. When I dreamt, it was in iambic pentameter, so William must have blessed the pilgramage.