Show at the Globe

Friday, Sept 11
Met at the Globe Theatre for our morning tour. The guide was an actor and director, so he knew all sorts of things and was very fun and was really funny. I loved when he explained how Shakespeare was meant to be heard, not read, and he gave examples of all the homonyms in his work. Fascinating!! It makes me want to check them all out just for the hidden double meanings!
"Heaven" over the stage



Steph and I got lunch at a little Italian place not far from the Globe called Viva Verdi (a lovely theatre theme). It was really modern and was pretty non-traditional—no spaghetti and meatballs there!

Then back to the Globe to wait for our showing of “As You Like It.” We checked out the shop and I got this coaster set with quotes on them, Love and Insults! I loved all the insult stuff, they were pretty hilarious to have all together!

Our show started at 2 and I’m really glad we sprung for the seats instead of standing for 2 ½ hours! It was absolutely packed with people! And people were still coming in!



And the play was FABULOUS!!!!!!! It was so so so funny, even though at times it was difficult to hear because of a plane overhead, or they were facing away, or talking too quickly. The guy playing the jester was adorable and sooo funny! He did absolutely shameful things with and to us, the audience making it even better. There was some great interaction going on. My other favorite character/actor had to be the melancholy guy. He reminded me a lot of Kevin Klein, especially because his hair looked just like Kevin’s from Pirates of Penzance and he sounded like him, too—nasal, in a way—kindof like the hooka-smoking caterpillar from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland! :) He was AWESOME!!!

But the absolute best part was the end. There’s the quadruple wedding—including the really cute jester with his hilariously mismatched lusty old peasant woman and they kindof went after each other’s necks like vampires (gross and hysterical) during the whole scene—and they all start this very traditional wedding dance. Then the music changed to something really upbeat and the actors lined up around the outside of the stage and start doing this crazy choreographed dance!! It was almost like breakdancing in parts, but nobody was spinning around on the floor or anything. They all had these awesome, perfectly choreographed moves and were having a great time. We were all laughing to tears!!! It was so funny and so UNEXPECTED!!!! It was an incredible show and that was just the cherry on top of it all. WOW!!!!!

The tour guy had said he thought it was the best show they’d put on in 10 years and I’m sure after seeing the show he was speaking absolute truth. It was FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the show, a few of us wandered down to Borough Market. I got some delicious chocolate and yogurt covered stuff at a sweets stand where the guys are always handing out free stuff. Every time I’ve been there they always give me stuff to try so I couldn’t help actually buying some this time and it was totally worth it!!
Later, Steph, Kelsey, me, Molly, Liz, and Megan went to Notting Hill for drinks. We stopped at the Old Swan pub where they had cocktails called the “7 Deadly Sins” and they were super yummy! Especially this one with mint and chocolate in it. That might be our new place when we need to get away!!

There were also some really nice Australian guys there who took our picture for us. When the one was doing it he took a fake step toward the door while holding Megan’s camera. He was joking about stealing it and Megan had a small heart attack. It was pretty funny and he was very sorry about scaring her and then was like, “No, seriously…don’t give your camera away so easily!” They were very nice and we saw them later while changing tubes, too.