One of my favorite days yet. Might possibly be one of my most treasured experiences to date. Today was the day we visited the renowned Globe theater. Not only did we visit, but we got a tour, went through the exhibition, and were groundlings at a show! We saw a superb production of The Tempest with just fantastic acting. Some famous actors were present but we'll get in to more of that later.
The first thing we did was go through the exhibition while we waited for our tour. There were some interesting things in there! I was particularly found of all the information they had about music and Shakespeare. Here are some pictures:
Costumes made as they were in Shakespeare's day
Gate created with iron shaped as plants, flowers, and animals referenced in his plays
New Zealand work sent to honor the re-opening of the Globe
traditional wind machine
audio tracks at the exhibit
I had just finished the exhibit when we were being rounded up for our tour. If you've never seen pictures, the Globe is beautiful. And even if you have seen pictures, it's much more beautiful and colorful in person. I have more pictures!
Our lovely tour guide hearkening us over
The tour was great with lots of great information. It was entertaining just being given the information by our tour guide; he dressed like an aviator and had a fantastic and very theatrical speaking voice. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he was a member of a Shakespeare cast somewhere if not at the Globe. But it didn't last very long (or didn't seem like it) and we were out on the street to wait for the doors to open for our matinee.
We decided to eat at Nando's, a great and relatively cheap chicken place. I had an awesome mango and lime chicken sandwich with chips (as in fries). MMMMM. It was really neat because where I was sitting I could see St. Paul's Cathedral across the Thames. And there was an Italian family in front of us. I did a fair amount of eavesdropping.
We then went to Borough Market which was just on the other side of a tunnel for dessert. I had a delectable lemon tart. I could have gone for at least two.
With deserts in hand, we walked back to the Globe so we could get in the queue for the doors. We had groundling tickets, which means that we stood in the open space in front of the stage and before the actual seats. This meant that if we wanted to see the actors well and lean on something - like the stage - we needed to get there early. We had pretty good spots in the queue since we got there about an hour before the show started. We sat down along the wall as we were waiting. Where I was sitting, I was directly in front of St. Paul's. The weather was beautiful at this time; the sun was out with some clouds infront of a blue sky, the wind blowing lightly, and a most regal cathedral sitting across from me. I was listening to Arrival of the Birds by Cinematic Orchestra
and I was reminded just how miraculous my life is. It was a simple joy that I will cherish for a long time. 
Then, the Bankside gates opened, and it was time.
This was my "seat".
HOW AMAZING IS THAT. And I enjoyed the show SO. MUCH. Not only was it filled with phenomenal actors, but I was in the perfect place for actor/audience interaction. There were some great "woah!" moments too; there was a suprising amount of fantastic puppetry and the music was just splendid. There were a lot of songs! I was just to the left of the stairs and literally leaning on the stage. I was so close to the actors that I could see the black seams on the black cloaks and the different colors in the dust on their boots. I could've counted Colin Morgan's eyelashes if I wanted. Oh yeah! Btw, Colin Moran - Merlin from BBC's Merlin and Roger Allam were in the production! Here they are as Ariel and Prospero
I must say I REALLY enjoyed Ariel, as well as Ferdinand,
and especially Caliban. His physicality was exceptional. He was one of the best actors in my eyes.
I thought it was fun that he blended in to the painted columns of the stage. But regardless, the production was exceptional. I had fake beer spilt on me and gratefully missed being spit on by Caliban. If I wasn't careful I would be in the way of the actors coming up the stairs and moving around on the edge of the stage. But it was really fun how much they interacted with us. The one "downfall" of the performance wasn't a downfall at all to me, but more of a great opportunity - it started raining on us. Hard. So much that I was dripping on to the stage and couldn't see sometimes, especially when it started hailing/sleeting. LOL. But I absolutely loved it. Today was such a fun time - and quite magical. I felt like I was rediscovering theatre for the first time. All of it was a great and most treasured experience. Very magical.
After the show we decided to head home - it had been an eventful, wet day and we wanted to dry off and warm up a bit. On our way back I almost died. We had stopped at a cross walk, crossing not a very busy street but it shot off a busy street. We waited a few seconds for the cars to pass. I looked both ways a few times and after not seeing OR hearing any cars, I took a step off the curb. That was when a cab came shooting around the corner in my direction. Before I had time to think, he had passed. We shared the same inch of cement, I am telling you we were that close to each other. I literally could have died had I been a few inches farther into the road. Why I didn't take a bigger step I don't know, but that reason whatever it was saved my life. I turned around and saw that one of my friends had seen me too, pretty sure his eyes were as big as mine. We both laughed it off - but I'm pretty sure my laugh was more of a "HOLY CRAP!" It was ironic since I'm usually the one who saves people from getting hit by cars. But oh my goodness. I was a bit shaky the rest of the day. Hahaha. It's really funny looking back though.
That about sums it up for now. I'm quite exhausted - time for bed!
Cheers!
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