Singing and Acting in the Rain

Last, last Thursday (bear with me as I catch up) our class got the opportunity to tour the Globe Theatre.

It was really great, and our tour guide was so funny. And he really knew his Shakespeare. The most interesting thing I took away was that different social classes sat in different parts of the theatre, and Shakespeare, knowing this, wrote specific lines to be spoken directly to those areas. The main lines relating to he basic plot would be spoken to the uneducated groundlings while the more flowery passages were presented to the upperclass sitting on the sides of the balcony because they would appreciate the diction. It was also why many passages were repeated, so he could say important passages to each group. There's some Shakespearian knowledge for you. We also got to look at the Globe museum, which was cool. Even today they still hand-sew all their costumes, which can cost thousands of pounds. They had some costumes on display from past performances.

I also learned that it was an American chap who first presented the idea of rebuilding the Globe theatre with as close of a restoration of the original as they could. The British government wasn't too fond of an American trying to call the shots so money had to be raised without government help and even today there is no government subsidiation. It's a wonderful theatre. They're also building an indoor Elizabethan theatre next door to the Globe that will be internally lit by candlelight. It opens next year and I wish I cold be here to see a show in it! After the tour our class was dismissed for a few hours. Borough street was only about a block away so Cali and I went there for lunch. She tried the magic grilled cheese sandwich for the first time. We also bought more honeycomb and tried some Turkish delight. The sweets here are so good. It's dangerous. Borough street is pretty small so we left after just a bit and got in line for The Tempest, which we were watching at the Globe. We got to be groundlings, which was so, so cool. We stood in the yard area, and since Cali and I were one of the first people in line we got to be right up against the stage. Seriously. I rested my arms and head on the stage for most of the performances. The performance was wonderful! The actors interacted with the audience (particularly the groundlings) a lot. Caliban spit on and burped in the faces of some of my classmates and spilled water all over part of the audience. It was a lot of fun and the acting was phenomenal. There were a few famous names in the cast, particularly these two:

 Namely...

Colin Morgan and Roger Allam

Or, if you only know them by their character names...

Merlin

and Javert (from the original London cast)

While we were watching the show it started raining, which was fitting since it was The Tempest. It didn't rain too hard, and we were all prepared with raincoats (umbrellas weren't allowed), so the rain just added to the stormy atmosphere.

We're a little damp...

That night Cali and I went to Singing in the Rain. It was a very fun show. I loved it.

The acting was somewhat robotic (mostly in the first act) and there were some very pitchy moments, and yet despite all that I enjoyed it a lot. Probably because there were so many wonderful tap dance numbers. I love tap! The movie is still better (hard impossible to beat Gene Kelly), but I enjoyed watching the dream sequence in a stage production.

Gotta dance!

And there was rain! The best part of the show was when he is actually singing and dancing in the rain, and he starting kicking water into the audience. We were sitting in the second row and (I swear!) he made eye contact with us before kicking water into our faces. He was enjoying himself way too much.

Devious...

So, so much fun though. If it wasn't closing so soon I might have tried to see it a second time.

Can you tell I loved it?