Catching Up: June 2, 2011 Stratford-Upon-Avon and Macbeth

Stratford-Upon-Avon! Day two.


Today we went to Anne Hathaway's cottage...and that's when I fell head-over-heels in love with Stratford-Upon-Avon. It is so beautiful there, as was our little walk to the cottage from our B&B's. Roses climbing up every wall and almost every country house along the way had a gorgeously tended garden. My favorite garden was, of course, Anne Hathaway's, though.


Roses in full bloom climbing up the Tudor exterior of the cottage. Willow cabins and trellises. A lush green "wilderness walk". A thriving herb garden. The list could go on for pages. The garden was beautiful, the home itself was beautiful...ugh...I now 100% regret not buying my mum a tea towel from the cottage. 

After we took the traditional group photo in front of the herb garden and wandered through thegift shop, we started to head over to Hall's Croft, where Shakespeare's daughter, Susannah, and her husband lived. The garden there was more tamed and under control, but still gorgeous. I cannot get enough of those English gardens! So many different roses! And...so many lovely peonies, as well!


After these adventures, we went back to our B&B's to take nap in preparation for RSC's Macbeth. 


At about 2:30, Matthew, Nathan, Claire, Andy and I met to get food and hang out before the show. We went to Pizza Express and had such a fun time! I felt like I hadn't laughed that hard in a while. Andy and I were really adventurous, we got the American pizza. 'Twas good. 


After Pizza Express, we hurried over to Moo-Moo's to get Andy's long awaited milkshake. Oh my Lord. These shakes are a complete joke! In a good way! They're incredible! Will would love this place. They have so many amazingly yummy combinations to choose from/make! Andy got a milk chocolate HobNob shake and Matthew got a chocolate chip cookie shake. Wow, wow, wow. Rarely have I seen Matthew giggle as hard as he did when he took the first sip of that shake. 


Then, once Andy and Matthew could get their heavily sugared bodies to move, we walked over to the RSC bookstore so Matthew and I could buy our RSC Complete Works. Twenty-five pounds! It's gorgeous and beautiful and my little baby!!! Ahhh!!! Matt and I were so protective of our Complete Works that we had to run back to our B&B's to drop them off before the show. We walked back and spent the remainder of our time before the show relaxing outside the RSC by the river watching the boats go by.

I can't delay writing about the RSC's Macbeth any longer. It was incredible. I barely even know where to begin. Uh...I'll write my pre-play impressions:

• The set is creepy as all hell.
• Looks like a church that has been destroyed by bombing and disrepair and, then, aging. 
• Ruined frescas (saints with their faces scratched off), obliterated statues, piles of debris...dust in the air...shattered stained glass windows. 

When the play started, the three cellists on the upstairs balcony began to play, the lights went out, and, not 20 seconds later, a bloody and shell-shocked Malcom was lit up and, with creepy prompting from Ross, began the Captain's opening speech. And from then on, my heart was racing and my mouth was agape.

The witches were little dead children. Their first entrance was absolutely terrifying! They were lowered down from the ceiling from ropes with their bodies hanging limp. It looked like they had been hung by the neck, but then they started to speak...telling Macbeth his prophesy. This was creepier in retrospect because these children ended up being the dead versions of Macduff's slain children. OH!

They cut most of the witches out, but it was okay because it really would not have worked with this concept.

One thing I was especially excited about in this production was the use of the Porter! This production did with the Porter what our production tried to do with the witches. Because the Porter in this show was ACTUALLY the porter of hell-gate! He was on stage, on the upstairs balcony, overseeing all of the evil deeds being done. Ah! The same actor who played the Porter also played Seyton (get it?!) and put Mabeth's armor on him before the battle at the end. And when people died, the Porter stood by the upstage door holding a lantern, that shined red light, and welcomed the dead in. So cool!

Jonathan Slinger as Macbeth

 Just for the record, Jonathan Slinger as Macbeth was amazing. He was so present and seemed like he was never going to produce tonight's specific Macbeth ever again! The way he played with vocal pitch was amazing and taught me so much. Actually he and Lady Macbeth did this. They would go down to these extreme low notes in very specifics places. Depending on where, it showed either/both strength and extreme fear and grief. 

I would  now like to discuss how horrific the murder of the MacDuffs was. VERY HORRIFIC. So, the murderers walked in and one of them got Lady MacDuff in a strangle hold forcing her to watch the events that would take place. The others, meanwhile, slit her two sons' throats. Lady MacDuff died before she could see what would happen to her daughter. The murderers exited dragging the young MacDuff girl off stage with them. On stage, the Porter opened the upstage door and welcomed the family in. Once they were all gone, the little girl came back on stage and went through the door to catch up with her family. O. M. G. Messed Up.

The live cello performers were amazing and made every scene 10x more intense and brought me 10x closer to tears.

Beautiful coronation scene between the Macbeths.

I'm gushing, I know, but I would like to address the brilliance of the final battle between Macbeth and MacDuff. So, the MacDuff family as ghosts followed MacDuff wherever he went...it was beautiful because we literally saw what was fueling MacDuff's revenge. After he killed Macbeth, the ghosts of his dead family were all around him and there was a moment when he saw his daughter. It was absolutely heartbreaking. I was crying so hard at then end of the play and I couldn't seem to get myself to stop for a while afterward. 


This was the first production here where I was weeping after. Like, the hiccuping kind. Like, snotty and stuff. 

Jonathan Slinger and Aislin McGuckin

Anyway, a few of us when to the pub where all the actors hang out after the shows called The Black Swan. I met Jonathan Slinger and got his autograph! I told him that the show made me snot...well, not in so many words...just kidding I said WAY more than he needed to hear...too many. I just hope I didn't make too big of a fool of myself...


Oh, RSC, how I do love thee.

Catching Up: June 1, 2011 Stratford-Upon-Avon and The Merchant of Venice

Stratford-Upon-Avon Trip! Day one.


The train ride up was gorgeous! Once I get some pictures from Andy, I can prove it to you! So green and luch...it kind of reminded me of the Sonoma/Napa area of California in springtime.

The first thing we did after arriving in Stratford was settle down in our cute littles Bed & Breakfasts. Andy and I were in the Penhurst and our room was all yellow!

After some leisure time to take naps, we all met Tim to go to the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was christened and is now buried. It was a beautiful church from the renaissance period and it is CROOKED!

The inscription on Shakespeare's grace:

GOOD FRIEND FOR iESUS SAKE FORBEARE,

TO DIFF THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE.
                     e             t
BLESS ME Y MAN Y SPARES THES STONES,
                                      t
AND CVRST BE HE Y MOVES MY BONES.

His grave was so simple. His memorial was simple. Shakespeare's legacy speaks for itself and lives on.

I looked up at the same ceiling that Shakespeare looked up at! Ahhh! This amazing man was baptized here and his funeral was here! Incredible.

After we wandered around the beautifully creepy cemetary outside the church, we left to go to Shakespeare's Birthplace! First we stopped by the Royal Shakespeare Company's theatre so we would know how to get there later that night to see The Merchant of Venice.


The birthplace museum was...pretty cool. You know...the parts where you saw some of Shakespeare's actual stuff...but, it was overdone....a lot like Disneyland. Shakespeare Disneyland...hm...I'd enjoy that.

Patrick Stewart as Shylock

After, a few of us bought one pound pasties at the Cornwall Pasty Co. and headed over to the park in front of the RSC to hang out before seeing Patrick Stewart, direted by Rupert Gould, play Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. It was fun! Especially because Claire had to speak in a mouse voice because she had lost her normal one.


This show was...amazing. It was innovative, bold, poignant and funny. It made choices that...I don't know I would've made, but I appreciated how it stretched my normal way of thinking. 


The show was set in modern day Las Vegas, which really played up the showy and deceitful sides of the story.

Patrick Stewart as Shylock...oh my GOD...incredible! He was terrifying one moment and the next, as vulnerable as a peach. I could not imagine a better performance of the "Hath not a Jew eyes?" monologue! He held the audience in his grip. He had our full attention whenever he was on stage.

Scott Handy as Antonio

The trial scene between Shylock and Antonio, well...and everyone else too, was so intense. It was almost unbearable to watch. They hoisted Antonio's handcuffed hands into the air by a long chain. His orange inmate's onesie was tied around his hips to make it easier for Shylock to cut out that pound of flesh. When Shylock approached Antonio with the knife, his body started to panic....he was breathing so hard, his stomach was convulsing with fear, he was sweating and shaking....extremely hard to watch. Rarely to movies or plays show realistically moments of extreme human fear, but they nailed it. I was preparing myself to see a damn execution, even though I knew the story didn't go there! 


But then, that valley girl beeyotch, Portia, had to ruin Shylock's like by, you know, finding a loophole in the bond. After Antonio and the court ruled that Shylock must lose everything, including abandoning his faith, Graziano spit on him and it was...the saddest thing...ever...

Susannah Fielding as Portia
Emily Plumtree as Nerissa

Here are some of my notes from the show:

• Las Vegas? Whaaa?! I wonder how this will work out.
• The set is bery elaborate and I love when shows start with characters...I mean actors on stage as their characters during the preshow. But, sometimes it gives me a different first impression of the show...like School For Scandal.
• Bassanio's speech pattern in the first scene = WTF.
• Creative scene settings: elevator, car...
• I wish Bassanio would change his facial expression. It's distracting and pushy.
• LOL WTF are you thinking, Bassanio!?

Also, the whole Portia part of the play was interesting in this production. She was like a beauty queen slash host of her own bachelorette type show. The show was called Destiny and was about all the men who come to try to court her by having to choose the right casket to win her. It was really funny and clever, but I thought it got a bit old...