Shakespeare Country

Hello all! Sorry it’s been awhile since my last blog post; I’ve been away from Bath without internet, and then, frankly, I spent a very lazy weekend doing nothing but baking (though I should have been writing a paper about Sir Robert Walpole). I made a loaf of sultana and walnut bread and a French apple tart.

Last Tuesday morning, at 9:30 a.m, a coach came to pick up everyone in ASE to take us to Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was about a two hour drive through field and dale, and a couple of highways. A note on highways: they are strange to look at, because you can almost imagine you are in America when you see them, except then you do a double-take and realize that they are backwards. It’s always a bit trippy. It’s the same thing on a two-lane road; I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought another car was going to crash into me because we were in the left lane, or the amount of driverless cars I’ve imagined I’ve seen on the road. Or the number of four-year-olds I’ve thought were driving.

We arrived in Stratford around 11:45, and Claire walked a group of us to our B&B. I was staying in Cherry Blossom Guest House in a room with two girls I had never met before. The program may be small, but that doesn’t mean that I actually know all 55 kids. The girls, Kathryn and Annalise, were really nice. They were great to talk to and get to know. Our B&B was nice, too, if a little cramped. Christine, the owner, had put a tea-maker and teacups in our room, so of course we made ourselves a cup of tea that afternoon. At 12:15 we met Barbara in “The Park.” There was a large park across the street from the row of B&B’s which we occupied, and it was the meeting point of the entire trip. Barbara took us on a brief introductory walk of Stratford-Upon-Avon. The city (for our purposes) is a three street grid—three going down, three crossing. It’s slightly more complicated than that, but you get the drift. A little bit outlying the grid is Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried, and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (Shakespeare’s wife, not the actress). Within the Grid you can find basically anything you want relating to Shakespeare from his birthplace, to his deathplace, to the RSC theatres, to Othello’s Brasserie, to Mistress Quickly’s Real English Eats, to Titus’ Pie Shop. Ok, that last one was a joke… but maybe not, actually, because I didn’t see all of Stratford and I wouldn’t put it past these people. Shea, Andrew, Kathie, and I decided to eat lunch at a fish and chips place—it was AMAZING food and a real local place. It wasn’t a cheesy pub or anything, just a (somewhat bare) dining area and only old Brits were eating there. After lunch we went to a Drucker’s for “the best hot chocolate in the world” (it was ok). On the walls of the patisserie were paintings of Shakespeare plays… except with cakes in place of key props, like Yorrick’s skull. There was even one of Winter’s Tale, where the Bear chased a man holding a cake offstage. Quite the paintings.

At 2:30 all of ASE met at the Town Hall for a lecture about the play we were seeing that night: 1 Henry VI. Ruth Hazel, one of the professors in the program, explained everything about the plot and play, as well as giving us a lot of background about Shakespeare that I really didn’t need. It was an interesting lecture, though, especially her explanations of Stratford before Shakespeare. After the lecture the afternoon was spent trying to nap and drinking tea. Around 6:00 a group of us went out to try to find dinner, but didn’t before it was time to go get our tickets for the show. That was fine with me, I wasn’t really all that hungry.

For I Henry VI I had a seat in the Circle of the temporary Courtyard Theatre. They were amazing seats. The show was even amazing, despite the fact that it was probably not pure Shakespeare but a collaborative effort, and possibly not even written first. The actors were great and it really kept my attention. I decided that my new life goal is to become an actress with the RSC. After the show, everyone went to a pub called The Dirty Duck, which is where the actor’s hang out after the show. I was talking to Claire and a student named Kiki, and they are planning to go to London in April to see 1 Henry IV and I’m dying to go with them!!! I love that play!!! After Kiki drifted away I mentioned how unfair it was that Kiki got to meet the actor who plays Hotspur last semester (Kiki is a year student). Claire was like, “Well, he’s right there if you want to talk to him—he played Young John Talbot tonight.” He was at the bar ordering beers for himself and other actors, and having a conversation with the barman. After a bit of protesting that I couldn’t POSSIBLY talk to him and a dare, then a double-dare, I went up to the bar and ordered a half-pint of Strongbow. While it was being poured I sort of non-chalantly said to Talbot/Hotspur (who’s real name is Lex Shrapnel), “You were really great tonight.” He said, “Thanks.” Then we started a conversation about where I was from, what my study abroad program was, and about how he plays Hotspur in Henry IV and how I should come to London in April or May to see it. Amazing.

The next day we had to wake up early for breakfast at our B&B’s, then we had a two-hour lecture about the play we had seen and the play we were to see (2 Henry VI). That afternoon we walked around, went to Shakespeare’s birthplace (but just saw it from the outside—it was ten pounds to go in, and from what I could tell it was a recreated house museum—we have plenty of those where I come from), went to Trinity Church to see his grave, looked over the River Avon, and got a pasty for lunch. That afternoon we went to see Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. It was… pretty much a recreated house museum… but it had an awesome maze in the backyard and some really weird sculptures which in someone’s twisted mind apparently represented Shakespeare plays. We were all really, really confused. We also got 20% off at the giftshop there, so I got a few things, including my cookbook, with which I made my loaf of bread and French Apple Tart. After we got back from the Cottage, I got ready for the play, then met up with Alli, Shea, Danielle, Jon, and Andrew for dinner. We went to an Italian place called Carduccio’s. It was good, but it was SUCH a rip-off. The guy asked if we wanted bread, we said, “ok,” they charged us 2.95 pounds for it—and they brought us two without asking. They also brought us olives (without asking) and charged us for those. It was ridiculous. We were not happy campers, but oh well. The sad thing, as Andrew pointed out, is that you can’t even not tip them, because they aren’t expecting a tip in the first place in Europe. Grrr.

The show, however, was great. Even better than the one from the night before. I think 2 Henry VI might be my favorite of the Henry trilogy (I didn’t get to see Richard III for the tetralogy). This one had a nice love scene between Margaret of Anjou and Suffolk, an amazing rebellion by Jack Cade, a scene of sorcery with Eleanor, wife of Gloucester, lots of deaths and dying and ghosts, and all of it so wonderfully done. For this performance we were two rows back from the stage, in the Stalls. I was a little worried during some of the fights that I was going to be hit and killed. One slipped sword and it was all over for me. It was an awesome view.

This night, we again went to The Dirty Duck. I talked to the man who had played The Dauphin in Part 1 and Jack Cade in Part 2. Andrew, a girl named Katie, and I had a bet going on (which a lot of people got into, but in which no money was actually exchanged) about the planting of a bag in a certain scene, so we asked the actor. Turns out I was right—the bag was a plant, the boy pulled haplessly onto the stage was not: his fear was real. Again, the actor asked us about our program, where we were from, how we liked the show, and assured us that we would love Part Three.

Thursday was our final day in Stratford. We had another lecture in the morning, but I pretty much zoned out… we were all exhausted by this point from late nights, long days, early mornings. Shea, Alli, Sylvia, Danielle, and I went to H&M; I got a 3 pound night-robe, which reminds me of the turquoise silky robe that Kay wears (and that she’s currently wearing in her Facebook profile picture). That afternoon we all went to Warrick Castle. I had thought it would be more like visiting a medieval castle than like visiting King’s Dominion. However, after pushing our way through the turnstalls, I realized that this was much more theme-park-like than historical. The Castle, of course, was real. Warrick was a real historical figure (and one in the Henry VI trilogy) known as “The King-Maker.” He was pretty badass, actually. I’m sure if he’s seen his castle lately he’s rolling in his grave.

First, we went to “Ghosts Alive” which was like Hallo-A-Scream at Busch Gardens. Then we went through “King-maker” which was essentially a wax museum (it was really creepy, Shea and I had to leave Sylvia and Danielle behind). We talked to some men at the archery booth (who called themselves Robin and Little John) and we climbed up the ramparts and battlements, and the view was great. We passed by Ye Olde Food Stand, and looked out at the summer Jousting Grounds. We went into the lavish dining room and hall of State… which were more like a glorified house museum than anything. We could even get our picture taken with a cardboard cut-out of Queen Elizabeth II!!! The Castle was fun and hokey for about an hour and a half… then we were ready to go… but we still had another hour and a half to go… Jon, Shea, and I sat in the Undercourt Restaurant for the next hour just gossiping. Danielle and Sylvia showed up later. It was a nice time, good conversation… it was warm in the restaurant. Finally, we went back to the bus. Once we got back to Stratford it was about 5:00 and we had until 7:00 to get dinner and then to get to the theatre. Shea, Jon, Sylvia, Danielle, Liz, and I all hit up the McDonald’s (though Jon, Shea, and I were the only ones who actually ate there, the others had brought pita and hummus from the grocery store). I got chicken McNuggets and fries. Heavenly. I don’t remember the last time I ate at a McDonald’s, even in the States. This McDonald’s was strange though—they had deli sandwiches on ciabatta, fish and chips, Cadbury donuts, and, my personal favorite and the one I ordered, A CADBURY EGG MCFLURRY!!! It was amazing. There can be no greater McFlurry than that of the Cadbury Egg.

After that, we went to the theatre. We watched the actors practicing fight choreography and ropes on a screen in the lobby. We got our seats and they were terrible, so a bunch of us moved around until we were spread throughout the theatre in some pretty nice seats (I was about three rows back stage right). 3 Henry VI was really good, but I think I preferred 2 Henry VI. Nevertheless, it was another amazing performance. As soon as the show was done we got on the coaches and headed back to Bath. Good-bye Shakespeare Country!!!

In other news: I booked half of my Spring Break plans (Ryanair booking system is down, so the Ireland part can’t be done yet). Also, I told you long ago that I would count the stairs I have to climb to get to my flat, and I did, but forgot to put it in my blog. 63. There are 63 stairs up to my flat. And finally, I have an awesome job volunteering for Bath Abbey: I’m making interpretive panels for thirty-five contemporary diptychs of the Life of Jesus to go on display and to travel when on loan to other churches. How cool is that for volunteer work? Plus, they gave me tea and biscuits.