Regent's Park, London
July 6, 2006"A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London, was one of the best experiences I've ever had at a theater. We had seats almost on the stage - second row, centered and at the height of the actors - and were entertained with unbelievable physical comedy. They had brilliant comedic timing, and the audience so in the palms of their hands that they could say unfunny lines and have us laughing. There was slapping, screaming, crawling, tugging; at one point, Lysander, trying to demonstrate to Hermia that he'd stopped loving her, takes her to the bushes and smacks her on the forehead, pushing her back into them. The faeries were creepy - a combination of childish innocence and maliciousness. Absolutely perfect for the roles. They were all bald, men and women, and wore Victorian punk: torn white chemises, black hose and Doc Marten boots. Tattoos.
Hampstead Heath and Camden Town
Before the play, Josina and I had tried to get to Keats' House, up by Hampstead Heath. The house had closed by the time we arrived in the area, so we walked through Waterlow Park, then over to Hampstead Heath and up Parliament Hill in the heath. The park is enormous; there are
bike paths everywhere, and it is less carefully cultivated than the other London parks I've seen. Despite consulting our guidebook, we got lost, and spent twenty minutes conversing with a very kind young man, known to us as "the father of Alex," as he held an extremely puzzled-looking baby on his hip. He proceeded to give us unbelievably detailed directions. Eventually we ended up in Camden Town (see picture), which, as the father of Alex described to us, smells like sandwiches.Stratford-upon-Avon
The first week of school here, the entire student body went to see "Julius Caesar" performed by the Royal Shakespeare Comany in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's home town and where he is buried). The play was mostly brilliantly acted, except for Mark Anthony - who has the best speech in the play, so that was unfortunate. His diction just wasn't clear, and somehow he wasn't as engaging or charismatic as the other actors: he kept losing my attention, whereas Brutus had me riveted. The murder of Julius was extremely bloody - fake blood flying everywhere. They smeared it on their faces and wore it that way for part of the next scene, which added a pagan, ritualistic feel to it. Otherwise, it's not one of my favorite plays, and despite Brutus and Cassius' passion and charisma, I was ready to leave when it was done.
Before the play, we wandered for a few hours around Stratford. Masha and I walked along the Avon river up to Holy Trinity Church. We were the last tourists able to enter before evensong, and I snapped a photo of the famous gravestone, which lies beside Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife, and Thomas Nash. We then stopped to have ale, fish and chips at the Dirty Duck, a popular hangout for RSC actors since the 18th century. Since we came before the play, we didn't run into any of the troubadors (no Patrick Stewart, of StarTrek fame, who is in The Tempest), but the ale was rather tasty.