Globe All Seasons

If anyone is after tickets for "Shakespeare in the Abbey", they currently seem to be available for every performance. The page about the show says all tickets are sold out, but if you go via the calendar all dates are bookable although some are "limited availability"

www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/d/2018-04-28

Incidentally the £37 ticket price is more reasonable if you consider the normal entry price to Westminster Abbey is £20 so you're actually paying £17 for the show


Also - cast announced for Two Noble Kinsmen


blog.shakespearesglobe.com/tagged/Two-Noble-Kinsmen

Mwah. Just got two. Love this board.

I don't think I've seen 'Two Noble Kinsmen' before but is that Sue Devaney, star of 'Dinnerladies', I spy in the cast? Booked!



Perhaps they should have cast Carrie Hope Fletcher instead?

Interesting interview with Michelle Terry in Time Out

Particularly this bit she slips in at the end ...

Going tomorrow Thursday. Anyone else? 

I’m going! I have blond hair and glasses.

Ah, no, I am in at 6.30pm. Enjoy! I was reading the email about accessibility and apparently the nave is a good place to sit, and there are seats dotted around. I’m going with two people who won’t be able to stand the whole time, so I wanted to make sure they’d be ok.

First night, the Globe stripped bare, no set only the actors and the text to fill the space.

Thankfully Michelle is up to the task, an angry and forceful Hamlet that dominates the space.

If they do it like last year, apart from one or two bits there are no fixed locations or timings for the speeches. The players do stick to general areas ( I guess they are given their zones so as not to all bunch up) but wander about a bit and seem to burst into speech randomly. A couple of times a player just came up to me as I was admiring a tomb or something and started their speech as if chatting with a friend! 

Likewise you are free to wander about and join or leave a performance as you wish.

It was lovely, not least the fact that you can wander round the Abbey any way you like and not have to follow the path as you do when you visit as a tourist. They have kept the numbers down so it is very comfortable, plenty of places to sit and beautifully lit. The actors mingle and then start up a speech with another actor or alone. They don’t bother with gender, so Isabella is spoken by a bloke, but on the whole the actors suit the characters as written. Mark Rylance gives us an intense five minutes of RIII. It was a Shakespearean love fest! Great singing at the end. Gosh the Abbey is a great venue. Should do more big drama there but I suppose the security etc would be dreadful to sort out.

After a rocky start, I really enjoyed this.

Why the rocky start? We’d just walked into the Abbey and someone I recognised leaned in to me to say something. I couldn’t quite place them...and then after they’d declaimed at me for a while, as an audience gathered, I realised that I don’t actually “know” Shobu Kapoor (Gita from Eastenders) I just recognised her from the telly. So I was worried that this was going to be far more interactive than I was expecting. I honestly did not know what to do with my face while she gave her speech.

Anyway, me being paralysingly British aside, this offered lots of wonderful moments. At the end, when the cast come together, many having donned Elizabethan clothing, I realised that I had probably missed quite a lot of performances, but I think that’s to be expected. The cast wear modern clothing, even down to carrying tote bags, so it’s quite breathtaking when someone next to you breaks out.

My favourite moment was John of Gaunt’s speech, I need to check the name of the actress. Delivered on the steps to the Cosmati pavement (uncovered!) she made the hairs on my arms stand on end. Her’s was the only performance I saw that was applauded. In case you want to find her, she was carrying a black Toast bag.