The Play's the Thing - Stratford-upon-Avon

The River Avon

We arrived in this absurdly charming town about 2:00, dropped off the bags and took off to see all the Shakespearean sights. The canal basin was loaded with swans, geese, marsh hens, and ducks – mainly swans, and fairly aggressive swans at that. They swagger down the river in packs, like an avian street gang, shaking down passersby for snacks. They look beautiful and add considerably to the charm of the waterway though.

We walked all through the RSC Park to Holy Trinity Church. This is the site of Shakespeare’s grave, and in compliance with EU standards on buildings of any historic or aesthetic interest it is bedecked in scaffolding and corrugated steel screens. The church has quite an impressive organ, lovely stained glass windows, and the font in use in the 16^th century at which young Shakespeare was baptized. They also have a facsimile of the parish register pages showing Shakespeare’s baptism and burial records. The tomb is a simple stone slab on the floor in front of the altar. The engraving is so eroded by hundreds of years’ worth of traffic that a sign now hangs above it with a copy of the legend.

The organ at Holy Trinity Church

We had dinner at the RSC waterside café and hit the shop before showtime. Somehow we did not buy everything – primarily because no one could face carrying it, but it was very hard. They have many delightful treasures – like a wooden Ophelia that collapses into a bank of cattails when you press the bottom, badges with all the Bard’s best insults, and many, many more. There are also wardrobes with retired costumes to play dress up.

The Bard's grace before the alter and the inscription

Our first performance was The Merchant of Venice. It was fantastic! We weren’t actually touching the performers this time, but it is quite an intimate space. While all the actors were excellent, I have to say it was definitely the most human and compelling Shylock I have ever seen.

Next day we went to see Shakespeare’s birthplace, Harvard House (birthplace & childhood home of John Harvard founder of the eponymous university!), and King Edward VI school – Shakespeare’s grammar school. Our afternoon was used up on the river and in reading Othello in preparation for the performance!

The stage is set for the second half of
 "Othello".  The water feature is under
the metal thing in the center of the
floor.

Othello was another excellent performance. However, the show was really stolen by the sets. There is no curtain at a Shakespearean theater so you can see everything as you enter. This night, there was a high stone arch flanked by grimy walls framing a dark dockside scene. The floor appeared paved with large stones and in the center sat a small wooden boat on a decorative metal grate that extended towards the back of the stage turning left and right to create a T shape. We took this to be a suggestion of water, figuring that light and steam would be used to create the illusion of floating. However, when the performance started, Iago and Rodrigo came onto the stage and stepped into the boat. And it rocked and wobbled and created ripple in the water. The grate was actually the bottom of a pool! After Iago poles himself away, the metal grate rises above the water and creates the floor of Othello’s house. The grates were also able to rise above the floor of the stage to act as a table and as a set of stairs. The high arch swung back, and pieces suspended from the ceiling effectively created the play’s other settings. These were some of the best sets we have ever seen.