Southwark, Steak and Mushroom pie, and George Bernard Shaw

Today we went to London. Got up at 7 for breakfast at 8, met the bus at 8:30 and we were off. I would have preferred to sleep on the bus, but I think part of me knew there was no chance of that. And that part of me was right. We arrived in Southwark, on the south side of the Thames, around 10:30. I had chosen to go on the tour of the Globe and Rose theaters, instead of the science museum.

The view from the Globe was rather nice, dominated by St. Paul's Cathedral (designed by one Sir Christopher Wren) across the river:
As you can see, it was a bit cloudy. File that under foreshadowing. We had a bit of extra time before our tour, so Professor Hailey led a miniature tour of Southwark. We saw a replica of the Golden Hinde, the ship Sir Francis Drake took on his journey around the world from 1587-1580:
We also saw the ruins of the palace of the Bishop of Winchester (which was destroyed either by the London fire or the blitz, I can't remember which), and the Southwark Cathedral, which was still standing:
When we were finished, it was almost time for the tour, so we ate our packed lunches and went inside. The museum within was very nice, with exhibits about pretty much every aspect of Shakespeare's time, not just theater. We met our guide, Kitty, in the center of the museum, and she led us to the theater itself.

This was actually the third Globe theater built. The first was constructed in 1599, this is the one that Shakespeare would have known and written plays for. The first one burned down in 1613 during a production of Henry VIII (apparently some brilliant director decided to have a real cannon go off as a special effect inside the theatre, which is entirely wooden, with a thatched roof. It burned down in about 2 hours). It was then rebuilt in 1614, which was 2 years before Shakespeare died, so it is assumed that none of his plays were put on in this second Globe. This second theater was destroyed by the Puritans in 1644. The new Globe was built in 1997 by an entrepreneurial American actor who thought Shakespeare's plays ought to be seen in the original theater for which they were written. The new Globe is not, however, on the same site as the first two.

Kitty (pictured above inside the theater) was a wealth of information on how the plays are put on nowadays. They still allow people (called Groundlings) to come in and stand in the yard for a small fee. These groundlings must stand, however, and cannot use umbrellas in the case of rain. They just have to grin and bear it. I would imagine it is a unique experience, though, since groundlings are actually allowed to lean on the stage, and the actors occasionally interact with them by directing questions toward them (for instance, Hamlet will ask the audience if he is a coward, and will wait for a response).

The stage of the Globe Theater. The blue paneling is not always present. It was a decision made by the
director of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is currently running.

All the costumes and special effects used are similar to those used in Shakespearean times. One example is the use of large, visible ropes when an actor descends from the trap door in the ceiling or is called upon to fly. Audiences in Elizabethan times were rather suspicious, so if they couldn't see how these actors were flying, they would call witchcraft and start a riot.

Another curiosity of Shakespeare's time was that the best seats were not the best view, but rather as close to the stage as possible so that the lines could be heard. Thus all the rich people (who weren't nobility) sat in special sections next to the stage. The nobility were allowed to sit wherever they want, including behind the stage among the musicians, and even on the stage itself. Evidently, they would also frequently come in 45 minutes late, sit on the stage, and ask the actors to explain what had happened in the play so far. This was allowed because they were nobility.

From the Globe, we moved onto the Rose theater. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. Evidently, archaeologists found the site in 1989 in a construction zone for an office building. The original plan was for the building to have an underground car park, but this would have covered the site, so there was a big to-do in which hundreds of people (including such famous actors as Ralph Fiennes, Sir Ian McKellan, and Dustin Hoffman) protested the project.

A photo of some of the protesters at the original Rose site. You can see Ralph Fiennes (circa late 80s) on the far left.
The man on the top right is Sir Ian McKellan.

Eventually, the city compromised with the group, and chose not to include the underground car park in the project. Today, visitors are allowed to enter the basement of the building, but apparently due to the fragility of the site, it has to be constantly covered in water and in the dark. So, as you can imagine, we couldn't really see anything. They did have red lights installed into the ground to show the outline of the building, but that was about it. Photographs were pretty much out of the question.

At that point, the tour ended. Our next activity was a literary tour of London, led by Professors MacGowan and Hailey. We split up into two groups, and I ended up in the MacGowan group. We saw various historical landmarks, specifically residences of famous authors, such as Kipling, Melville, James Barrie, even Benjamin Franklin. Our last stop on the tour was the house of Dr. Samuel Johnson, perhaps most famous for his A Dictionary of the English Language. Here, we were able to go inside, as the building had been made into a little museum. Johnson was a London man through and through and something of a xenophobe, as evidenced by his definition of "oats": "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." There are several such humorous definitions in his original dictionary.

After we were done with the house, we caught the other group walking out of a nearby pub. Apparently they had just gone to Dr. Johnson's house and then straight to the pub for a few pints. I was a bit irked. Here we were walking all over Westminster searching for signs of literary history and while they were all sitting at a pub. I wanted to sit at a pub. They owe us. I should've gone in Professor Hailey's group.

In any event, from there we went to dinner at Porters Restaurant, which was quite nice. I had the steak and mushroom pie with mashed potatoes. The pie was excellent, but the mashed potatoes for some reason tasted like vinegar. I wasn't a fan. Doug, the guy sitting across from me, didn't like the pie, so I ended up eating his too. I was satisfied.

After Porters, we walked to the Old Vic to see Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. This is the original play upon which My Fair Lady is based. And it was an excellent performance. The actress who played Eliza was especially good, I thought. It was very funny, and the end to the play was different from its musical counterpart. I liked this ending better.

After the play, we loaded up the bus and headed back to Christ's. A pretty good day, all in all.