Stratford-Upon-Avon

Our entire LAMDA group went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, Wednesday to Friday for a jam packed three days. I really liked Stratford and got to see pretty much all of it: you can go down every street in the entire town during one 30 minute run.

On Wednesday afternoon we went on a tour of The Courtyard Theatre, which is the Royal Shakespeare Company's temporary 1000 seat theatre. The RSC has been undergoing reconstruction for the past four years and is set to reopen their main location in November. Rather than close for four years, which would be devastating to a town that usually takes in £50 million in tourism each year, the company built a completely recyclable temporary theatre across the street.

This theatre is where we saw Morte D'Arthur and Romeo and Juliet. Morte D'Arthur is the story of the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. The play was very well done, but both incredibly busy and long (4 hours! 3 parts!). Guiltly, I only stayed for the first two... that is an awful long time to sit still. Romeo and Juliet, however, was absolutely amazing. Sam Troughton, who played Arthur the night before, was Romeo. The director had Romeo and Juliet in modern day clothing (Juliet in converses and skinny jeans, Romeo with head phones) and had the rest of the ensemble in traditional Tudor clothing. However, when Romeo and Juliet died, everyone switched and they were dressed in Tudor while the rest of the cast was in modern clothing. The woman who played the Nurse, Noma Dumezweni, is an Olivier Award winner. Her performance was extremely impressive and her humor was much more sophisticated than the typical little old English ladies that play her character.

While in Stratford, we attended a drama workshop with an RSC affiliate and our instructor was Arthur/Romeo's mother. I also went on a tour of Anne Hathway's House, Shakespeare's Birthplace and the town of Stratford. We went to a pub called "The Dirty Duck Pub" that serves all the RSC actors and my friends actually met some of the cast members.

On the way home Friday, we stopped by Warwick Castle, which is a medieval castle. The first grounds there were created in 714, but the stone castle as it stands now wasn't built till 1260. Now the castle has a princess tower, a joust tournament and a dungeon ride... It has basically been converted into a tourist trap, but the castle itself was very cool.

Stratford was filled with stores named after Shakespeare's characters, plays, etc. This particular store, Romeo and Juliet's is an adult store, filled with everything you'd expect to find in an adult store.

This is Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare's grave lies.

This picture is from the garden's at Anne Hathaway's house, Shakespeare's wife. The first part of the house was built in 1463.

This is Shakespeare's birthplace.

This picture is of me and some friends at Warwick Castle. In this picture, you can find an American, a Turk, a Mexican, and Irishman, a Frenchman, and a Brit!