Day 16 - "Will" Power

(Sick of my puns yet?)

This morning, in contrast to the morning before, we woke up at 5:30AM and were out the door and on our way to Stratford-Upon-Avon. I was so tired during the drive there that I can’t remember a single thing. We arrived just as the Shakespeare Birthplace opened at 9AM, bought our tickets, and went inside. To Daddy’s delight, our early rising payed off and we beat the crowds.

The Shakespeare Exhibition before the house was very nice. Admittedly, all I knew about Shakespeare the man was what I saw in Shakespeare in Love, so the little blurbs about his life were quite enlightening. I have always thoroughly enjoyed his work, however, and have read Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, The Taming of the Shrew, and Much Ado About Nothing. Once of my life goals is to at some point read all 41 of Shakespeare’s plays.

I was rather disappointed about the Birthplace itself; there were hardly any informative signs telling you what you were looking at. Thankfully there was a lady in the “Birth Chamber” running like a broken record: “This is the place where Shakespeare was believed to be born. This is the place….” Despite the bad presentation, I did find one fact interesting in particular – that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson visited the Birthplace together roughly one hundred-fifty years after it was opened to visitors. Ah; our history collides.

After the Birthplace, we spent several hours walking around the fun (though rather touristy) town of Stratford-Upon-Avon. I enjoyed the shopping immensely; there were plenty of roads set up specifically for shoppers, with cobblestone roads closed off to vehicle traffic. With twenty pounds or so to blow, I did some serious shopping. I spent way too much time saving that money at work to not spend it. (Of course, anything I have left will go towards postage for my seven autograph requests that Daddy is going to send for me via Royal Mail – better chance of success that way.)

Sitting on a park bench on the River Avon, we quickly ate our lunch before scooting off to pick up our tickets for the play. Finally seated and settled, we waited for the play to begin at 1:30PM. The play was “As You Like It”, and has been running this year since August 5th. Starring Barnaby Kay as Orlando, the show was absolutely fantastic. It would be hard to compare it to “Thomas More” because it is a different kind of play, but it was good in its own right. It was a lighthearted and romantic, and a perfect way to end the trip.

Three and a half hours later, we left the theatre, utterly hooked on plays. Chatting excitedly, we made plans to give up our monthly “dinner out” at home to go to a matinee of a play in Washington D.C. It would be so much fun, but I’m not sure that Kenny would agree. Ah well.

Thus elated, we practically ran into Barnaby Kay (Orlando) outside the theatre. I fear that all three of us girls were inflicted by various stages of crushes on the poor fellow, so none of us had the gumption to stop him for an autograph. Instead, we all kind of stared dumbly and I cursed myself bitterly for not being more forward. I made up my mind to write to him c/o the RSC for an autograph as soon as possible.

After mulling about the town a bit more, we ate our dinner at The Garrick. The food was good there, but the service left something to be desired. Also, the fish in the fish n’ chips still had its scales – blech. I was glad I ordered chicken and mushroom.