Stratford: Days 2-3
When I last left off, Steph was due to arrive, and she did, thanks to her friendly GPS. We explored a bit more of town centre and lunched at a cornish pasty shop. I wish we had these places in the US but all we seem to know is pot pies. We wisely scouted out where the Courtyard Theatre was so we'd have no trouble in dark. The first performance was Love's Labor's Lost.
Our seats were interesting but there really isn't a bad seat in the house. We were in stalls in the back row on the side in jumpseat type seats. However the thrust stage really brought the actors closer to the audience. The stage floor is a matte mirror, so is the backdrop. Most of the stage is dominated by a funky tree with dangly colored fiberglass leaves. The cast was in full Elizabethan dress in mostly shades of ecru, except for Berowne an Rosaline who were in pewter blue.
I can't get into a terribly intelligent review of the play except to say it was funny with all the word playing, even paced and fun viewing. As you would expect the RSC to be, the cast was excellent. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a hearing amplifier but was still able to get the gist of the thing.
But I can talk about the obvious star of the show, David Tennant. Amazingly he was not at all emaciated as I expected him to be in the flesh, just thin. His costume made him look great in all the right places and he played to the audience for all he was worth. And the audience ate it up. He was quite good. SQUEEEEE!!
After some misadventures, Elsa joined us this morning. We went for more pasties and attended the 2nd LLL. Armed with a hearing amplifier this time, I totally enjoyed myself. We sat in the galley, but they were still good seats. More squee was had by me and Steph. Even Elsa, the anti-fan, stated DT was a very good actor and did a wonderful job. Who.a! Hey, let's bring on Hamlet! Alas that will have to wait until next Tuesday night. Right now we are plotting touristing for the next few days. Later, Steph and I may return to the theatre stage door hoping for a good spot to get a certain autograph.