Much Ado

Jess, Ariel, and I outside of the Palace

The last two days have been the best so far on the London trip! Other than the fact that I got to see my friends on the science program, as they arrived two days ago, I went to see the former home of Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace, and saw my favorite play to date: Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

The palace was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! It was giant and filled with great detail, from extravagant paintings on the ceilings to carved designs on the wood surrounding the door. What I found very interesting was that the rooms open to the public back in the day were much larger and of better taste than the private rooms. The paintings were larger, the ceilings were higher, and the details were more extravagant. I believe this was done in order to show off wealth and power to the public, and make them become envious of the occupants living in the palace.

Me, Lizzie, Julie, Mae, Oanh-Nhi, and Emily with Joseph Marcell

Yesterday, I went to see Much Ado About Nothing at the replica of the Globe Theatre. Though I read Shakespeare in high school, I had never seen one of his plays on the stage. I was worried I would be lost in his language and not be able to understand what the actors were trying to say. On the contrary, I actually understood pretty much everything and found it to be quite humorous. We were all standing by the stage as opposed to sitting, as most people did in the Shakespearian era, and loved that the actors interacted with the crowd during the performance. It always makes a play more fun and enjoyable when the crowd gets involved. There was also icing on top this cake, as I got to meet two famous actors that were in the play: Joseph Marcell, also known as the butler Geoffrey from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Charles Edwards who played a character in Batman Begins.

Today, we got to meet Rick Fisher, an excellent lighting designer and Dickinson Alum. He was very nice and told us his life story how he went from wanting to be an actor to being a lighting designer. It was very interesting.

We are returning to the Globe in a couple of weeks to see another production, and I am absolutely ecstatic!