EclectEcon

The Globe Theatre in London is roughly on the site of the old Globe Theatre from Elizabethan days and does performances in a venue designed to capture some (but only some) of the flavour of those performances of yesteryear:

• patrons may come and go as they please
• patrons may drink or eat during the performances (the latter day version is that some of them used their cell phones to text their friends)
• there is a "yard" between the stage and the benches, where for 5 £ people may stand through an entire performance if they really have the stamina and want to see the play
• there is no roof, except over the stage and over the bench seats; people standing in the yard (which is concrete and very hard on the feet) get wet when it rains.
• as one of my colleagues put it, people may fondle each other while the play is being performed.

The modern-day Globe does, however, use female actresses for the female roles most of the time.

Each year, the International Study Centre, where I am presently teaching, descends upon The Globe with approximately 150 students, all with tickets for The Yard. Last year, it was cold, it rained, and we saw an uninspired performance of Coriolanus. Even though I had paid a small fortune to upgrade from the yard for a bench seat (wooden, no back), the rain on all the plastic rain jackets made so much noise that it was difficult to hear the actors (umbrellas are not permitted). Also, I just don't much care for Coriolanus. So I left at the intermission and went to a restaurant/bar nearby where I chanced to meet about a third of the students who felt the same way.

This year, we saw Othello (geez I dislike the Shakespeare tragedies; it is so hard to watch people's lives spiral down the toilet). Remembering my experience from last year, I decided a bench wasn't worth the money and that I'd try to tough it out with the students in the yard.


I got to the yard early enough to secure a position next to the wall dividing us riff-raff from those who ponied up for the bench seats. That proved to be a good choice because

1. I had something to lean against during the show (patrons in the yard are not allowed to sit), and
2. I was pretty well protected from the rain by the thatched overhang that protects those in the tiers of bench seats.

And yes it did rain this year, too. In fact it rained pretty seriously off and on during the show. So what many people did was leave while it was raining, go to the gift shop or snack bar in the theatre, and then come back in when the rain stopped.

I had pretty much decided that again I would leave at the intermission. My feet were killing me, and the performance wasn't all that great (though the two women were good enough that they'd have received rave reviews in Stratford, Ontario), and the directing was less than uninspired. But during the interval (aka intermission), I met a colleague who said he was going to sit out in the lobby until the last half hour or so.

Brilliant. We went for a beer in the theatre bar, discussed acting and Shakespeare, etc., and then went in for all the death scenes (which are, unfortunately, pretty stupid).

But it's a great way to watch a play at The Globe: have a beer and miss some of the play.

Update: My friend, Rory, says he would prefer to skip the play and just go for beer if watching the play meant standing the whole time.