"King John, I see it all now that you're gone..."

It has been a wild, wonderful, and warm two weeks! Sergio, our fascinating (so many stories..) bus- I mean "motor coach",  driver took us across the Scottish boarder and into Northern England.  We spent a few wonderful days in Durham and York, two beautiful, medieval cities. While in Durham, we saw the majestic Durham Castle which just so happens to be a part of Durham University. Students LIVE in the castle- imagine that being your freshman dorm room! These students also have two formal dinners a week in the castle’s great hall, where everyone wears formal robes. Hogwarts y’all. The whole thing slightly undermined my excitement to live in an apartment.

This may rival the J-borhood

While in the north, we journeyed to Housetead’s Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall. The morning was just glorious and provided ample opportunities for me to interact with the plethora of grazing sheep in the surrounding fields. I also felt the need to physically hop over Hadrian’s Wall…so I did. “What of it?”

The wall and countryside

We then made our way south to Startford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of the man that brought prestige to the English language- William Shakespeare (this is why eutony is word of the week). I’ll be honest and say that I was a little anxious for ten days of what I anticipated would be archaic theater. Luckily, that is not at all what I encountered! In fact, I was really just blown away by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The company really prides itself on bringing the relevancy of Shakespeare to everyone and making the text accessible to a more current audience. All of the performances were set in a modern context and the stages were so ornate!  The settings of our shows ranged from modern day India and a 1940's hotel, to a convention center and an enchanted island.  Three shows, A Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest (one of my favorites) were all part of this season’s “Shipwreck Trilogy”.  The stage was beautiful and constructed like a giant, dilapidated 18^th century vessel, but was somehow magically adapted to the aesthetic needs of each different show. The theater uses thrust stages, which means the stage juts out into the audience. For many of our shows, we sat in the first and second rows!

In the Swan Theater, we saw two of Shakespeare’s historical plays- Richard III and King John. Both performances were fantastic and were easily the two best plays I have seen in my entire life. King John, however, really resonated with me!! I am not too proud say that I shed a few tears during the performance! Ask anyone on this trip how I felt about this production and, I promise you, they will all role theirs eyes and laugh. I would say that easily 85% of the things I have said this past week have related back to this play in some fashion. It was just beautiful and I am sort of in mourning right now, realizing I’ll never get to see the show again. Actually, I think my state of mourning is making everyone mildly uncomfortable.

King John RSC production photo 

Just hanging out with Rich and KJ

After our performances, we would head over to The Dirty Duck- this is the tavern that all the actors frequent after their performances. It was SO COOL to sit and chat with the very people we saw on stage! I would say we became best friends with King John (KJ) himself, which was one of my goals for the week.

During the day, we had classes lead by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. I felt like those experiences really enhanced my appreciation both for Shakespeare himself and for the Royal Shakespeare Company. During our lunch breaks, a few of us would get take-away and eat in the park. We were so blessed-  the weather was sunny and warm every single day. One afternoon, we even took a rowboat out on the River Avon. Naturally we all exclaimed, “Hey! We are literally upon-Avon!”  Puns.

 However, that whole experience got really awkward when:

A.) the oars were broken

B.) none of us really knew what we were doing

C.) river barges were charging toward us and honking

D.) swans were LITERALLY getting in our boat and attacking us

Struggles-upon- Avon

Sandwiches from the Baguette Barge! 

Stratford has been my favorite place so far and I so hope to frequent the RSC theaters many more times in the future. I will fondly remember sitting on the edge of my seat during Much Ado About Nothing and quietly counting the number of lines from the play that have made their way into Mumford & Sons songs: “sigh no more”, “man is a giddy thing”, and “serve God love me and men”. I will no doubt be scanning the lyrics of Mumford & Son’s new album (September 24^th) for Shakespeare, now that I am kind of an expert. 

Other highlights: Castles on castles on castles (more on that next time), nick-naming all the actors (Bucky, Pink Pants, KJ, Chid, Richmond, etc.), frolicking in a field of lavender, exclaiming, “What country, friends, is this?” during uncomfortable moments, buying books in Oxford, Blenheim Palace, and two weeks of beautiful weather

Yes.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Currently listening:

“Civilian”- Wye Oak           

“Beggin’”- Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

“Behind Your Eyes” – Jon Foreman

“Slow Dancin’ in a Burnin’ Room” – John Mayer

“Sigh No More” – Mumford & Sons