The semester was coming to a close and as the weather had begun to warm; we finally had a chance to visit The Globe (an open-air theatre), where the great master himself once performed his plays (though it has been rebuilt since, with, strangely enough, mostly American money). The performance: King Lear; we couldn't have been more excited! David Calder was to play Lear and the reviews predicted a spectacular show. The fact that we were actually getting college credit for this was merely a bonus.The theatre itself was certainly worth the trip, with the theatre divided into layered balcony seating and the open ground, without chairs--each to accommodate a different social class in Shakespeare's time. Ironically, we were sitting off to the side in the lower balcony, were a guildsman, as Shakespeare's father once was, might have sat.
After touring the building (and being concerned about rain until we realised that the thunder we were hearing was being artificially created by the crew) we took our seats and watched the jugglers and acrobats warm up the crowd. But soon the lights lowed and the play began; I was captivated from the start. Calder lived up to his reputation and the rest of the troupe followed suit. The lines 'out, vile jelly' and 'howl, howl, howl' will forever live in my memory as they were performed by Peter Hamilton Dyer and David Calder. It was the perfect end to one of my favorite classes.
