From there it was off to Stratford, which wasn't what I expected at all. I mean I knew we were going to Stratford but the town wasn't as I had anticipated. Instead of an old market town, we found a normal small modern-day town. Admittedly it had a few old buildings - but not as many as Chester - but the main thoroughfare was lined with shops we have in Swansea: Next, WH Smith, M & S, and so on.
Of course what we don't have in Swansea is the house in which William Shakespeare was born.Or the farm cottage that was the home of his wife-to-be, Anne Hathaway. 
Theirs was an unusual marriage in that he was 18 and she was 26 and three months pregnant when they wed. Men in those days were more likely to be in their late twenties when they married, having served a long apprenticeship to a craftsman first.
Theirs was an unusual marriage in that he was 18 and she was 26 and three months pregnant when they wed. Men in those days were more likely to be in their late twenties when they married, having served a long apprenticeship to a craftsman first.
Nor do we have Nash House, the home of Shakespeare's grand-daughter, Elizabeth, until her death in 1616. She died childless, so Shakespeare's direct line ended with her.As we'd only sorted out our trip a few weeks before going I hadn't booked for the theatre. It was sold out, of course, and the only option was to queue for returns.
For two hours I queued - and for one of those hours I was in a queue of one - and it was worth every second.
The main theatre is being rebuilt and the only play on was Macbeth, which was showing in the Swan Theatre, a fairly recent addition of a theatre in the round designed to reflect what it would have been like in Shakespeare's time. The auditorium was incredible. Talk about 'in your face'. I was hooked before the play even started.
The play. It was AMAZING! Dramatic, gripping, scary, powerful: everything Macbeth should be. 
P.S. Looking for photos I saw a review in the Independent of this production: it was not so enthusiastic, but, hey, I'm a small town girl not a pretentious theatre critic. What do I know?
5 comments:
Great photos, Liz! I was actually pleasantly surprised with Stratford when Kate and I visited in 1995. I was expecting a Disney-fied salute to WS but found the place rather nice. And we saw 2 plays while we were there - Julius Caesar and The Taming of the Shrew, both wonderful.
Maryb, the Shakespeare houses were fine - not too crowded, although we did seem to be following two parties of schoolchildren around! - and the rest of the town was okay, just not what I had expected.
Seeing the RSC has rather spoiled us for the local summer rep now though!!
Ah, but did you see the Teddy Bears Museum?
I like Stratford. One of the questions Itals always ask me is "why do you have the same shops in every town?" I reply that it's comforting in anodd sort of way. But at least in Stratford, Bath and, I would venture to say, Swansea, there are smaller, pretty shops as well.
Wow! Thanx for the pics. I haven't been in the Cotswolds since 1994.
Last visit to Wales was 1997.
Last visit to UK was 2005, same week Katrina hit New Orleans.
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