All the World's a Stage

Last Thursday saw my first trip to Shakespeare’s Globe. Situated on the Embankment near London Bridge, the open-air theatre is a reproduction of the original Globe that burned down in the 17^th century.

We (Martin and our Kiwi friends Adam and Nadia) had booked standing tickets to see Dr Faustus. The more observant of you will note that the play isn’t in Shakespeare’s repertoire; it was written by Christopher Marlowe, a contemporary of the Bard.

The play is set in 16^th century Germany; Dr Faustus is a scholar who uses magic to gain more knowledge. He enters into a bargain with Mephistopheles, an agent of Lucifer: Faustus sells his soul to the devil in exchange for 24 years of luxury and unquestioning service from the dark side.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the play is all doom and gloom, but light relief is provided by the ‘Fool’ character Robin and regular bawdy scenes.

Any fears that the audience may have had about not understanding language from 500 years ago surely must have been abated by the stunning production.

At only £5, the standing tickets are a real bargain. The advantage of a standing ticket is that you’re right in the centre of the action. 

I was nearly impaled by the Good Angel’s sword; parts of Gluttony’s cream cake landed in my hair; one actor, whose character had fallen off a horse into a pond arrived on stage dripping wet and proceeded to squeeze out his sodden woollen socks over our heads (we moved pretty quickly). He then removed his breeches, revealing his bare bum right in front of our faces. Lovely!

Other members of the audience were also involved; one caught Gluttony’s rejected celery stick and could be seen during the interval proudly holding his prize; others had tennis balls thrown at them.

The final scene of the play involves the Furies visiting Faustus to claim their debt. This was an affecting scene; horned beasts appeared in the audience as if from nowhere; smoke from Hell swirled around. I could imagine the effect this scene would have had on a more religious and superstitious audiences in times gone by.

Keen not to let the audience leave on a downbeat note, however, the cast performed a song and dance routine at the end.

Mephistopheles was played by Arthur Darvill, famous for playing Rory in Dr Who. He was excellent; a far cry from his wimpy TV character. However, it's unfair to single him out as the whole cast was fantastic.

The effect of being able to stand right next to the stage cannot be underestimated; you really feel a part of the play in a way that you are unable to in other theatres. Standing isn’t a problem; I was so engrossed that time flew. It is very civilised and certainly isn’t a mosh pit.

The open-air feature of the theatre meant I followed the weather forecast rather obsessively for the week leading up to it. Heavy showers have been a regular feature this summer. The rain continued lightly throughout the performance, but I barely noticed.

But lo! What winged beasts do fly above? Unfortunately, the Globe is beneath a flight path and the hum of low-flying planes would disturb proceedings every so often. I suppose there’s not much that can be done about that, but it certainly didn’t spoil anything.

The ultimate recommendation for Dr Faustus and the Globe? Martin, who in our 12 years together has been enticed to the theatre on only one other occasion during our relationship (to see The Crucible) absolutely loved it and can’t wait to go again.

So if you will excuse me, I will bid you adieu to book some more tickets. Maybe next time, I’ll see you there.

Finding the Global Village in Brussels

I wasn’t murdered last weekend. “Well, good for you,” you might say. “Why on earth would you be thinking such a thing?” It’s all because Martin and I went to a foreign city to meet some people we’d ‘met’ online. After all, everyone knows the internet is full of strange people, don’t they?

Work colleagues delighted in jesting about our weekend away in Brussels, imagining grisly fates for us. However, the weird and wonderful thing about modern friendship is that it can spring from the most unlikely places.

Martin and Chris ‘met’ on an online forum for sporting memorabilia enthusiasts and struck up a firm friendship. We of course live in England and Chris and his family live in New Jersey, so the relationship was confined to email. Hopes of meeting up in person were sparked by Chris’ European holiday plans; they were flying out of Brussels, a mere train ride away for us.

We’d planned to meet for drinks in our hotel. While I was looking forward to meeting them, I was a little nervous beforehand; what would they be like? Would we have enough to talk about? I needn’t have worried, as we talked the night away. We shared lots in common with Chris, his wife Alison and daughter Casey. I was particularly excited to learn we shared a common hatred of Coldplay.

Brussels is interesting as a European capital: it hasn’t quite got the grandeur of Paris or Berlin, but on the plus side it’s quite contained, making it a perfect place for a relaxing weekend away. A particular bonus is that it’s only two hours away on the Eurostar, which is such a civilised way to travel.

The sights in Brussels worth seeing include the Comic Book museum, atomium and botanical gardens. The Grand Place is pretty spectacular; we were lucky enough to see a light show on our last night, which was really pretty. Oh, and the numerous chocolate boutiques are definitely worth a visit! The Mannekin Pis is a bit rubbish, to be honest. Walking around, soaking up the atmosphere and spotting the odd surprise Tintin mural is a pleasant way to pass the time.

Not much sightseeing gives you more time to enjoy the things Brussels is famous for: chocolate, beer (mine’s a Leffe blonde, thanks), moules and waffles. Mmmmm.......

Anyway, enough of the tourism plug. We had a brilliant two nights in Brussels, but the 24 hours we spent with our new friends went too quickly!

I’m fascinated about how the internet has turned our world in to a global village. Without it, we’d never have had the chance to meet such fabulous people.   

We’re now firm, real-life friends and are looking forward to our next meet-up; let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long!