After a long, exhausting week of RADA for me, and Christie’s for Jacobie, we met Friday eve at Marylebone station and boarded the overland train for our 2hr journey to Stratford Upon Avon; our first ever girls weekend away together! We drank wine in plastic cups, ate nuts, strawberries and chocolate as we slipped away from the city and into the green. We checked in late to our very gorgeous bed & breakfast called “Cymbeline House”, noting, even in the fading day, that our B & B was by far the prettiest on the street.
We dropped our bags in our very pretty little room (more on that in a moment) and set off into the streets of Stratford on a late night stroll. It was especially pleasant cruising the town by night as it was almost tourist-free (besides us!) and very peaceful, except for the occasional random Stratford night club – a strange juxtaposition to the Tudor architecture, old-fashioned sweet shops and traditional pubs. After a significant stretch of aimless meandering, we returned to the room…
It was absolutely perfect. How many different floral patterns do you imagine it is possible to decorate a single room with? Double it. And then some. See photos. Lovely. We slept soundly, waking early for our included breakfast: tea, juice, cereals, followed by a scrambled eggs, vege pattie, mushrooms tomatoes, delicious. We stuffed ourselves, and we stuffed a couple of breakfast bars in our pockets for later.
First stop was the box office, where we joined the queue of mostly young Americans hoping to see Gandalf live on stage. Shortly after 9am, Jac and I both had success in acquiring our desired tickets; Jacobie to see a matinee of the Seagull and King Lear by night, and myself to see a matinee of the Scottish play at the Swan theatre.
Pleased to not have to wait in line for hours as I did last time, we paid a visit to the Holy Trinity Church, where Jacobie paid homage at Shakespeare’s grave while I waited in the surrounding cemetary, feeding chocolate biscuits to local squirrels. One came to within a foot of me!. Then we wandered down by the river where I fed aforementioned breakfast bars to the ducks. It was not long before I became quite popular with the Avon birdlife and had to abandon all food into the river.
At 11am, we attended a briefing about the Seagull, held at the Courtyard theatre, with a couple of the actors and some of the crew talking about different aspects of the production, complete with technical lighting display! Jacobie and I were curious about reperatory theatre, so we asked. The actress who admired in her performances as Masha in the Seagull, Regan in Lear, admitted to finding the process frustrating going from 10 days on Lear to a week on the Seagull, then back to a week on Lear and so forth, and revealed that only at 6 months in were they beginning to feel in the swing of it. Oh how I'd love to have to face that challenge. Rep theatre is definately an experience to which I aspire.
Jac enjoyed the Seagull greatly, however I was a little disappointed with Macbeth. This is unusual for me, some of you will note, and I wonder if, because it is a play I know (and have see quite recently – Bell’s production in Sydney – hi Leon!!), that is why I can view it with a somewhat critical eye, as compared with shows I am unfamiliar with where I get completely swept up in the narrative and can pass no judgement upon individual performances etc at all. I think it was possibly the direction, or merely the pace that weakened the show for me. I will give the production some concession in that it was a Saturday matinee, and we performers understand what that means! I’m not sure. Perhaps my expectations were too high, the last show I saw at the Swan having been the Midsummer’s I raved about a few blogs ago. Don’t get me wrong, it was far from being bad – just not as jaw-droppingly good as recent theatre experiences.
Not much time between shows for Jacobie, so we headed back to the B&B for a cup-a-soup and a mini siesta. And a cup-a-wine.
I stayed at the room while Jacobie attended Lear, looking over RADA notes and having a further short snooze. Then I met Jac at the “Rose and Crown” pub to share a wine, then we moved on to Thespian’s Indian restaurant for a late-night snack. The relaxation that this small town releases in one is something quite special. Bliss.