While standing in the queue to go into the Globe, I overheard someone behind me observe “This should be a must-do for everyone who comes to London”, plus a comment I can’t remember the wording of about the wider cultural implications of seeing authentic Shakespeare.
So I thought I’d write about it. After all, it’s a must-do in London.
The Globe Theatre, on the famous arty-cultural South Bank of the Thames, opposite St Paul’s Cathedral, is a reproduction of the original Globe from Shakespeare’s day. It’s 230m, apparently, from the original site and holds half the audience of the original because of health and safety concerns. But it looks great. It’s very traditional in appearance from the outside and then inside it’s a big wooden bowl, with benches and an open top and a yard for the groundlings.
That’s what makes the Globe particularly special – there are approximately 700 tickets for each performance at the princely sum of £5 to stand in the yard, clustered around the stage. Back in the day, this would have cost one penny. Either way, Shakespeare wrote for the masses and the Globe continues to make it accessible for those who don’t want to drop £60+ on a seated ticket.
I have been twice. A few years ago I saw Macbeth there and recently I saw The Two Noble Kinsmen there. The Globe uses costumes and staging of the Shakespearean style – I doubt Arcite’s doublet would have zipped up back in the 16th century but, you know – and so you can see a pretty authentic performance for not much money. Also Shakespeare didn’t have to compete with the occasional plane and helicopter buzzing overhead.
So, The Two Noble Kinsmen. An obscure play (“a good answer for Pointless”, mused Ed), Shakespeare’s last and not his best, although it does include some of those famous “actually, Shakespeare wrote lots of dirty jokes if you look carefully” lines. It’s basically about two cousins and best friends forever fighting over a girl but it’s set in Merrie England, starring Greek characters and includes a lot of singing and dancing. I tried reading it in advance but it opens with a few very wordy scenes involving three screeching queens who are never seen again and I can’t get past that. Besides, it was never written to be read. Nonetheless, how much of the first half an hour did I follow? Very little!
I picked up what was going on once Arcite and Palamon were in jail and once they were fighting over Emilia. No idea why the country dance scene suddenly happened, though. It looked amazing and the music was good and at least one of the main cast comes from a proper dance-training background so they took full advantage of that for the clog-morris-tap dance and it was great fun to watch, even if it did seem to come out of nowhere.
The scenes with the doctor and the jailer’s daughter were another set of “why did he even put that in???”, like with the watchmen (porter? Drunk and unnecessary, anyway) in Macbeth. Comic interlude? Give the main cast time to get changed and prepared for the next scene? There was no real need for it and while it tied up the story of the jailer’s daughter, I didn’t care for the way it was done anyway.
But then I didn’t like the way the whole play was tied up. I began looking at my watch and thinking, getting a bit excited, “how do they solve this? How do they end this? I can’t see a good ending” – and… there wasn’t one. Spoiler alert: Arcite wins the duel and fair maiden’s hand, Palamon is nearly executed to keep the peace and then Arcite dies off stage, lingering just long enough to tell Palamon to take the girl instead. That’s not an end! That’s a cop-out! Shakespeare’s fault, not the Globe’s. They did their best – and turned the funeral into a big dance finale. Actually, Macbeth finished with a song and dance too. Maybe I’ll try Hamlet one day to deduce conclusively that this is the Globe’s thing.
So, my conclusion. I enjoyed it enough that I’d like to go again because the cast were brilliant and the setting is amazing and the price is great and if the play itself isn’t one of the strongest, it’s got plenty of other things going for it. The yellow doublet, for one…
In the meantime – yes, if you find yourself in London, make time to go to the Globe, stand in the yard and it’ll be fun even if you’ve never heard of the play, even if you don’t like Shakespeare.