Globe Theater Tour (Sept. 10th)

In typical dorky English-major fashion, I was super anxious to visit the Globe Theater and pay homage to Shakespeare-I don't particularly like him (shocking, I know…sorry), but I felt like this was a right-of-passage I needed to comply with.  And I am so glad I had the opportunity to do so!  I don't think you can fairly assess the genius that was William Shakespeare until you have sat (STOOD) in the Globe.  While I don't like most of his writing, I still had my fangirl moment(s) while we were on our tour today.  

First of all, who knew there was a museum inside the Globe?? Not me!  We spent about 45 minutes walking through at our own pace, audio-guide in hand (love me an audio-guide!!!) and look through artifacts, original writings, sketches, costume production, and all sorts of historical information about the Globe.  While we were waiting for our tour to leave, we watched a sword-fighting demonstration.  Yes, that happened.  Casual..and then I got to hold one of the swords!  Who let that happen?!  Felt like I should have been in the Hunger Games (hay Katniss)…

Our tour guide was AWESOME!  She was so spunky and knew so many great facts.  Her passion for the subject definitely made a difference in my appreciation of the space and place.  Totally cracked up when she told us that one time an audience member was texting throughout an entire performance, so finally one of the actors-still in character!-went up and took his phone away! That's hilarious.  I hope we see that during our show tomorrow night.  She also said that beer has been thrown in people's faces before to get their attention….a classy establishment for sure.

We got to walk around and sit in the various levels, stand up and experience groundling-status (on the floor), and see a sneak peak of a new show that was being rehearsed.  The passion of every single employee we had an encounter with was so clear and present, I'm pretty sure I had (yet another) big goofy smile on the entire time I was there.  I'm not even sorry about it, and I'm sure my friend Willy Shakes wasn't either!  

Fun fact: a groundling ticket is only 5 pounds, and in the original days of the globe, people used to rub goose fat on themselves.  Glad we don't have to do that this time around, but then again, it's all about the authenticity of the experience as far as I'm concerned!  Can't wait to come back tomorrow night for the performance.  

We couldn't resist the jumping group-shot outside the globe this morning…snaps to perabo for capturing this gem.

xx