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After twenty-three performances, my beloved ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat and I said our farewells to the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre last night.
Such ended a very nice day out.cheshcat and I left Oxford at midday and made our way up to Stratford-upon-Avon. In the afternoon, we took a tour of the theatre, and I learned much about the space where I have been so many times. For instance, I had no idea that the lobby used to be the stage for the previous theatre -- known as "The Other Place" -- that was on the spot. Somehow, I missed the fact that there is still a lighting grid on the ceiling above! Guess they call me "Doctor Observant" for a reason!
The tour also took us backstage, into the dressing rooms... and onto the stage itself! That was probably the highlight for me! After nearly two dozen instances of looking inward to the stage from the circle or stalls, it was most spifftacular to stand on the stage and look back out! Awesome!! Of course, I could not resist the temptation to utter some quotations from the Bard as I stood upon his stage.
It is also worth noting that, whilst backstage, we got to see the enormous bear used in their production of The Winter's Tale. I saw said production withcheshcat and the terrific tawneypup in March 2009. Twas, by far, the best version of this show that I have ever seen... and the bear -- enormous and made out of book pages -- was breathtaking!
After the tour ended,cheshcat and I took a stroll through Stratford itself, crossing the river Avon on the chain ferry and just generally walking about in the afternoon sun. Eventually, evening came and we got dinner before making our way back to the theatre to see King Lear.
We have seen King Lear before, when Ian McKellen performed it on the same stage back in 2007. Thus, this does not raise my Total Shakespeare NumberTM[*]; similarly, my RSC Shakespeare number stays the same[**]. Nonetheless, it was a performance well worth seeing. Greg Hicks plays a very different Lear than Sir Ian did. Both were excellent (of course!), but McKellen's Lear was more aged and senile, whilst Hicks played a Lear more crippled by his own arrogance. Comparing the two productions -- especially since they were both done in the same space -- made for some rather interesting conversation on the ride home!
At the end of the evening,cheshcat and I bid a very fond farewell to the Courtyard Theatre. We have been coming to this stage since January 2007, when we went to see a performance of Richard III. The Courtyard Theatre was quite newly opened at that point, constructed to be a replacement for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the smaller Swan Theatre as the two underwent massive transformative work. Before they closed, I had seen two shows -- The Tempest and Troilus & Cressida at the old Royal Shakespeare Theatre[***], as well as two shows -- MacBeth and MacBett -- at the Swan. However, the vast majority of my RSC experience -- twenty-three plays -- has been at the Courtyard Theatre. Although a temporary construct, the Courtyard was designed as the model and prototype for the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which opens to the public in November and starts hosting plays next February. I am very much looking forward to seeing shows in the new theatre... but the Courtyard has been a wonderful venue and has treated us well for nearly four years now. It shall be missed.
Meanwhile, my hunt continues for the productions of the last nine plays by the Bard. We already have tickets to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare's Globe next month. However, I believe that tickets to some of the others -- like Pericles, Timon of Athens, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Two Noble Kinsmen, All's Well That End's Well, King John, and Coriolanus -- will be more difficult to come by! The search is on!
[*] Still at 29.
[**] Still at 24.
[***] Which, with a proscenium arch design, is rather different than the thrust stage used at both the Courtyard and the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
cheshcat and I said our farewells to the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre last night.Such ended a very nice day out.
cheshcat and I left Oxford at midday and made our way up to Stratford-upon-Avon. In the afternoon, we took a tour of the theatre, and I learned much about the space where I have been so many times. For instance, I had no idea that the lobby used to be the stage for the previous theatre -- known as "The Other Place" -- that was on the spot. Somehow, I missed the fact that there is still a lighting grid on the ceiling above! Guess they call me "Doctor Observant" for a reason!The tour also took us backstage, into the dressing rooms... and onto the stage itself! That was probably the highlight for me! After nearly two dozen instances of looking inward to the stage from the circle or stalls, it was most spifftacular to stand on the stage and look back out! Awesome!! Of course, I could not resist the temptation to utter some quotations from the Bard as I stood upon his stage.
It is also worth noting that, whilst backstage, we got to see the enormous bear used in their production of The Winter's Tale. I saw said production with
cheshcat and the terrific tawneypup in March 2009. Twas, by far, the best version of this show that I have ever seen... and the bear -- enormous and made out of book pages -- was breathtaking!After the tour ended,
cheshcat and I took a stroll through Stratford itself, crossing the river Avon on the chain ferry and just generally walking about in the afternoon sun. Eventually, evening came and we got dinner before making our way back to the theatre to see King Lear.We have seen King Lear before, when Ian McKellen performed it on the same stage back in 2007. Thus, this does not raise my Total Shakespeare NumberTM[*]; similarly, my RSC Shakespeare number stays the same[**]. Nonetheless, it was a performance well worth seeing. Greg Hicks plays a very different Lear than Sir Ian did. Both were excellent (of course!), but McKellen's Lear was more aged and senile, whilst Hicks played a Lear more crippled by his own arrogance. Comparing the two productions -- especially since they were both done in the same space -- made for some rather interesting conversation on the ride home!
At the end of the evening,
cheshcat and I bid a very fond farewell to the Courtyard Theatre. We have been coming to this stage since January 2007, when we went to see a performance of Richard III. The Courtyard Theatre was quite newly opened at that point, constructed to be a replacement for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the smaller Swan Theatre as the two underwent massive transformative work. Before they closed, I had seen two shows -- The Tempest and Troilus & Cressida at the old Royal Shakespeare Theatre[***], as well as two shows -- MacBeth and MacBett -- at the Swan. However, the vast majority of my RSC experience -- twenty-three plays -- has been at the Courtyard Theatre. Although a temporary construct, the Courtyard was designed as the model and prototype for the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which opens to the public in November and starts hosting plays next February. I am very much looking forward to seeing shows in the new theatre... but the Courtyard has been a wonderful venue and has treated us well for nearly four years now. It shall be missed.Meanwhile, my hunt continues for the productions of the last nine plays by the Bard. We already have tickets to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare's Globe next month. However, I believe that tickets to some of the others -- like Pericles, Timon of Athens, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Two Noble Kinsmen, All's Well That End's Well, King John, and Coriolanus -- will be more difficult to come by! The search is on!
[*] Still at 29.
[**] Still at 24.
[***] Which, with a proscenium arch design, is rather different than the thrust stage used at both the Courtyard and the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
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