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Thursday September 20, 2018
Globe
Alison took me to the Globe! I was so excited as I have never been before.
It was magical - open to a darkening sky. You can see we had the posh seats under cover...
The play is about Eyam - the "plague village" **. When a case of plague was found in 1665, the villagers took the amazingly altruistic decision to seal themselves off from the surrounding areas to prevent the disease spreading. This protected others but also sealed their fates. At the end of the play, Sam Crane solemnly recites the names of the 273 villagers who lost their lives to the plague; it was a bit of a party trick, but actually very moving, dozens of shared surnames are listed one by one.
Below you can see the set with a model of the village, and some of the audience, full of anticipation, in the pit.
It's a predictably glum play, and my only other point of note was that (rather oddly I thought) Annette Badland appeared in a male role as the Reverend Stanley. I think may be next time - a Shakespeare comedy. I always wanted to see a Midsummer Night's Dream on Midsummer's Night. Perhaps now the Tube runs at night, I might one day get to do that.
[** with the subsequent turn of events in 2020, I have since seen a great deal of dramas and documentaries about these determined and self-sacrificing villagers.]
Posted by Christina at 11:18 AM. Category: Art and Culture
