O, to be in England againe!

Shakespeare's Birthplace, in
Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon

How's about a slide show, kids? Yup, that's right. Wanna see my pictures from my very own Adventures in England during the spring of 1998? I was fortunate enough to spend the entire spring semester teaching in the Missouri London Program! I saw some of the most amazing Shakespearean theatrical productions anybody could ever see, as well as these sites and sights of merry olde England.

The reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, gleaming happily on the south bank of the Thames in London, is just about one of the prettiest sights anybody could wish for. The entire construction, except for various minor elements (mostly chemical fire retardants and a few electronic gadgets needed to pass municipal fire codes), was done in the "old fashioned ways" the Elizabethans would have used. There is not a nail in the entire theatre, only oak pegs. The lime wash is authentic, too, although the filler of horsehair in the plaster walls was fudged a little with other domestic animal hairs, to save as much money as possible. In fact, the entire thing was done with funding from private donations, and one of the most inspiring sights for me was the plaza outside the theatre, where the pavement stones bear the names of thousands of Shakespeare lovers around the world who contributed money to this masterpiece.

Here is a view of the stage from inside the theatre. Beyond the stage, notice the box seats built with lovely unpained oak. You can also see here the raised thrust stage with its brightly-painted covering and the marble-effect pillars. In fact, while I London I met Dr. David Daniell, one of the scholars who worked with the architects here to make this as close to the original as could be, so far as is known. Next, look at a more detailed close- up of the inside of the covering for the stage.

We know very little, of course, about the Globe's actual paint-job, but this guess is based on what we know of other theatres in the area. It is much more colorful than I had imagined.

The Globe now presents theatrical productions on this stage during the summer months, and they break with Elizabethan authenticity by staging the plays at night and using stage lights, which is a necessity for bringing in modern audiences. While getting my tour of the theatre, guided by one of the actors, I asked him about the controversial decision to stage Shakespeare only in modern clothing (see a previous Fun Trivia entry for more details on this). He answered that the Globe has now decided to present one production per year in Elizabethan costuming, but this, too, is not without controversy, because as he put it, "There is a feeling that, if you want authenticity, you must take the entire pill. Truly authentic Elizabethan staging would mean using boys in the women's roles, constructing costumes entirely by hand with no zippers or modern embellishments, and so on." What a fascinating reply!

Here I am, in front of the house where the Bard was born, in Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon! I was filming a little instructional video for our annual English Week here at Missouri State, and in my hand is a list (graciously furnished by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) of statistics regarding the astounding numbers of visitors and the incredible variety of places from whence they come, around the world. It inspires me greatly to know that people from the most remote places have sought out this little house, to see the place where it all began.

I took this photo standing (like the teacher, natch!) at the front of this Tudor schoolroom that is still in use by the King Edward VI School. This is the schoolroom where the boy Will Shaxper attended grammar school. Ordinarily, because the place is still a functioning private school, tourists are not allowed into this room, but on the one fine day of the year when they celebrate the Bard's Birth, the schoolroom is opened to the public, and the King Edward Schoolboys give tours! What a treat it was.

Here is a view from a position in the rear of the room. Tradition has it that Shakespeare occupied the second desk from the front on the left here, though we have no idea actually where he sat and though these replicas are of course not the original desks.

Anne Hathaway's house is beautifully preserved just outside Stratford-upon-Avon. Young Will went a' courtin' here. Inside, there is a narrow "wooing bench" where he and Anne sat. Notice the thatched roof? England's laws now protect any thatched roof. If you own one, you have to maintain it. I was told that, although the outer layers are stripped away when regular maintenance is done, the innermost layers (if they are in good condition, as is usual) remain, which means that the thatch on the inside of this thing may be as much as 500 years old!

Here I am outside Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was buried after he died on April 23, 1616. If indeed he was born on April 23 (he was christened here on April 26--you can see the actual register inside the church--and babies were usually christened three days after birth in the sixteenth century), then he died on his own birthday.

TFB Celebrates the Bard's Birthday
in Stratford-upon- Avon!

What a treat I had! To be in England on April 23, the traditional date of William Shakespeare's birthday! The whole town of Stratford-upon-Avon "does it up right," with high seriousness, in fact--none of your touristy, American, cheap tawdries, thank you very much. Just good, clean fun, complete with a parade (in which I was allowed to take part!!! more on that later), street dancers, strolling musicians, amateur players on every street corner, and not a single vendor hawking Pepsi-Cola anywhere.

In Church Street, a friendly Elizabethan Hobby Horse paused in his busy day to pose for a photo!

Also in Church Street, several Morris Men dancers gave us a sample of the famous Elizabethan "Sword Dance," using wooden sticks for the "swords" so that they made a nice "CRACK!" sound at the appropriate slapping-point in the music. Note the colorful bells around their knees; these made wonderful jinglings as they danced. This is probably very much the way Morris Men looked in Shakespeare's day.

They take their Bard quite seriously in Stratford-upon-Avon, I am happy to report, and the whole town was imbued with an air of respect and joyful gratitude for the Birthday Celebration. The day before the procession, there was a scholarly lecture in the hall of The Shakespeare Centre presented by Hugh Quarshie, an actor who gave us some splendid insights into playing Shakespeare's Othello. (Perhaps I'll tell you about that lecture on a later version of Are You Shakespearienced?) Then, later that evening, we were treated to an intimately-staged performance of a play written by a student in Stratford's Shakespeare Institute about the bard's daughter, Susanna.

The centerpiece of the day was the procession through the town. In fact, by tradition, anyone with a flower may join the parade at any point as it goes through the town and into the church, to present the flower at Shakespeare's graveside as a birthday present. On the morning of the Birthday Celebration (which this year was celebrated on April 25, to take advantage of the weekend), it all begins with the marching band, as you see here in the photo, that leads the procession, starting at the River Avon.

The parade then paused in Bridge Street for the unfurling of flags and some official speeches and so forth. The highlight here was the flying of the Flag of St. George (on the right in this photo), since April 23 is also St. George's Day. It seems fitting that Shakespeare got himself born on the celebratory day of the patron saint of England!

Next, after the marching band, came many municipal and regional dignitaries whom you see here in the photo above, all dressed in their robes of state. I saw many men in sumptuous robes of state like the one in the above photo and the one in the next photo. Wives sometimes wore special robes, as in this photo, or sometimes wore the chains and insignias with a dress suit.

Several men among those processing wore their formal kilts, like this man. Notice the flowers; some are carrying wreaths, and some bouquets are showier than others. Everybody in town wears a sprig of rosemary "for remembrance" (Hamlet 4.5.175). If you look closely here and in other photos, you may be able to see the sprigs of rosemary worn on lapels. And behind these titled folk, you'll see some clergy.

The streets were lined with crowds of onlookers, while the procession wound slowly through town. I saw people in period costumes, too, and the "theatre folk" from the Royal Shakespeare Company came out and joined the procession as it progressed beside the theatre. You could tell the RSC people, because their sprigs of rosemary were tied with distinctive yellow-and-black ribbon. We even were treated to a trained bear, in honor of the tradition that Shakespeare's company owned a trained bear!

Okay, so it wasn't an actual bear. It was just a guy in a bear suit, hamming it up with a court jester. It was fun, anyhow. We don't know for sure whether Shakespeare's company owned an actual bear, or whether the famous line in The Winter's Tale, "Exit, pursued by a bear," means that somebody dressed up in a similar suit and ran across the stage. My own theory is that they did own a trained bear and that, since The Winter's Tale is among the last of his plays, he was probably announcing his impending retirement to his company of actors when somebody reminded him, "Will, you know, you've never used the bear."

There were also several scholars in the procession, I'm happy to say. It made me wish I'd brought my regalia with me!

Okay, here's the way they do it. The procession winds its way through town until it gets to the King Edward VI School in Church Street, where it stops. The boys of the King Edward VI School then have the honor of filing out of the schoolhouse and taking up the lead position to head the parade on down the long, winding street into the church. Here, you see the boys in their school uniforms, having filed out from within the Tudor schoolroom on the left.

After them, many of the Stratford schools followed in formation, before the rest of the procession finally resumed after them. There were many parents among us in the crowded street, cheering on their little ones. Each school had a different uniform, and some of them were quite colorful and festive, like these.

Here I am, getting ready to join the procession, with my rose for the Bard in hand and my sprig of rosemary on my lapel. Since this was something I have wanted to do all my life long, I am about as happy at this moment as I can get. Actually, I had been surprised to find that I'd had to search industriously to find any shop in which to buy my flower. Had this been in America, alas, there'd have been "Bard's Blossoms" vendors on every corner, no doubt. Sigh. Oh, to be in England once again!

Here is the object of our procession, Holy Trinity Church (though this photo was taken a couple of months earlier, when the trees were not yet in bloom). There was quite a long wait outside the church, as you might imagine, while so many people filed in quietly, only a few at a time (the English are such orderly, mannerly people!). But nobody was impatient. In fact, standing there in the sunshine was a delightful way to spend the last segment of the morning. All of us in the procession chatted and made new friends as we waited.

This is William Shakespeare's grave at the altar inside Holy Trinity Church. The gravestone reads: "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear to dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones." We do not know who wrote these lines, but tradition has it that Shakespeare himself penned them. Ironically, although his grave has been in this spot since his death, by the mid-eighteenth century the original gravestone had deteriorated and sunk down below the floor level, so it had to be replaced. We often joke about this, that the stone was not "spared" as the epitaph directs us, but one would assume that the actual intent may have been to deter any Gravedigger from discarding his bones into the charnel house and planting somebody else in his spot, as was done to poor Yorick in Hamlet. A little self-referential humor there, you see.

In all, it was an adventure I will never forget. And it wasn't over yet, either! That evening I attended the Birthday Celebration Performance of Measure for Measure, which had previously run with only one performance and had not yet even officially opened, and which turned out to be one of the most stunning theatrical experiences I have ever had. No, they didn't perform it in Birthday Suits, darn it all. But it was splendid, nevertheless.