Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

The second half of our day was spent viewing a performance of As You Like It at the reconstructed Globe Theatre. After enjoying a sausage wrapped inside a pastry for lunch, I entered the theater where we took our seats in the stalls surrounding the main stage. On the ground, many people stood in a large open area, just as the lower class audience members would have done in Shakespeare's time. The show was performed by a traveling group, which was absolutely spectacular. When I read Shakespeare, it is often easy to get lost figuring out what is happening. The actors and director did a good job in using visual elements to make the lines much more clear. One of the most surprising elements of the show, however, was the music. Shakespeare provided lines for songs to be interspersed throughout the play. One of these songs, "It was a Lover and his Lass," was a song with which I was already familiar, but I had no idea that the text came from this particular show. After attending this Renaissance Musical, I am looking forward to my visit tomorrow to "Love Never Dies," the Phantom of the Opera sequel!