On Friday there was no rain and temperature wise it was not too cold so we headed into London city for the evening. Initially we went to
Leicester Square to see what shows were selling cheap tickets. Unfortunately the shows on offer were nothing too special and the half-price ticket prices were still fairly expensive. Rather than go to an overpriced, unknown production we headed across the Thames to Shakespeares
Globe Theatre. It was the opening night of
Pericles and there were still some cheap seats (13 each) available. There were plenty of standing tickets available but the thought of standing for almost three hours watching anything (let alone a Shakespeare comedy) was a little hard to stomach. Thankfully we hired a couple of cushions and a rug because in the restored open air theatre it was not too warm and the wooden seats made a British Airways seat look comfortable.
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Skakespeare's rebuilt Globe Theatre. (Photographs are not allowed during performances)
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The play turned out to be very good and although it was opening night not too many things went wrong. The style was a mix between Leonardo De Carprios Romeo & Juliet and the Lion King. During the production a black guy would talk, play instruments and sing African songs to break up scenes. The characters wore contemporary outfits and there was quite a bit of skin on show. What made the play was a lot of really amazing rope work similar to what you would see in the Olympics. Some of the characters would climb ropes and then swing high above the audience saying lines and performing great tricks.
Although relatively unknown and almost three hours long we really enjoyed Pericles. Perhaps the only downer was the occasional 747 that would fly over and drown out some of the lines.
