Stratford-upon-Avon, England 2020

Day 5: Tuesday Jan 7th

On day five, we said goodbye to Dublin, Ireland and traveled onward to our second destination, Stratford-upon-Avon where we would be seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company and their performance of The Boy in the Dress. I began the day with a short nap on the flight from Dublin to Birmingham. This was probably the smallest plane I have ever been on, and it was definitely the only plane that I have ever boarded from outside of the airport. Most flights will have the passengers enter from inside through a covered walkway, but this one had us take a bus out to our plane and board from a staircase. It was a new and exciting experience for me.

Once in Birmingham, we then traveled to our new hotel, the Mercure Shakespeare Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon. We were told that each of the rooms would be named after different Shakespearean characters, locations, or plays. At first, Elise and I were disappointed to see that our room did not have any such name on the door. Our opinion quickly changed, however, when we saw just how spacious our room was! We later learned that we were most likely placed in one of the privilege rooms; these rooms included extra amenities such as a seating area with a second TV and a Nespresso machine. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the room, but it was hands-down my favorite hotel of the trip and I would highly recommend it — even if you are just staying in one of their classic rooms! The breakfast was decent, and the cozy fireplace seating areas found on the ground floor were a lovely addition to our stay.

After settling into our new hotel and finding a bite to eat, the group prepared for our workshop with the Royal Shakespeare Company, or RSC for short. This was an amazing experience, not only for those on the trip who already had acting experience, but also for those who had no interest in acting and were simply on the trip for a fun traveling experience. Our workshop instructor, Oscar, taught us several theater games/exercises, and he also had us perform some scenes from The Boy in the Dress which we would be seeing the following day. Apparently, before we arrived for the workshop, Oscar had been informed that we would be a bunch of French 8-year-olds. We were sorry to say that we were neither 8 nor spoke French, but we were instead a bunch of college-aged Americans. Oscar was cool with it though, and it made for funny story to tell. I had a lot of fun breaking out of my comfort zone that day.

We concluded our fifth day with dinner at Rose and Crown, and then walked around the small town looking for someplace that sold gelato. It took us an embarrassingly long time, since most places seemed to close up shop at 8 pm in Stratford-upon-Avon. If you’re looking to eat or shop in this area, be sure to get it done earlier in the day rather than later — especially if you’re trying to do it on a Tuesday. We almost abandoned our gelato search, but we finally found what we were looking for at about our fourth stop. We probably should have just gotten dessert at Rose and Crown…

Day 6: Wednesday Jan 8th

The day began with a behind the scenes tour at the RSC. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and really cared about the Company and Theatre. The RSC personally makes everything that is used for their productions, well everything except for the fake blood! This means the sets, costumes, wigs, and props are all done by the RSC themselves. We also learned a lot about the inner workings of the theater and got to see where many of the tech and crew complete their jobs for a show. The tour concluded with a close up look at the artwork titled For All Time, which shows Shakespeare’s Romeo imaged from 2,000 hand-made metal stars. This piece was created by Steven Follen and hangs beautifully in the Swan Theatre foyer. It is a gorgeous creation, bringing life and meaning to Juliet’s lines from Act 3, Scene 2.

When he shall die take him and cut him out into stars and he shall make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun.

-Shakespeare, quote from Romeo & Juliet

Next, the group was lead on a guided walking tour of Shakespeare’s Stratford. We saw Shakespeare’s childhood home which is pictured to the right, as well as the church he would have attended in his life and the church he is currently buried at in his death. Both churches had beautiful stained glass, and we learned a lot about the architecture of Shakespeare’s time. There were several buildings in Stratford which still showcased the original appearance and structure, Shakespeare’s home being one of them.

I really enjoyed the RSC performance of The Boy in The Dress, a musical adaptation of a children’s book which shares the same name. While there were definitely things about the story which I had hoped would be expanded upon such as the bond between the 2 brothers, it was a very enjoyable production overall — one I wouldn’t mind seeing again! There were many creative choices which I really appreciated. The set pieces and flown-in backdrops were very unique; I enjoyed how the small houses used in the opening would then open up to form the interior of said houses for the later scenes. My favorite character had to be Gareth with his Weird-Al-Yankovic-vibe hair that grew every time he came on stage. I also enjoyed the way in which the soccer game scenes were handled on stage. I have never seen sports like this performed during a musical production, so I thought the way that they handled having a moving ball in the scene was very creative. Just as our tour guide promised, the main song “It’s a boy in a dress” was stuck in many of our heads well after the show’s performance.

We had dinner at The Black Swan, otherwise referred to as The Dirty Duck, a location where the actors are known to frequent after performances. We actually saw a few of the actors there too! After dinner, Imani and I met up with some friends from another group who were having drinks at The Garrick. We ended up hanging out with some of the workers there too; they were a year or two younger than us and would ask us about what college was like back in America. They were a lot of fun! I’m glad we had the chance to meet such cool dudes before we set off to our next destination, London!

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Photo Gallery: January 5-6th

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