In fair London, where we lay our scene

Full of the excitement of being in London, living in London and studying in London, I wanted to do a bunch of London stuff. When we heard that the Globe Theatre was ending it’s season the following Sunday, my friend Nicole and her sister and I decided to make the most of cheap tickets. On a rainy (surprise surprise) Tuesday night we headed to the Globe to check out some premium theater.



The Globe is just across the Thames and based on the designs of the first Globe which was the theatre that Shakespeare played many of his masterpieces—think Shakespeare in Love, that’s the Globe. Though I’d wanted to see a Shakespearean play, none were available. Instead we saw Liberty a comedy-drama about four friends during the various phases of the French Revolution. It was spectacular. Toward the end, I was this close to shedding a tear.


The set-up of the theatre is pretty innovative. There are the stands which are in an oval around the stage. Then there are the “gallery” an empty section on the floor reserved for the “masses.” We were going to sit there—tickets were £5—except it was cold and you had to stand for almost three hours. And there’s one other thing. The unfortunate thing about the Globe is that it has no roof. I think it has to do with the idea of the people and 16th century conceptions of the theatre and bringing culture to the masses or something. In any case, it was raining and not warm, despite the fact that it had been very warm that day. So while the show was excellent, the next day I woke up with a sore throat that burgeoned into a pretty stellar cough. But it was worth it.