Shakespeare’s Globe 2013: “Season of Plenty”

This year, the Globe theatre offers us two amazing plays during our 3-week stay, plays which will showcase some of Shakespeare’s most engaging uses of the supernatural. In The Tempest, Roger Allam, whom some of us remember as a formidable and hilarious Falstaff in 2010, is set to shine as Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, and for those of you who follow the show Merlin, you’ll recognize young Colin Morgan when he takes the stage as the gender-bending Ariel.

We also get to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dr. Banks’s favorite comedy. At night, a blue-black sky above the open circle of the Globe, there is simply no better way to see Shakespeare’s Dream. We traipse into the green world and watch as fairies unmake and remake our loves … and we get Puck! Last time the London group saw the Dream, we had an older, rather chubby Puck, one constantly out of breath and clearly frustrated with following Oberon’s wishes. I wonder what sort of Puck we’ll get this time? And how often he’ll come through the house?

If any of you are staying late, you might want to take in Macbeth, which begins the day we leave. It’s dark and tragic and full of blood, but maybe that’s what June calls for?

Let’s Go Waltzing Matilda in 2013 …

You’ll have to pardon our bad pun about the classic Australian folksong, “Waltzing Matilda,” but we’re ever so excited that our London 2013 group will be attending the hit new show, Matilda: The Musical, with music and lyrics by the delightfully impish Tim Minchin (see “Prejudice” or “Rock and Roll Nerd“).  The musical is based on the popular children’s book Matilda by Roal Dahl (a Welshman, who moved to London), about a precocious and clever young girl whose parents are at best unsupportive and often somewhat contemptuous of their child’s abilities.

Recently, Matilda: The Musical was nominated for 10 Olivier Awards (the maximum number of nominations a single show can receive), winning Best Musical, and has won several WhatsOnStage awards.  The show promises to be a brilliant romp appropriate for young viewers and old.

You can listen to parts of the soundtrack here: http://uk.matildathemusical.com/sights-sounds/audio/.

We’ll read the novel for class and attend the show during week two of class as part of our ongoing exploration of “Staging Childhood.”