Theater in London

As you may or may not know, London has an incredible Theater District and countless theaters, both small and large, across the city. There are so many unbelievable shows here ranging from huge musicals, to one person dramatic productions, to Shakespeare, to a show in which Harry Potter is naked... Anyways, London also has a lot of discount ticket offices and some very good student deals, so we've been able to take advantage and see quite a few productions, especially last week.

Monday, February 5
As you may recall, this was the incredibly stressful morning that we arrived back from Paris. However, before we went, Lauren and I found out about an incredible deal the Novello Theater (Home of the Royal Shakespeare Company) has. Every morning beginning at 10:00am the box office puts a set number of student tickets on sale for £5, on a first come first serve basis. Now, at this time, the company is putting on a production of Antony and Cleopatra staring, wait for it, Patrick Stewart. That’s right, as in Star Trek commander Patrick Stewart! As soon as our Eurostar train got into Victoria Station I hurried over to the theater and Lauren and I got tickets for that evening at 7:30.

After making our purchase we stopped at a café to get some much needed espresso shots and catch up and tell stories about our respective weekends (Lauren was in Nantes, France, where hopefully I will be able to visit with her when we travel after our program is over!)

Fast-forward a few hours, and we arrive at the theater psyched up to see Mr. Stewart and become friends with him and have all of our life concerns put to rest as a result of the deep friendship we are certain will ensue. Our plans look more and more promising when we take our seats and realize we are in the front row, literally 3 feet from the stage! As it was the front row and a £5 seat, they weren’t the best in the house, and it was difficult at time to see action that took place upstage and on the ground, but being that close to the actors and being able to see their facial expressions so clearly made it entirely worth it. The play itself was beautifully orchestrated, the set was terrific, and both leads did an amazing job.

Wednesday, February 7
Another play that is in London for a short run is Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie with Jessica Lange (of King Kong, Big Fish, and Broken Flowers fame, to name a few) in the role of Amanda, Laura and Tom’s mother. Luckily, the Apollo Theater has a student ticket policy in which they give the best available seats to students for the lowest ticket price, and Lauren, Emma, Saul, Lance, and I got wonderful seats for only £20.

Since we had to get to the theater an hour early to pick up the tickets and we were in Soho we all went to Café Amato (where else?) for tea and dessert before the show. Sadly, Emma and Saul are vegan and couldn’t share any of the wonderful cakes with us, but we may have a new life plan pertaining to the opening and running of a vegan bakery/coffee shop/ bookstore.

The production itself was very well done, and the acting was incredible. I haven’t been this moved by a play yet. Although ‘Tom’ struggled a bit at times with the Southern accent (we’re pretty sure he was actually British) he was my favorite actor and completely captured the character.

It’s times like this that I feel so lucky to be in such a vibrant and assorted city!