“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your Ears….”

Last year at school, we studied the Renaissance period and also performed the play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. During this unit, some of my classmates did a project on the Globe Theatre which was the theatre where Shakespeare performed his plays. I was interested to see it in person while we were in London. If you would like to read a book about the time of Shakespeare, I would recommend the book “Cue for Treason” by Geoffrey Trease.

Before watching the play, we went on a guided tour of the theatre to learn more about it. The Globe Theatre that is in London now isn’t actually the original; it’s the 3rd one – the other 2 were destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by a man named Sam Wanamaker in the 1990s, because he was interested in the theatre and sad there was nothing to represent The Globe. So he had it constructed as close to the original site of the first Globe Theatre as possible. He also had it built in the Elizabethan era style by using oak planks and dowels. It is also the only building in London with a thatched roof because they were made illegal after the Great Fire in 1666.

The theatre is shaped like a globe with wooden benches for seats around the perimeter of the stage.  It is an open roofed theatre and natural sunlight is used for the matinee performance, while actual lights are used for the evening shows.

We bought tickets for “the Yard” which is the section in front of the stage where everyone stands to watch the show. Back in Shakespeare’s time, The Yard was where the poor people or “penny-stinkers” watched the play because the tickets were really cheap (one penny), and their hygiene wasn’t the best, so they smelled bad!

We saw the current production of “Julius Caesar“, by William Shakespeare.  The play is about Roman generals, named Cassius (Anthony Howell) and Brutus (Tom McKay), who were not in agreement with Julius Caesar’s (George Irving) rise to power – they thought he was too ambitious. So they formed a group of conspirators to plot against him. Little did they know what their actions would bring about….

Here are my thoughts on this play.

While we were waiting in line to get into the play, two of the actors performed a puppet show. They set the stage for the upcoming show by telling us what had happened earlier. I found it hilarious because they used unusual accents and said lines from famous movies like “The Princess Bride” and “The Lord of the Rings“. It was a great way to connect with the audience and get everyone laughing.

I also really loved the musical accompaniment during the play. There wasn’t a big orchestra, but I thought the music was perfect to enhance the story.  Another part of the music I loved was a song three of the actors sang every time someone died in the play. The song was beautiful and haunting and I wish that I could learn it some time.

The costuming was really unique, as the actors were dressed in both costumes from the Elizabethan era along with Roman  togas for the Senators. I think it’s so cool how the costumes were integrated. When we go to see Shakespeare’s plays at High Park in Toronto, the actors always wear modern clothing during the plays, which I like as well. I think I like both ways – the traditional and the modern.

My favourite part of the show was at the end of the play, all the actors did a jig! Our tour guide told us that at the end of the plays in Shakespeare’s time, the actors would do a jig at the end of every show to indicate the play was over. It was a great way to finish the play with a bit of humour. Watching the actors do the jig made me laugh because some of the people who were supposed to be dead, got up and started dancing!

The only thing I didn’t like was the death of Cinna the Poet; I thought it was much too violent and unnecessary. For Caesar’s death scene, it was very graphic with a lot of fake blood, but I found it showed how painful and disturbing his death was .

I have mixed feelings about this play, because the acting, costuming, music, and set were amazing, but it is the most depressing play I have ever seen. For those of you who would like to see this show, it is a play about politics, pride, power, loyalty, betrayal, and envy.  I would totally recommend it because I think it’s incredibly good – but tragic .

“Et tu Brute? Then fall Caesar.”