It was a beautiful night for an open-air show. We arrived early and sat in the sunshine with a glass of wine and a platter of finger food. And then into the theatre. This took me back to a visit to The Globe in London several years ago. It felt just the same. Where we were seated was covered but those standing in the area immediately in front of the stage in the pit, (The Groundlings) were not.
This was the first night of the Pop Up Globe Season 2016 and the first performance was Romeo and Juliet as we have never seen it performed before. Such enthusiasm that I am sure even William S himself would have been impressed. Each of the actors was well cast. Of course, in true tradition, there were no microphones but we had no trouble hearing the well-enunciated words from the cast.
It was a truly magical pairing of actors as young lovers. Juliet was played by Christel Chapman and Jonathan Tynan-Moss was Romeo. Each was so well suited to their role and they really had us believing that what we were seeing and hearing on that fantastic stage, was happening in real life. And the magic wasn’t restricted to them.
We are told the play is “Performed by a cast of professional actors brought together into a new, specially-formed ensemble repertory company and working with world experts to bring you the authentic shock of the old: the effect of Shakespeare’s plays performed in the space for which they were written.” and
“Pop-up Globe Auckland is a full-scale working temporary replica of the second Globe Theatre originally built by Shakespeare and his company in 1614, the result of groundbreaking international academic research. With a steel frame ‘skinned’ in plywood, the Pop-up Globe fuses cutting-edge scaffold technology with 400-year-old designs and superb contemporary performances to create an immersive 360-degree experience unlike any other.”
At the end of the performance, the actors all sang and danced around the stage, obviously enjoying themselves as much as the audience.
In all, a great experience and I thank my very generous friend for the gift of a night of Shakespeare.
The next day I returned to Wellington and my friend and our hostess, enjoyed Twelfth Night that evening. Another great performance from all accounts.
Then on Sunday, I went to the airport to meet the friend in whose house I lived after leaving the house I shared with The Architect and while I was having this small apartment spruced up. He is the brother in law of The Architect and has been a true friend to me.
From the airport, I took him to his father’s house. Father is 100 years old and always greets me as if I were one of his family. He is an amazing old man who still lives alone in his own house. He has a series of carers who come in to make food, clean the house etc but he is absolutely capable of looking after his personal needs himself. He is an avid gardener and takes every opportunity to go out and pull weeds or whatever small job needs attention.
And wonder of wonders, on Monday morning the furniture arrived.
So yesterday was spent moving furniture around in this small living room. And now that I have the furniture, I am pleased with it. Just have to decide where to place it and what else will have to go.
And my generous friend who took me to Auckland for the show, and whom I help on occasions with her Real Estate business, has taken a quick trip “across the ditch” to Sydney for a couple of days. So today I acted as her gopher, delivering contracts and brochures for her.
So apologies to my Daily Blogging Buddies. I have been missing for the past few days.
And for no reason other than it is one of my favourite quotes, I give you
“Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine,
freedom, and a little flower.”
Hans Christian Andersen
I choose how I will spend the rest of my life 