Which is the lead up to say that I was in England again last week. Marika had invited me ages ago to see a play called Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death which had the double attractions of being about Shakespeare and starring Patrick Stewart. How could I say no?
The play was pretty darn fantastic although, as we did it as a day trip from Bristol to Chichester, it involved about 6 hours on the train. But my god, Patrick Stewart was made for theatre. He delivered lines and speeches that could so easily have been ludicrous and made them heart-rending. There was also a very funny scene when Ben Jonson arrives to tell Shakespeare that the Globe Theatre has burned down and launches into insult after insult, all while stinking drunk of course. You always know it's a good play when, as the lights dim, there is an inaudible release of tension from the entire audience. It's as if everyone starts to breathe again.
We also got Patrick Stewart's autograph. That's right. Ticket stub, signed by Patrick Stewart. Yeah, I'm gloating.
Marika had schooly stuff so I also did a bit of exploring on my own. One thing I saw in Bristol was the SS Great Britain which was the first ever wrought-iron ship, constructed in the very same dry dock as it now sits in 1843. It was actually a very interesting museum/exhibition and I came away with all sorts of factoids. You were able to go under into the dry dock which really gave you a sense of the size of the ship.
For example, here is the propeller and rudder:
This was one of the first class rooms. In steerage there were four in a room pretty much the same size.
Still to come, adventures in Cardiff!
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