Lowri Griffiths on three hours on her feet, one very confused tourist next to her, and a genuinely brilliant Midsummer Night’s Dream
I have been threatening to go to the Globe for actual years. Every summer I say “oh I really should,” and every summer I do literally anything else with that particular Tuesday evening instead. This year I finally bought a standing ticket for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mostly because it was cheap enough that I couldn’t really talk myself out of it.
The Standing Ticket Itself
Five pounds. Five actual pounds to stand in the yard directly in front of the stage, close enough that at one point an actor genuinely brushed past my shoulder mid-scene. I understand now why people go on about this. You’re not watching from a distance, you’re sort of in it, which is a completely different experience to any theatre I’ve been to before.
The Tourist Next To Me
I got chatting to a woman next to me who’d flown in from somewhere in the American Midwest specifically to see a Shakespeare play at the actual Globe, and watching her reaction to the whole thing, the open-air roof, the wooden galleries, the actors coming right down into the crowd, honestly reminded me why this city is genuinely special even when I’m complaining about the bus being late.
My Legs, However
Three hours standing on cobblestones is no joke, and I will be lying if I say my lower back didn’t have opinions about this decision by the interval. Bring layers, bring low expectations for your feet the next day, and maybe don’t wear the shoes I wore, which were entirely wrong for the occasion.
The Play Itself
Genuinely brilliant. The comic timing landed even for jokes written centuries ago, and there’s something about watching it outdoors, with actual evening light fading as the play goes on, that a cinema screen or a normal indoor theatre just can’t replicate.
Would I Do It Again
Immediately, yes. Five pounds for three hours of genuinely good theatre is one of the last properly brilliant deals left in this city, sore feet notwithstanding. I’ve already looked up what else is on this month, and I’m fairly sure I’ll be back before the run ends, standing ticket in hand, sensible shoes hopefully learned from this time.