London: The Globe Theatre and “We Will Rock You”
japra | Jan 19, 2009 | Comments 15
One thing you learn quickly when living in England is: if the sun shines, go out!
We haven’t been into London as a family for a while, so when the sun came out Saturday morning, London was our destination. Roxi wanted to go to the Globe Theatre gift store to buy a few little leather-bound plays (easier to carry in her purse). What a good idea! We’ve been wanting to take a tour of this theatre anyway.
Since the weather was so good, we decided to walk along the Thames from Waterloo station. All along this scenic Jubilee Walkway, there are benches for resting, taking in the view, or simply “thinking”.
One of the plaques on a bench.
We saw this fellow again a little further on, entertaining a crowd with his trumpet(?).
One thing that I never thought of before I moved to England is that the Thames has tides. It was a real “duh” moment for me when I saw low tide for the first time. I would love to muck around down there, but not when I need to smell good…
It must have been the day for brass instruments because this very pink band was performing in front of the Tate Modern. That is St. Paul’s Cathedral across the river.
Next door-ish to the Tate Modern is the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Opened in 1997, it is a reconstruction of The Globe Theatre. It was built by hand with materials made the same way they would have been made during Elizabethan times. This theatre is located about 750 feet from the site of the original Globe. 
Unfortunately, we sped through the museum–it’s supposed to be the best of it’s kind. However, Roxi and I wanted to see the costume and the stage combat demonstrations. Here is a member of the audience dressed as Ophelia. Apparently this outfit would have been Ophelia’s version of jeans and a t-shirt. All the costumes at the Globe are made by hand as authentically as possible. They only use dyes that were available back in the 1600s. They use hand made stockings, shoes, EVERYTHING. It must be quite something to wear these things. The costumes are luscious!
The new Globe is beautiful! If you are interested in theatre or Shakespeare, I would encourage you to take a tour next time you’re in the neighborhood ;-)
“Groundlings“, aka our tour group, admiring the stage. The people onstage were there for a workshop.By the time we made it out of the tour (40 minutes) and the gift store (another 30 minutes at least!), it was tea time. We made our way across the street to Starbucks for a caffeine jolt and a light snack.
We didn’t have plans for the rest of the day, BUT Roxi has been wanting to see the musical We Will Rock You, so we decided we’d walk over to the theatre district to see about seats.
It was a bit brisk crossing the Thames on the Golden Jubilee footbridge, but the views cannot be beat!
A peek into Chinatown from Charing Cross Road.
We weren’t able to get half-price tickets for the show, but there were some awesome row K center stall seats available at an okay-ish price. Since we were celebrating another straight “A” grade report from our Roxi Girl, we decided, what the heck!Dinner before the show was at Hakuba less than five minutes away from the Dominion Theatre. The food was delicious and came out in good time.
As for We Will Rock You, I have mixed feelings about this show. On one hand, I thought Queen’s music was a good fit for a musical. On the other hand, I really didn’t care for the lame, cheesy and off-colour jokes that added nothing to the story. And there was lots of “telling” instead of “showing”. Still, it was fun. The actors were great and the band was tight. Everyone deserved the tremendous applause at the end.
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Roxi, Queen fan that she is, loved the musical–and that is all that mattered. We had a glorious day in Town. How lucky we are!!
Filed Under: Blog • Destinations • London • Parenting • Theatre • United Kingdom • What to Do
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 17-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
Oh I love Queen too! Freddy died way too young. Can you imagine how many good tunes we’d have right now? Shame.
My daughter is really into theatre…she’d LOVE to visit the places in your pics! My neice took a once in a lifetime 3 wk tour of England, France, Italy and Ireland last summer and had a blast!
I loved your pics! And I’m STUNNED that a river has a tide! See, i learned something new today! Yea! lol
thanks for the lovely evening out! you guys are sooo lucky for all those experiences. love all the beautiful photos.
Lucky indeed. What a glorious day. And Sheila and Christine are right – your photos are GREAT.
We visited the Globe a few years ago in the summer and saw a non-Shakespeare production. I still marvel that it was an American, Sam Wanamaker, who lead the effort to rebuild it. And did you know that his daughter plays Madame Hooch? Zoe Wanamaker has a British mother, so she has the accent. My fun factoid for the day. Bet you already knew it.
Your walk along the Thames makes me “homesick” for London! And I really regret not taking that Globe tour–it’s tops on my list for my return visit.
Hey what a great time you had and I love the photos. We went to see ‘We Will Rock You’ at the Dominion a couple of years back and absolutely loved it!
Sheila–No one belts like Freddie Mercury. He had a huge voice (FOUR octaves)! Does your daughter like musical theatre? That is my daughter’s absolute favourite.
Christine–It is such a thrill to be able to hop of the train and be in London. I get a thrill every time.
Fantastic Forrest–I did NOT know that about Madame Hooch! That is a riot! And good point about Sam Wanamaker (what a great last name–his destiny?). An AMERICAN, hurray! Isn’t the Globe beautiful? The thatched roof alone…
Kathy–Come on back, girl! The more the merrier ;-) PS Check out Fantastic Forrest’s post on The Hobbit workshop she attended this weekend: http://halfirishrover.blogspot.com/2009/01/trip-to-middle-earth-with-willamette.html Doesn’t that sound like so much fun?
Akelamalu–Another coincidence! I would love to see WWRY again. The shows always go so fast the first time around and there is always so much to take in.
I really enjoyed this post! We saw Comedy of Errors there ten years ago, when the New Globe was quite new. It was a wonderful experience–we took our own sandwiches, which was allowed then. Crossing the Jubilee Bridge is a glorious way to see the sights. When my daughter was there this past summer, she also saw WWRY because she is a huge Queen fan, too. She, like Roxi, loved it! Hooray for our girls and their good grades! Mimsy
Thanks for the tour! I love that area along the Thames.
What an amazing post!!! I felt like I spent the day with you guys.
Mimsy–I was surprised to find out the Globe was built in 1997. I knew it was a recent construction, but didn’t realize that it was that new. Yes indeed, hurray for kids who make good grades :-)
Seth–Great found objects for the taking on the London streets! I love that walk too, especially because it leads to the Tate Modern :-)
Laurie–It was a great day. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a hit of Tex-Mex at the end!!
Okay, can I say that Roxi is one cool girl?
Thanks so much for these photos!! I missed the Globe when I was there. They are great images.
Thankyou for the colourful tour of London town, so glad you had a good time. It is interesting to ‘see’ London through your eyes. Sam Wannamaker was heavily involved in the building of the Globe…I think he was a director of the National, at the time…guess google would tell us.
This sounds like such a fun day! Your pictures are wonderful, as always.
I have been meaning to properly “do” the Globe Theatre for ages now. I walked past it not long ago . . . but not at low tide. That bit of the river (on both the north and south sides) is just so LINED with history. It still thrills me to be there. The Globe’s devotion to authenticity is fascinating to me. Maybe we could try to see a play together?
Chris–Thank you! I think she’s cool too. You’ll have to come back for the Globe! When were you here last?
Moannie–Your comment made me want to look up more info on Sam Wanamaker. Here’s what I found.
Bee–Me too! I could spend ages just there. Then up the river a ways, then back down the river on the other side. LOVE IT. It would be such fun to see a play together! Roxi saw “Antony and Cleopatra” three summers ago when it was so hot. She was a groundling. I am pretty sure I’d like to get a seat ;-)
JaPRA, your instincts are correct. Seats are good things. It’s surprisingly hard to stand.
We went to the RSC a couple years ago when Amazing Girl Child was pretty small and did the SRO thing (standing room only) for the first act. Thank Bob there was a friendly usher who sneaked us into empty seats EXTREMELY CLOSE TO THE STAGE (woo hoo!) during intermission.