Unlike America, Europe is full of castles (along with other gorgeous works of architecture), so the fact that I've managed to see four of them on my semester abroad isn't surprising. What is surprising is how remarkably different they all are. The castle at Warwick (pronounced Worr-ik) was more in the same vein as Malahide, although significantly bigger. We walked through the interior of the castle, climbed to the tallest tower (quite a workout), ate lunch by the river (during which we were visited by a fearless duck), saw a hawk demonstration, did a quick tour of the town and (of course) played on the playground.Kara and I checked into our B&B and decided to take a power nap on the most comfortable beds ever (so much so that we briefly considered stealing the mattresses) before heading out on the town in Stratford. After a very leisurely and tasty dinner at an Italian restaurant, Kara, Brittany, Chris and I joined the rest of our class to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of 'The Winter's Tale'.
I was bored to tears when I read the play the week before, but watching it on stage was captivating and incredible. The actors were phenomenal, with the exception of a few. The actress playing Hermione, the King's 9-month pregnant wife, didn't seem to understand her character at all and the one playing her daughter, Perdita, did little more than recite her lines.
The set didn't seem that spectacular at first — a long table set for a feast sat in the middle of the stage, with two bookcases and a doorway placed along the back wall — but just before intermission things got interesting. After learning of the death of his wife, King Leontes started to exit through the door at the back of the stage when the seemingly boring bookshelves tipped inward, forcing books to cascade from the shelves, while the a piercing white light shone through and nearly blinded the audience. The effect was powerful and stunning, but I really feel for the poor stagehand that has to reset those bookshelves every night. A few moments later, a giant bear contraption controlled by two puppeteers appears onstage to execute one of Shakespeare's best stage directions: 'Exits, pursued by a bear'.After the show, a bunch of us went down the street to the Dirty Duck, a local pub where many of the actors frequent after performances. We saw them filing in, but figured they probably didn't want to be bothered, so we just chatted about the show amongst ourselves instead before calling it an early night and retiring to our incredibly comfortable beds.
Saturday started off with a quick, but yummy, breakfast in our hostel and then a tour and history of the town by Dr. Tim Kidd, the theatre professor here I've heard so much about (I live with three theatre majors). We learned a ton — Tim is basically a walking encyclopedia — and made stops at the Holy Trinity Church and Shakespeare's home before we were given some free time. A few of us decided to trot down the garden path to the cottage of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife. We picked up a few souvenirs at the gift shop and stopped for tea and pastries at a cute garden restaurant before heading back to the bus.But the trip wasn't completely over yet: we still had a two-hour stop in Oxford. Naturally, majority of the group flocked to the Christ Church since a few scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed there. Unfortunately, the dining room that served as the Great Hall in the films was closed, but the rest of it was gorgeous. Katie, Chris, Brittany and I wandered around a bit, passing by tons of breathtaking churches and buildings I couldn't tell you the names of before hopping back on the bus and heading back to London for good.
PHOTOS:
A view of Warwick Castle
Promotional photo for 'The Winter's Tale' from the RSC Website
The Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon
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