“There’s always something to look at if you open your eyes!” Peter Davison as the Doctor
Oh, London! I’ve fallen in love with you all over again! And oh, how I fear that we will break each other’s hearts all over again in a week’s time when we have to leave each other for separate ways. But don’t let’s think of such matters while we still have each other presently. Here’s to our grand old times!
Before we arrived in my favorite city, we had to negotiate some very heavy traffic the closer and closer we got to Heathrow from Hastings. The nearer and nearer we got to the city, the happier and happier I was to leave the car behind in favor of traveling by train. And, at last, arrived we finally did, leaving the car behind and jumping on my favorite Underground line of them all: the Piccadilly line with complete service to Cockfosters. I had long talked to my traveling companions about how much I adore the Underground because of how reliable, user friendly, and timely it is. Unusually, however, we were let down twice on our journey to the city centre: once because the Picadilly train we were on unexpectedly had to terminate early; and twice because a signal was down causing the same line to run slowly. Fortunately, we were able to switch to a District line train at Acton Town, which brought us all the way to Victoria Station without any further fusses. Then, at last, after dropping our bags at the Victoria station temporarily since we couldn’t check in to our Air B&B in London until 3:00, we could enjoy London on foot, taking a walk down Victoria Street (stopping at a pub called the Greencoat Boy, which ended up being our first disappointing meal on our whole holiday) and eventually enjoying views of Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower (er, “Big Ben,” and all that).
Whenever I think of London, I always think of this part of the city first, especially the view of the Palace of Westminster from the south bank of the Thames, Westminster Bridge reaching towards the north bank of the Thames on the right, which is why it was just so distracting to see Elizabeth Tower wrapped in scaffolding due to a restoration project started in 2017, to be completed in 2021. It’s all necessary work, of course, in order to ensure the tower’s continued existence for future generations, but it’s still frustrating in the moment. And I felt bad for Aaron, Amy, Marie, and Shawn who had never seen the tower before, only to come all this way and still not see it. We’ll have to just come back another time!
After lamenting the state of the tower for a bit, our walk continued north on Belvedere Road past the London County Hall (where we will return to again on Sunday to enjoy an Agatha Christie play, Witness for the Presecution), then past the London Eye (I told everyone they could ride it if they want but that I wouldn’t because I’d already done it, it’s expensive, it’s not really all that exciting, and that better views will come from atop St. Paul’s Cathedral anyway), and then eventually past Southbank Centre (a concrete brutalist structure that I’ve long wanted to visit on account of the BBC using the location in the Doctor Who serial Frontier in Space.)
At this point, it was time to head back towards Victoria Station to pick up our luggage and check in to our Air B&B. Our journey brought us along the Golden Jubilee Bridge (where we met, shall we say, a rather colorful young woman with missing teeth and who, with a breath of booze and meth, asked us if we knew where the connections were), then through the arched passageway of the neoclassic Dover House (which houses Scotland Office, the U.K. government department that handles all affairs between Scotland and the U.K. government), past the Horse Guards Parade and Old Admiralty Building (a large four storey red brick building with an eggshell-hued facade of classical columns that was once until 1964 the official residence of the First Lords of the Admiralty), then by St. James’s Park, and eventually back down Victoria Street to Victoria Station.
By the time we got to South Kensington where our flat was (after a much less eventful ride on the Circle Line), it felt so, so good to have a place to stay for an entire week. Amy, Aaron, and I continued carrying on, however, as we had tickets to see Richard III at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (the playhouse next to the Globe). But we first went to the connecting Swan where we treated ourselves to cocktails (take note, America, the simplicity of their cocktails, created with fewer ingredients and minimal fuss, allowing imbibers the ability to predict what the cocktail will be like without having to weigh the tastes of 18 ingredients) and a board of cheeses, meats, hummus, lightly deep fried vegetables, and pickled onions.
The production of Richard III that followed was just simply and utterly fantastic. Just absolutely fantastic! “Six thumbs up!” Amy exclaimed. The play featured some inspired casting (Sophie Russell as Richard; Steffan Donnelly as Margaret; and Sarah Amankwah as Edward, to name only a few), but the whole entire cast was absolutely faultless. In fact, everything was faultless. I just can’t stop gushing about how absolutely perfect this production was!
The whole show was lit by candlelight, six candelabras overhead that were raised and lowered throughout the play as the action required (at one point, Richard was able to give each candelabra a gentle push so all six of them swing slowly like ancient pendulums). Musicians sat upstage on a raised platform above an elegant archway that was, at times, boarded up with particle board or draped in heavy sheets of plastic. Richard began the show dressed like a tennis player who might’ve fallen down a muddy ditch, but who—as they grabbed more and more power—would dress in flashy, sparkling, white suits. And the show wasn’t afraid to indulge in some dark humor, Richard often appearing onstage when the various characters were killed off, indulging in—at one point—a mariachi dance and singing a happy celebratory tune. Nor did the show shy away from showing lots of blood, Richard at one point killing a character like a vampire, drinking the blood of the victim, both characters drenched in blood when the task was completed.
And, I’m not embarrassed to admit, that I have a really hard time comprehending Shakespeare. However, the program had a really detailed summary of the play, so I was able to follow along with the summary as the action happened, and—for once in my life—I was able to comprehend Shakespeare as it happened in real time. I might suggest more companies do this very thing. I found it very helpful, and I enjoyed the work so much more.
And there it is. First day back in London in the books. We have so much more to do in the week to come, and it’s going to be fantastic!