For my penultimate blog, I’d like to mention the other big trip that we went on, which was a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, otherwise known as Shakespeare’s birthplace. The way we went this time was by train, which was much better than riding a bus all day long. It also helped that Stratford-upon-Avon was generally closer than Bath, which allowed time for us to go see a performance of Henry IV Part 1 at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theater that they have there.

But before that, we had time to wander around Stratford, time I and a few other people filled by going to Shakespeare’s house, now a sort of museum.

The way in which the house is organized is as you might expect; several roped-off areas in rooms where things have been recreated to look as if it might have during Shakespeare’s time. There’s also a few people who explain a bit about why there’s gloves everywhere and about how they were made (as Shakespeare’s father was a glovemaker).

There’s a display of a window pane that was in Shakespeare’s house where several people have carved their names on, some famous people among them.

In addition, there were a few performers outside who would recite Shakespeare from memory upon request, which was very fun to watch.

But as for the performance itself, it was pretty good, to be honest. There were a few aspects about the performance I didn’t agree with, but on a technical level they pulled it off really well.

I would recommend going there, maybe if you’re not the biggest theater nut in the world, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who can’t get behind any of Shakespeare’s stuff on some level.  

Location: London, United Kingdom