To The Globe Theatre in Costume

Recently, my fiance ,Teddy, and  I went to a performance of ‘As You Like It’ at the rebuilt Globe Theatre with our friend Clare.

The tickets were a gift from another friend, Louise.

The last time we visited Louise in Bristol, Teddy had made some clothes for doll she owned and I had painted some small murals of butterflies for her in her bedroom. 

Teddy had come up with the idea of going to the Globe in Elizabethan costume and Louise insisted on paying for the tickets. 

Unfortunately, a sudden work commitment meant that she was unable to come with us, as planned.

Teddy had done a few Elizabethan events at Kentwell Hall and I had made a suit for going to a Renaissance Fayre in America ( of which I my write at a later date). I also had made a shirt with added blackwork panels( made by Black Swan)

Clare borrowed a dress that Teddy had made previously.

I also decided to take  a stout cloak (my knight’s mantle), as I thought it might rain. My best beloved and our guest poo-pooed this notion.

We went up to Waterloo Station  on the mainline and, as we were slightly pressed for time, took a taxi to the theatre.

So, in style, we arrived at the Globe:

Our form of dress caused some comment from the other theatre-goers, but, as Teddy said, didn’t everyone dress up to go to the theatre?

(It still felt a little odd to be not wearing a sword...)

Here is a picture a kindly fellow took of us in our seats:

I am also sure that some of the people nearest to us thought we were some sort of plant in the audience and would do something connected to the play. They must have been disappointed when this didn’t happen.

I also took a few pictures(I usually do medieval re-enactment, so , for me, Elizabethan male clothing is wonderful- both trunkhose and venetians have pockets and are baggy enough to hide a camera!).

After the play we decided to walk back along the South Bank to Waterloo and stop somewhere to have a bite to eat.

We soon discovered that we had indeed been wise to get to the theatre by taxi, for we were stopped for photos every three or four minutes and were even interviewed by a lady doing Facebook project called Humans of Greater London.

Thus we did not progress fast.

(I've had a look at the Facebook project page and there's apicture of us by Blackfriars Bridge. The text is a good distillation of what we talked about.)

After stopping at a cafe for food , it started to rain and I was glad of my nice wool cloak (Ha! To their prior poo-pooing!). Luckily for my companions, we were not far from Waterloo at that point .

It was still raining when we arrived back a Wimbledon, so, by general consent, we took a taxi back to the house.

The play was excellent, very funny and only briefly marred by an overly persistent helicopter, which one performer managed to reference(with a glance to heaven) during a speech.

All in all, it was a lovely day out.

Until next time

Adieu