MY TOP Five

Here is a list of my top five favorite experiences I've gotten to enjoy so far!

1. First Folio

On October 7th, the Shakespeare Institute organized a trip to the Cadbury Research Library on the main campus in Birmingham. This trip was a way of exposing us to the various resources we can access for our research. During the trip we got to visit the special collection section of the library. Martin Killeen selected multiple books from different centuries in England's history to show us. After showing and giving a brief description of each book, we were allowed to hold and look at the books ourselves. Maybe it's just because I'm a nerd, but I almost cried holding a copy of the first folio, looking a copy of my favorite play Hamlet! So, yeah the first folio is first on my list. Due to library rules I am unable to show a photo of the first folio :(

2. Tourist Adventure

Being a tourist is always fun and it's even more fun when you get share your discoveries with someone else. My friend Julane came to visit Stratford-upon-Avon and we packed every day of her visit with Shakespeare! Day one started in the late afternoon and consisted of visiting the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). We checked out their The Play's the Thing exhibition, which take you on a journey through 100 years of theatre-making. It has on display costumes and props from the RSC archives, as well as their own copy of the first folio. After much enjoyment being in the presence of such glorious costumes we went to grab dinner. We settled on The One Elm and though we were planning on just getting a quick bite before bed, we ended up catching up for five hours. The next day we met at 10:00am outside the The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. We purchased the Full Story Ticket, which allowed us to visit: Shakespeare's Birthplace, Mary Arden's Farm, Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shakespeare's New Place and Hall's Croft. Also the very cool thing is the tickets are good for a full year! You could literally visit each site everyday, multiple times a day for an entire year, if you wanted to. So with the passes in hand we explored Shakespeare's childhood home, watched some monologue presentations in the garden and then grabbed Starbucks to refuel. Next stop was Shakespeare's New Place, the site of Shakespeare’s home where he lived for 19 years with is family. However, the house is no longer there and the reason why is fascinating. We arrived just in time to duck inside and avoid the rain. Once the rain stopped we got the chance to explore the garden at New Place, which is stunning. Following New Place we went to Holy Trinity Church to see Shakespeare's grave and pay our respects. Hall's Croft is about a block away from the church and was the house of Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her husband, physician John Hall. Not only was the property fun to wander around, but we ended up talking to gift shop supervisor for a long time about Shakespeare and he gave us plenty of new Shakespeare book titles to check out! We grabbed a quick dinner and then it was off to the Royal Shakespeare Company to se King John. So...admittedly we were a few minutes late because it was a preview performance which start at 7:00, not 7:30...but due to this mistake we ended up waiting to enter the theatre with some of the actors who were waiting to enter for their scene. I was shook. The performance was a glorious 60s inspired take on the show, with a strong focus on the consequences of power and how it can lead to moral corruption. On day three we went to visit Anne Hathaway's Cottage, the cottage sits on nine acres of gardens and woodland. It was nice to see where Shakespeare’s future wife grew up and lived for many years. And that concluded our touristy pilgrimage.

Garden at New Place

Holy Trinity Church

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

3. RSC Intensive

As I've stated previously my MA has a partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company. This partnership offers a learning experience that blends academia and creativity in an exciting way that fosters innovative methods of creating theatre through engaging in research and acting techniques. So after the first week of school, we had our first weekend intensive! We focused on ensemble building, storytelling. Our workshop leader helped us connect with our partners and see truthfully. She also explained how to get out of our own heads! The intensive was amazing because not only did we get learn from RSC practitioners (Tracy Irish and Aileen Gonsalves creator of the Gonsalves Method), but I got to learn about my classmates.

4. Mckellen not Mckellan (Sir Ian)

I still think of this show and get chills. I was so filled with emotion when I saw this production that when the show started I burst into tears. It opened with thunder and lightning as Ian McKellen read the opening of The Lord of the Rings. After my moment of brief hysteria ended and Ian McKellen finished reading his excerpt, he plunged into the journey of his life, including the audience a much as possible. It was charming to hear about Ian McKellen's childhood and about all the theatre experiences that lead him to pursue acting as a career. After intermission he dived into his Shakespeare segment, asking the audience if we collaboratively list all of Shakespeare's plays. It was fun shouting out play titles. And with each title named, Ian McKellen would provided a story or quote relating to the show. He would even occasionally answer questions and though I don't remember what the question was I remember he asked a question and before I could stop myself...I blurted out TWELFTH NIGHT...and Ian McKellen turned, pointed at me, peering straight into my soul and said CORRECT! I think I floated on air for the rest of the show. It was just such a pleasure to witness a show filled with such emotionally honest story telling and the audience involvement made for such a beautiful shared experience.

5. Text Books

Yes, you read that correctly. I said text books! I Love all the books and readings that have been associated with class. I think it's been a real blessing to dive into a passion I've had since I knew Shakespeare existed. I get learn more about a playwright I admire. I get to learn new aspects that surround the ideology of Shakespeare (civic Shakespeare, pop culture Shakespeare, Shakespeare adaptions, textual studies, verse analysis...etc.) And I highly recommend Playing Shakespeare by John Barton, Speaking Shakespeare by Patsy Rodenburg, The Actor and the Target by Declan Donnellan and Voice and the Actor by Cicely Berry. Each book offers a different view on how to approach Shakespeare, which is helping to create my own method.