Moshing at the Globe

I started off the day by going to the World’s End to have my first drink of beer as a 21-year-old. I turned 21 two days before we left for the trip and I haven’t really had any interest in drinking yet so I never did.  The World’s End was incredible, I did not expect it to be so punk rock. I ordered the house ale and hated it. I drank about a third of the beer before quitting because it tasted so bad. I do not know how people can drink enough to get drunk it was miserable. I don’t think I will drink again any time soon. it just isn’t for me. Ultimately I am glad I went because the pub had such a cool atmosphere and I had fun with folks… also there is a volume of The Sandman named after the chain. 

Paddington loved the ale but I had to cut him off. 

Anyway, on to what this post is really about…The Comedy of Errors.

I am in love with the Globe Theatre. I wish there were more shows playing there while I am here but there are not. I believe that the next show they are putting on there is Macbeth and I would kill to see it. I love the stage and the ornate canopy of the heavens. I love how the actors interact with the audience. Serval times in this play characters came out on boats that people standing on the ground had to make way for. Brittany and I stood for this show and I loved it so much. I was so close to the action and the sun was not on me at all. The actors made the audience feel like they were part of the show. There were some moments when actors would point at the groundlings and make a comment or use them as a jumping-off point for the script. A child screamed and cried “I want to go home” and the actors reacted to it in character, it was amazing–I mean, not the child screaming “I want to go home” that made me sad but the actors were cool. 

I believe that seeing the show in person on the stage was far more confusing than reading it–which I suppose is the point–While reading the play you can very clearly tell which of the twins is on stage because they include the initial of where they are from by their name; Dromio S., Dromio E.  

On stage, it becomes clear how people could confuse the sets of twins as they are wearing the same outfit and (at least the Dromios) looked nearly identical. As I said, Brittaney and I were standing in the mosh pit for this production so we got a much closer look at the twins. From where I was I still had a hard time telling who was who so I can only imagine how those who sat farther back with the sun in their eyes must have been. 

I will be honest I do not care for this play. It was very cool to be in the Globe, I looove the Globe, but this script is not for me. The Comedy of Errors feels like a Family Guy bit that goes on for a real minute and you just have to sit there and watch it. It is the same joke over and over for an hour and a half and then it is over. 

I saw a production of this show when I was like 12 or 13 with my church’s youth group and I really did not like it then because I did not understand it and the set was very strange. The set was like a large wall painted like a town with windows to stick the actor’s head out of…I do not recall a lot from that show but they for sure did not engage the audience as much as this show did. 

I think that in Shakespeare’s day, they did not have big subtitle signs on the walls to help people keep up but I am glad they had it for this production.