RSC at Stratford-upon-Avon

While we were in Stratford-upon-Avon we took in one of the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions. I was interested in seeing Richard III but it was sold out. They also had a production of Much Ado About Nothing but it had a Bollywood theme, which was a little off-putting for the price. In stead, we bought tickets to Twelfth Night which was playing at the main theatre in their complex.

The production was quite delightful. The stage was imaginatively laid out, with a small tank of water in the floor of the front corner. The twins from Twelfth Night washed up onshore after their shipwreck on this spot. Also, characters occasionally threw things away in the water. The rest of the set had a 1940s Caribbean Island vibe to it, as did the costumes. Interestingly, the set was also being used for evening performances of The Tempest. The actors did a great job. We didn't see any recognizable name stars there (though we did see a poster saying that John Lithgow was Malvolio in a Twelfth Night production many years ago).

Our Malvolio was good too!

The views from the building were quite nice as well.

Garden where we had our picnic lunch earlier

When we were wandering around outside before the production, we saw a woman on a fantastic bicycle who was handing out special quest maps to special children. The quest was to help Prospero (the wizard in The Tempest) get the sun to come out so he could eat his spaghetti lunch. Lucy was interested (she loves spaghetti) and followed her to a spot where she got the scoop on how to follow the map. Several brass rubbing were hidden around the Royal Shakespeare Company building. We found the first few and rubbed the extra directions onto our map with a crayon. Then we had to split up. The kids went back to the hotel for a nap with mommy while the aunties and I saw the show.

Later, when they came back to pick us up, we finished the treasure trail and found where to put the little bottle of elixir to get the sun back in motion.

Jacob finds clue #2

Lucy gets ready to rub on more directions

The final clue led us back into the theatre

Lucy restarts the sun with her elixir!

The RSC has put on lots of productions throughout the years. A bunch were broadcast on the BBC this past summer but we didn't make time to watch. Hopefully they will be back and we can catch up on other great productions.