I finally managed to get to the Globe Theatre on the South Bank last week. I went for the £5 “yard” tickets, for two reasons, Firstly, they’re cheap. Damn cheap. Secondly I wanted to try and experience the mead-soaked, sweaty rumbustiousness of the braying crowd.
It didn’t quite turn out that way – the crowd was a polite mixture of cheap theatre-goers, backpack-toting school kids and excited tourists. No mead, no sweat. Someone loudly broke wind halfway through, which prompted hysterical giggles from the kids, but otherwise it was very well behaved.
The play was Othello, Shakespeare’s dark tragedy of evil, manipulation and xenophobia. The evening was gorgeous, dry and only a little cloudy. The acoustics of the Globe are remarkable, thanks also I guess to the diction of the players. Even when a plan goes over, admittedly somewhat breaking the Elizabethan atmosphere, we could still hear perfectly.
The theatre itself looks fantastic. Upon entering you immediately feel the atmosphere of expectation. The set is sparse, as it would have been in Shakespeare’s time, with Roman pillars incongruously present in woodland scenes etc.
Our Iago, played by Tim McInerney (Lord Percy out of Blackadder), was a marvellous pantomime villain, producing laughs from the crowd with a raise of his eyebrow. Othello, Eamonn Walker (a character actor you’ll recognise from vaste swathes of British and American TV) was a ball of fury and confused hate. Zoe Tapper gave a perfectly confused and beautiful performance as Desdemona.
It’s a long play to be standing up for – three hours and fifteen minutes. Kate couldn’t hack it, and after the interval we went to the front and leaned against the stage. I recommend doing this, it gives you an immensely dramatic close-up view of the action and really takes you inside the performance.
A great night, a passionately acted play that left you reeling with the horrors of pure evil, and an atmospheric venue, far from the tourist trap had half-expected.