Stratford-upon-Avon

After our time exploring Coventry Cathedral the weather had brightened up so we decided to go to Stratford. It is a very nice place and certainly tourist friendly, but last time I was there I was just driving through and it took ages. I need not have worried, we found a car park on the edge of town that had spaces on the ground floor. Our guest is somewhat disabled, so stairs are not a good thing, but at least the parking permit was not required.

The town is beautiful and very well looked after. We went on a cruise boat for 45 minutes on the river. There are some lovely new houses near the river, built on stilts to avoid the flooding problems of a few years ago. Some of Stratford can only be seen from the river. The picture shows Jo enjoying the sunshine and the cruise.

After the cruise was over it was a choice between William Shakespeare's birth place, and his grave. Quite randomly I chose his grave. I knew it wasn't too far because we had passed the church on the river boat. Across the town a little, and past a theatre being refurbished, we stopped and bought ice cream, then onwards to a park next to the river. The path lead to the church. In the park there was a stage, and people gathering around it. One of the theatre companies was about to start a production of The Tempest. We decided to stay and watch - better still it was free.


The actors and actresses had their faces painted and wore modern cloths. The scenes took place in various parts of the park. Here they are making noises of a violent storm and being blown about. When a scene changed we were shepherded from the current location to the new one. "Hurry up you'll miss the play - this is my big scene, you mustn't miss it". They also explained to visitors what had just been happening in the scene they had left. Parts of scenes were played amongst the crowd, and one or two of the audience were used as props occasionally.

Miranda	Sycorax

I'm a great fan of this type of theatre - it is so much more engaging than being in a stuffy building with the actors appearing as dots in the distance. I also enjoy the interaction. Its worth noting that not all the crowd were similarly impressed:
It was such a shame that we could not stay to the end, having to be back at our hosts for dinner at 7pm. It was a brilliant afternoon.