Look! Here's a basket!

Okay, lots of catching up today.
Basically, this week was all Shakespeare, all the time. (Except maybe Monday, which was a day in which I did very little.)
So Monday I mostly stayed home and did some stuff for the program (calling Scotland, etc. ) and then, barring a little trip to Hyde Park to play frisbee, I stayed in Monday night to listen to Brother Chittock's talk about living through the London Blitz, which was fascinating and followed by the cookies of the Gods. Awesome.
Tuesday was considerably more exciting. After class, several of us went to Parliament to see the House of Lords. We're planning to see the House of Commons soon, but if you go during the day you have a much shorter wait if you go to the House of Lords. My favorite part was walking in and seeing the clerks in wigs - really. Curly, powdered wigs. Here is my translation of some of this experience.

My shot of Big Ben from the inner courtyard

Lord Fluffinhousen: As we all know, the climate is changing due to man's putting of all kinds of nasty stuff into the air. In the last hundred years, the average temperature has risen one degree. I have had some charts made at great expense so that we may all learn about how the climate is changing, and I will be putting them in the library as soon as possible.
Lord Killjoy of Worsley: Is my honorable lord aware that his charts are useless because they weren't made by satellites data?
L. Fluffinhousen: These charts were approved by scientists in America, Canada, and the former Yugoslavia, and they cost me a great deal of money. I'm putting them in the library as soon as possible.

Later . . .

Lord Waterburydenly of Sussexton: I'd like to apologize for the mess with the bill last night. We discovered a loophole and decided that we need to correct it but we couldn't possibly let anyone know until the last possible minute. I'm really terribly sorry, so sorry, so very, entirely sorry.
Earl of Rothcestering Cross: My noble lord will pardon me, but he is full of crap (that's for you Americans. It was really rubbish.) Can you tell us the EXACT MOMENT when you knew that you needed to revise the bill?
L. W. of S.: I'm really terribly sorry, I don't know anything but I know everything and I'm so sorry and we had to write it really fast and it wasn't very good, you understand, and we're fixing it.
[repeat 5 times]

Tuesday night I went to see Twelfth Night at the Open Air Theatre at Regent's Park, and it was a fun production, if not the best I've seen. Feste was a little like Cedric the entertainer, which was entertaining for sure.

Wednesday was a London study day, and we all went to the Globe for a tour. Our tour guide was brilliant and utterly hilarious. I, of course, had Globe fever, so Erin and Mallory and I bought tickets and went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor that afternoon. It was hilarious, with Falstaff in this amazing purple hosery and the wives full of hilarity. The quote here is from that, but it isn't really funny unless you can hear us saying it the way Mistress Page said it. Brilliant.Home again, home again.

After dinner we had to watch Peter Brook's 1963 Lord of the Flies and then talk about the Hobbsian elements. Creepy stuff, but interesting.

Today was the Stratford day. We got up super early and after some amazing back of the bus rapping by Sqebizzle and Kizzate (now known as 50 Pence) hit Anne Hathaway's House and the Shakespeare birthplace (highlight: watching D. Lake on the security camera while he repeatedly hit a bush with his umbrella for no apparent reason), and then we went to the most amazing production of The Merchant of Venice. I'm telling you, I'm still reeling. Shylock was brilliant, Bassanio good looking, Portia fabulous. The costumes were all business suits, and the set was very minimal, but very cool. When Portia was waiting for the suitors to choose the chests of gold, silver and lead, she stood by these dripping icicles, a sort of Fortress of Solitude motiff, and the chests were actually made of ice as well. While the suitors were making their choice, one part of the stage kind of opened and there were all of these wine glasses with hands making them ring. You could see the hands, which was eerie, and the noise was very other worldly. So cool. The court room scene also ended up being pretty cool, especially when Shylock was about to kill Antonio on a sacrificial Abraham-style altar. Good stuff, really, and it ended with this fabulous dance. Blown. Away.

Dave, Mallory, me, David - looking oh-so-quaint at Anne Hathaway's Cottage

So now I'm somewhat in demand for people writing papers and I'm doing laundry, which I need to go and change now. Cheers.