Borough Market and a Football Match

Before coming to England, I made this sort-of bucket list. It began last spring and continued to grow through the summer. I added to it every time I learned something in a guide book, or read something in a magazine, or saw something in a movie, or was given a recommendation. By August, it was full of events and experiences I felt I couldn't miss out on in London. 


I'm surprised, looking back over the last four weeks, at how much I've crossed off that list that once seemed so extensive. In fact, the last two bulleted points on the list below were crossed off this weekend. 

• See Shakespeare performed at the Globe
• Attend a proper afternoon tea
• Tour Buckingham Palace
• London Fashion Weekend
• Explore the markets and clubs
• See a show in the West End
• Attend an English football match

On Friday night, Kristina and I saw The 39 Steps at the Criterion Theater in Piccadilly Circus. It was wonderful. I was laughing the entire time. I think imdb sums up the plot concisely and accurately: 

"A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and he stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring trying to steal top secret information." 

The top secret information is the nature of the mysterious "39 steps," revealed at the very end. What makes the play so fantastically funny and playful is the fact that only 4 actors play all 139 roles! At times, they may only switch their hat and their accent to become a new character. The plot moves quickly along as a result and the play is only 100 minutes total. Kris and I were seated next to a polite Welsh couple who were enjoying a holiday weekend in London to celebrate their anniversary. They said that the film version directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935 is considered to be one of the greatest British films of all time. I may have to add "watch Hitchcock's 39 Steps" to my to-do list.

The next day, all of the CAPA students were excited to attend our first football match. CAPA had given us tickets to see Millwall v Burnley at the Den in South Bermondsey. It didn't take us long to sort out why the tickets were free, but I'll come to that later.

touristy photo op!

Jill, Amy, Kristina and I decided to grab a pint near Borough Market before the match because there is usually a pretty lively crowd there on Saturday mornings. Borough Market is one of the largest food markets in London, selling not just fresh produce, but also artisan baked goods, fish, game, cheese, tea, jams, olive oil, honey, chocolate, and more. It was bustling with tourists and Londoners on Saturday morning. It seems to be a fashionable place to buy food. I want to go back again soon and visit the Southwark Cathedral: a large white church near the center of the marketplace, which gives the market a European atmosphere and feel. 

sampling an Indian chutney

We drifted into the Old King's Head Pub across the street around 1 o'clock. I opted for a Kronenbourg 1664 and the other girls chose cider. We stood outside to drink our pints, enjoying the warm weather and discussing movies (Amy is a film major). It was probably a good thing that we only had time for one drink before navigating to the stadium in the 85 degree heat. On the overground train from nearby London Bridge station, it was only a 5 minute ride, plus a 10 minute walk from station to stadium. 

"The Den"

The Millwall stadium looked run down, and the fans were rowdy but disappointingly unimaginative with their jeers and swearing. I had expected better from football fans nicknamed "hooligans" who are known for chanting "No one likes us, we don't care!" At least I can say I attended a football match in England! I wish I could go to a real game - like Manchester, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal - but tickets to games at the Premier League level are over £100. Perhaps the next time I'm in England... when the pound isn't 1.5 times as strong as the US dollar... :)

Much Ado About Nothing

Could any trip to England really be complete without a healthy dose of the Bard and his plays? If you just said, “Pshhh, no!” out loud, you’re right.

That is why, when the CAPA team advertised free tickets to Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe Theater, I jumped at the opportunity. The play would be considered a ‘My Education’ cultural event, and all we had to do to get tickets was attend a lecture on Shakespeare from a CAPA instructor the night before.

Professor Connelly is a literature fanatic (I mean that in the best possible way). He is an adorable English man; Cambridge educated with thick glasses and talks faster than an American teenage girl sharing gossip. His hurried speech is endearing, almost charming when you factor in the accent. He rubs his hands together excitedly when he speaks about fiction, folding them beneath his chin as his lecture reaches its conclusion. The psychologist in me wants to describe it as manic, pressured speech.

I’ll briefly summarize his lecture for those of you who, like me, could use a refresher course. Prof. Connelly began with a brief Shakespeare biography, discussing his wife Anne Hathaway, their three children, their home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and his career in London.

He then prompted us to imagine what English society in the Elizabethan era must have been like. Consider the lack of social mobility, or the short life expectancy (barely forty years). Consider the religious education, or the fact that the entire society might have been perpetually buzzed – after all, if you didn’t live near a well or own a cow, you would have drunk beer or wine at almost every meal, because it was likely that the water supply was contaminated. The rich picture you have now is of gullible, passionate, tipsy people who wanted to live their short lives like firecrackers with little freedom to do so.

This is the society that Shakespeare had to write for and about. The story lines existed already. And let’s not forget the greatest tool Shakespeare had at his disposal: the English language. At the time, there was no comprehensive dictionary. The language was extraordinarily flexible and dynamic. Shakespeare is said to have had a vocabulary of about 30,000 words! And he coined loads of phrases still in everyday use.

Credit

Prof. Connelly also reviewed the plot and screened part of the 1993 film version of the play, with Denzel Washington, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Keanu Reaves, and Robert Sean Leonard. What a cast! By Thursday night, I was beyond excited to experience Much Ado from a groundling's point-of-view in Sean Wanamaker's Globe Theater replica. 


On Friday afternoon, Amy and I arrived just in time to grab some standing room at the back of the theater before the show began. Our position involved a lot of shifting and craning necks, but the acoustics were decent and the floor was slightly slanted, which helped. After intermission, we were able to creep further up, until we were only one person removed from the stage. 


I'm no theater critic, but overall, the play felt slightly like Shakespeare for Tourists. The actors were decent. The war of wit between Beatrice and Benedick was carried out very well. I enjoyed Claudio's performance more than Hero's. A highlight: The role of Leonato was played by Joseph Marcell, whom we instantly recognized as the man who played Will Smith's butler Geoffrey on the Fresh Prince! "In west Philadelphia, born and raised..."