Cam for Cameron, and the play’s the thing

 Oh, Lord, readership is down! 

I thought it was Gary’s…errr Barney’s jokes, then realized you’d have to have read it to know that so the culprit is ham haters. 😡 😂

I begin today with a scenic picture of the titular river, the Cam, from the bridge at King’ College [Cambridge], one of today’s visits. 

We bounce quickly into today’s action.  It was a 9 o’clock leave (everyone was ready on time) and we were off to Liverpool Street and one of the ways to get a train to Cambridge. We were early enough that everyone was able to hit a place for a gnosh; there was a strange conversation about “I didn’t think I could go across the street or I’d get in trouble” and we were off. 

We grabbed taxis and headed for the punting stand on the river.  We had two taxis and I gave their taxi driver the same information I gave mine.  Mine went straight there without question.  Theirs, not so much.  A series of texts about which end of the street (the river end? Duh) and which punter stand (🤷) and our guy did a maneuver around traffic through an alley and we were there several minutes ahead of them despite leaving the train station afterwards.  It was like a 10-minute ride. 

I hired a boat from an American, who it turns out is there to start grad school at Darwin College in the fall.  Her partner is there for 3 years (she didn’t say doing what), so she’s here and doing this.  She called in Cameron, a local lad who does this for a living, as they say.  Cameron was quite good.  IF you don’t know, this is known as “the back tour” because cruising down the river takes you along the backside of 7 (of the 31) colleges, most of the oldest, that make up the university.  A series of tourist level shots, including this one of the back of King’s College. 

Okay, now for one of the 🙄student moments: one asked Cameron what the name of the river was and he said it was the river Cam.  She said, “But really!” And he assures her, saying, “that IS why it is called Cambridge.”  She whispers, “I thought he was teasing since his name is Cameron.”  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

After the ride, one of the six wanted food, so we stopped at a shop that advertised Chelsea buns.  Here you go (this will be today’s food porn, you can look forward to tomorrow, though). 

I am not so sure — the dark things are dried currants.  Not as sweet as one might hope. 

After much searching, we found a tour of King’s College.  Founded by Henry VIII, who has proved large (jk) during the trip, it has some impressive buildings, including the chapel, which has the oldest full set of stained glass in the world.  It is also the secondest largest chapel in the world.  The docent told me so. :)

It reminds me, and the architect (it was in one of the informational posters), of the St. Chappelle in Paris, which, if you are wondering how/why I know I saw it because it appeared prominently in Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code.

There was a street market and everyone grabbed food and there was an “ooo” and ‘lululemons” and two of them bolted for the shop.  You know, that famed English company.  One came out with a purse that she said she’d been wanting AND they gave her a discount!  I think I’m supposed to say it was cute.  It was cute. 🤨

The ride back was furiously fast — no stops! Into King’s Cross, right next to Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts shop there, where many of us spent some time and money.  Nuff said. 

The play (i.e. if he hasn’t already, John can stop reading 😂 [that he’s never said anything about these teases indicates I’ve over judged how far he reads 😂])

Important part one: for some reason tonight, of all nights, I broke the code for getting from Waterloo station to the National Theatre in what Google Maps claims should be 7 minutes.  I did it, coming and going.  Only coming home in the dark did I fear for my life in a dark tunnel, but that’s not about getting the path right. 😁

Also, if I haven’t mentioned it enough, I had trouble getting a ticket to this play — The Motive and the Cue (it’s from Hamlet’s Act 3 soliloquy) — I wanted to go Friday night, or Saturday night (I went to the horrible Irish thing instead), or last night…yesterday morning I looked again for tickets and instead of “sold out” for tonight, it was “book tickets.” I clicked.  The only available ones were in the stalls.  I clicked.  The map of the stalls had ONE, yes, ONE blue dot.  I got it to work and I had a ticket. 

It was an aisle seat (saints be praised!) and there were 3 women to my left.  As they returned to their seats after intermission, (ready for it Nicole? 😂) the oldest said “when did you get that seat?”  I told her.  She said that she was the one who had sold it! (Makes sense).  And that it was supposed to be her husband’s seat, thus the aisle and the legroom.  I told her thank you and he was missing a good play.  She said yes, you’re enjoying it then and I said “except Jonny Flynn is horrible.”  The younger woman (20s?) next to me said “I thought he was great.”  I said he’s no Burton.  The woman in front of us turned around and agreed with me that he was horrible.  I asked the YW if she’d ever seen Richard Burton in anything and she said no (in the postscript it says Burton was dead in 1984, long before she was born) and I said he had this deep voice and Flynn squeaked.  The woman ahead added “and he mumbles his lines.”

The play is about the 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet that starred Burton, then just married to Liz Taylor, and directed by Sir John Gielgud.  Burton throws the sir at him several times in disrespect.  The playwright, Jack Thorne (famous for adapting Harry Potter to stage? Writing episodes of the Dark Materials for TV?) works through the rehearsal (25 days) and there’s a short scene of the first night. He interweaves the biography — Burton and Taylor have a couple scenes together, Gielgud and a prostitute and Gielgud and his assistant have scenes — with the rehearsals.  Burton is stretching to do Hamlet for the first time; he’s picked Gielgud to get the most out of him, but the two constantly struggle (the programme says Gielgud was infamous for changing his mind about how he wanted things acted, even minute to minute).  Burton comes in drunk for one rehearsal and is totally obnoxious, demeaning Gielgud and calling the actor playing Gertrude a C**T.  It’s quite a fascinating mix, with the days on the screen above as scenes start with a line from the play…the opening scene, OC, is “the play’s the thing…”

Flynn is the star.  The YW next to me, and probably the whole audience, knows who he is.  He was pretty unbearable — he doesn’t have the voice to do Burton and he tried to be gravelly AND have a Welsh accent.  It was tough.  OTOH, Mark Gattis (famed, OC, as Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock) was great as Gielgud, but, as demonstrated by another actor in the play, imitating Gielgud isn’t that hard.  Tuppence Middleton, of Downtown Abbey fame (I guess), played Taylor.  She’s no Liz Taylor (as the programme says, for many years named the Most Beautiful Woman in the World) but gave the role a lot of enthusiasm.   The guy playing William Redfield, Luke Harris (the doctor on Poldark) was good. 

It is #5 of 6 I’m seeing.  It was doubtless the best, no matter what the Globe does tomorrow with Comeday of Errors. 

It does make one want to go back and watch something like Cleopatra or Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf again. 

Big day tomorrow, a play, food porn…last day in London.  See you then.