The Merry Wife of Brooklyn

That's me, the merry wife! Philip and I (here pictured in Greenwich by the observatory) took in a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the reconstructed Globe Theatre in Southwark last night. What a freaking glorious evening! We ate dinner at Northbank (recommended by our friend Kay, a loyal reader) with views over the Thames toward the Globe then walked over the fabulous Millennium footbridge for the play. Seeing a play in the reconstruction during a beautiful night with superb acting of a Shakespeare play--does it get better than this? The only wart on the evening (well, not the only one--see below) was that PK and I couldn't sit together (fully booked house), but that just means that the Globe is thriving just as it did in Shakespeare's time. The last time I saw this play was in 1980 in Stratford; Ben Kingsley played Master Ford.

Note to theatre lovers in NYC: Merry Wives (this very production) is coming to Pace's Schimmel Theater in October/November as part of the joint venture. It's well worth seeing--laugh out-loud funny throughout with wonderful music. Mistress Page and Mistress Ford go at it like Lucy and Ethel, and Falstaff is a scream. This has to be one of the cleverest productions ever. It is also suitable for, I'd say, 10 year-olds and older. Go and see it! Hopefully you won't be sitting next to Lord Farty like I was (this guy actually lifted his cheek and emitted 3 blasts unselfconsciously during the performance--what gives?).