Liz Gill spends a very entertaining day with the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
If you’re going to be insulted it may as well be by a genius. So if you sit in the ‘Insult Chair’ at the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, instead of today’s dreary and unimaginative abuse you will hear the Bard’s inventive invective.
You’ll be hailed as ‘a boil, a foot licker, a dunghill, a carbuncle and a blockhead’. You have more ‘earwax than brain’, ‘you smell of mountain goat’ and ‘your bum is the greatest thing about you.’ And if this is not enough you can then pop down to the theatre shop and buy insult mugs, T shirts, books and tote bags.
The chair is a feature of a fascinating free exhibition called The Play’s The Thing where the exhibits range from the serious – there is a copy of the First Folio of 1623 without which we would have lost half the plays – to the enjoyably inter-active.
One of the moments I loved was stepping inside a curtained cubicle to play Hamlet. A real actor appears on screen in the scene with his father’s ghost and you, as the Prince of Denmark, read your lines from subtitle cues.
Elsewhere you can try on a hat, a ruff, a mask, slip into a jacket from one of the company’s world class productions or simply revel in looking at the props, stage devices, photographs of the star actors and actresses who have graced the stage here during its hundred plus year history and some of their fabulous costumes: the green satin gown Vivien Leigh wore for Lady Macbeth, Helen Mirren’s Cleopatra crown and Ian McKellen’s King Lear uniform.
Another spine-tingling moment came when our guide told us that we were literally ‘treading the boards’. The wooden floor beneath our feet comprised the old stage which had to be removed when the theatre was modernised in 2010 at the cost of £110m.
There had been two previous incarnations. The first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was Victorian Gothic built with funds raised by local brewers Edward Flowers and his son Charles; snobs who did not think provincial trade should venture into the world of culture nicknamed them the self-raising flowers.
When in 1926 it was gutted by fire its replacement was designed by Elisabeth Scott, second cousin of Giles Gilbert Scott who built Liverpool Cathedral and created the classic red phone box. The new theatre incidentally was the first important building in Britain by a female architect.
Traces of her creation remain in the art deco staircase and box office which can be hoisted and lowered on a wall in one of the bars. Another curious memento is the imprints on the bricks of the word ashes. The original letters were metal ones above the ashtrays. The metal letters are gone and ash trays are now light fittings but the ghostly words remain.
In another bar in The Swan Theatre part of the complex are dozens more photos, bits and bobs from plays and information notices telling theatrical anecdotes.
Nearby is a staircase with a set of stained glass windows on the theme of The Seven Ages of Man and above them a 10ft high contemporary sculpture, Romeo’s Head by Stephen Follen. Comprised of 2000 stainless steels stars suspended from the ceiling by fine wires it echoes Juliet’s line about her beloved: ‘when he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars and he shall make the face of heaven so fine…’
We began our day with a free trip up the Tower where from a viewing platform at 105 feet you can see Shakespeare’s birthplace, school room and burial site in Holy Trinity Church (though most of his professional life was in London he still regarded Stratford as home). On a clear day the 360 degree panorama stretches for up to 30 miles. More recent reminders of the profession can be seen in the pretty cottages alongside the theatre, once owned by the Flowers for their workers but now housing many of the visiting actors.
We finished our day with a delicious afternoon tea in the Rooftop restaurant. I tend to judge afternoon teas as much by their savouries as by their scones and cakes and top marks here went to a pate filled choux pastry, a mushroom arancini and a mediterranean vegetable tartlet.
And, yes in case you’re wondering, we did actually watch some Shakespeare as well. The early comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost has had good reviews but it wasn’t for me. I find Elizabethan word play is just not funny in 2024 and the slapstick and goofy pantomime flourishes similarly left me cold. It’s was what my mother would have called ‘too daft to laugh at’.
The play though was only one aspect of an otherwise very rewarding visit. And of course if one play does not appeal there is always another one coming along. This season they will include in the main theatre, the Swan and The Other Place, Pericles, King Lear and the Merry Wives of Windsor. And The Garden Theatre, specially constructed for summer in the adjoining park,will feature a shortened version of As You Like It, a Shakespeare taster perhaps.
More info
Guided tours £13.50 per person with a family deal available. Afternoon tea £29.95
https://www.rsc.org.uk
Award Winning Website for Cultural Travellers 