One of the things I was looking forward to the most about going to London is going to the theatre. There are so many things going on in London. We booked the opera and Shakespeare weeks ahead to make sure we had seats. Little Eagles we decided to see at the same time, but delayed getting tickets until we got to London as there were still plenty left. This turned out to be a good plan as we ended up going to see it on a different day than we had originally planned. Blithe Spirit we decided to see on the spur of the moment and bought the tickets on the day of the show.

Little Eagles
This is the kind of play you can see at Ottawa theatres like GCTC. A medium sized venue with intelligent, single set, play about the human condition. An engineer is brought back from the Gulag and set to be the Chief Designer of the Russian space program. I am not sure how much of the story was romanticized and overly summarized, but it was compelling.

The Tsar’s Bride
Unlike the minimalist set of the Hampstead Theatre where we saw the previous show, the Royal Opera House sets were extensive but still breath taking. The singing was fantastic and I was happy to find that even the cheapo seats in the furthest section of the balcony allowed us to feel as though we were immersed in the stage. Hats off to computer aided acoustics design. We had similarly remote seats at the Met and I could barely hear the singers there. Though the original story occurs in the 16th century, this production is set in modern times. The translation worked well for me and, together with the brilliant sets, made the story really come alive. Even Chris, who is not a great fan of the opera, though the performance was fantastic.

Blithe Spirit
I am not a big connoisseur of Noel Coward, but Chris is a fan. He could not quite place the play as to whether he has seen it before. It turned out that he had only read the script. The cast was quite good and had the perfect comic timing.

Hamlet
The production of Hamlet was made by a travelling troupe based on one of the original travelling copies of the play. This troupe did an excellent job of not glossing over the funny parts while still allowing for drama and tragedy. While there were swaths of speeches that went over my head, as is customary with Shakespeare, I was able to follow enough to truly enjoy myself. Seeing the play at the Globe added a little something extra to the experience. After having had been to a number of Shakespeare in the park performances I conclude that while roof is unnecessary, the enclosing walls really help.

What I did not get to see
I had found out about the King’s Head Theatre opera house too late and the tickets to the shows I wanted to see were already sold out. If I go to London again, I will try to see an opera there.