Yesterday evening found me at the Globe yet again, this time as a patron (albeit a cheapskate groundling...). Unfortunately for me, the heavens decided to open up not once, but twice during the performance. I'm still very annoyed about it, since I'd been looking forward to seeing the play (The Winter's Tale, btw). Instead I was soaked pretty much to the bone...I'm not sick...yet.

It was a night where everything went wrong, really. The actor playing the prince in the second half was feeling ill, so another member of the company took his place, carrying a copy of the script in his hand, whilst other members filled in all the other roles vacated by said replacement. Not that I could tell, although the rain made it difficult to watch a couple of the scenes, so I'd say the company made a remarkable recovery given the mess. As for the play itself...it's not a favourite. I dislike the plot (jealous husband causes son's and wife's deaths, whilst his baby daughter is somehow saved and brought up as a peasant girl, who later meets son of real father's friend (whom the father accused wife of being unfaithful with) leading to eventual reunion, and the great revelation at the end that the wife was just in hiding in hope of seeing her daughter once again)...it's just so...Shakespeare, but the kind of situation I dislike. Give me one of the non-romantic tragedies instead... Still, it was quite amusing, especially when one character decided to single out a guy in the audience to 'serenade'...