All the activity yesterday really wore me out. Claire and I fell asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows. And thanks to the relatively easy schedule of our first week, we could sleep in and have a leisurely morning. We met everyone at LAMDA around 10:20, got some breakfast, and boarded the bus to Hampton Court Palace.

Hampton Court Palace is a structure torn between two worlds. It was originally built for Henry VIII during the Tudor reign. A lot of it is clearly in Tudor style with no expense spared in the building and decorating. When William and Mary came to power, William hated everything English. (Ironic, I know, considering he had been crowned King of ENGLAND.) William III started to demolish anything English and build a more Baroque palace. Fortunately for us, he died before it could quite be completed which is why we still have so much of the structure built during Henry VIII’s reign of opulence. We had over four hours to explore the palace which at first we though was a bit much. Turns out, we really did need that time. The property is absolutely massive, and two of the areas usually on display were even closed today. The gardens are even bigger and, despite the cold, we explored thoroughly. I’m not sure words can quite capture how large and grand this place is. It has been kept in remarkable condition, with Queen Elizabeth II renewing the drive to conserve it in the recent past. It’s truly magnificent and, if I could, I’d move there tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I could live there with about 45 of my closest friends and no one would even know I was there. It’s a palace the scale of which I’ve never seen and still can’t quite comprehend. You have to see it to believe it.

We boarded the bus at quarter till 4 and headed back into the city. I had dinner with my friends Alex, Megan, and Claire. (Look Mom! I have friends!) At 6:45 we headed to The Barbican and took our seats for Richard II. Precisely at the hour printed on our tickets (7:15), the show began. David Tennant starred as Richard II and was really great. I didn’t care for some of the other actors in the production or some of the directing choices. The first half dragged a bit. But by the end of the first act and all through the second act I was enthralled. I was completely unfamiliar with Richard II until tonight. I think I have a new favorite Shakespeare play. Tennant delivered some of the most beautiful poetry brilliantly. Go read some of it, preferably all of it. It’s truly some of Shakespeare’s best poetry (in my humble opinion). This show paired with our lecture yesterday even gave me some ideas for my thesis… Another topic for another time but it’s nice to be getting inspiration already.

Being theatre nerds, we stayed at the stage door to see David Tennant after the show. He was extremely gracious and very nice. I snapped a lot of pictures over people’s heads. Here’s one of the best:

This is a very, very tiny portion of one of my favorite speeches in the play. Richard has just found out that he has all but lost the crown to his cousin, Henry. He laments for a while and finishes his speech with this:

Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence: throw away respect,
Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,
How can you say to me, I am a king?

So brilliant. So beautiful. Tomorrow promises to be another exciting day. I’d say pinch me but I don’t ever want to wake up from this remarkable fairy tale.

Until next time!

Cheers!