Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (I teach Shakespeare).

I teach Shakespeare at Butler University. Every summer I take some of our students to the UK to see performances of the plays. We spend two weeks in London, home of Shakespeare’s Globe and a host of other theatres, and in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace and home of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In our two weeks we see six performances by the very best of British theatre talent. Not all of the shows are perfect, not all of them match the performance in my head, but all of them make the plays work for the audience.

I have a performance in my head only because I have been doing this for 23 years now and I have a sense of the role performance plays in making a play come alive. Directors experiment all the time—to get the play to move us. Last year I saw an Antony and Cleopatra done in—modern dress! To hear Caesar and Antony talking about the fate of Rome in business suits—what is going on? And it worked for me—power politics then and now—pretty much the same. It was not really jarring to hear two men seek dominance over one another dressed in one age and living in another. I don’t quite mean that Shakespeare’s issues are timeless (true enough!), but that a director’s choice to make a fresh impact on the audience—did just that.

One more example of the value of performance. It was an actor (I forget his name) who made me understand this moment in Macbeth. Late in the play Lady Macbeth dies and word is brought to Macbeth. His reaction is one the famous moments in all of Shakespeare:

She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.

What the actor did was pause after line two here, stare off for a moment, and then do the famous tomorrow bit. Macbeth has caught himself thinking that everything will be all right—soon. Maybe one more crisis and I will have time to think about her death. I have been promising myself that next week, next month, next year, things will be fine and I can rule with the greatness I know that I have in me. But it hasn’t happened and it won’t—damn tomorrow! My wife is gone and I myself wish to die: “Out, out, brief candle!” The moment made absolute sense to me—thanks to seeing it done right.

Happy New Year

It's here already. Very cold here in Central California, heat's been on nearly the whole day!  I wanted to post some pictures of my vegetable garden because, well, even though cold here (for us, around 30 degrees F.) I wanted to flesh out the reality of what a gardener can do here on the mild mild coast. I love gardening and I love my life here.

In the garden there is one plant that I've been watching. I think it's radicchio, but I don't know. It came from a package of mixed greens for salad, called, mesclun, or something like that.  This plant has been a growing since last March or April, so it's taking a very long time to mature. Can anyone confirm such facts about radicchio. If it does take such a long time to mature, then I have an appreciation of why it typically costs so much.

Otherwise, I have carrots (almost ready), various lettuces, parsley, onions, spinach, cilantro/coriander, kale (Italian), beets, daikon, celery too.  So here's a few more pics:

That's all the news. Life is good so . . .

Hampton Court Palace, an afternoon near London

This is one of the suggested on-your-own-time activities for London. It's actually two palaces, the one in the picture above is the one that was inhabited most notably by Henry VIII. It takes about 40 minutes from London, the train runs from Waterloo Station, and it's a short walk (just across the Thames river) from the train station. The grounds are very impressive, as are the castles' interiors, and the feeling of Henry VIII's onetime presence here is formidable.The front gate, not pictured, is where I took the picture on our website of the oxlike gargoyle holding the shield of the Tudor rose. A few comments about the grounds: they are extensive, there is a rose garden (that really smells like a rose garden) and a maze (the maze has an additional entrance fee). There is also a horse drawn tram ride that I don't recommend because the route is about one mile, in a little circle. It's not meant to show you the grounds, only to get you off of your feet for about 10 minutes. The horses ARE beautiful!


The photo above would be "the back yard." There are gum drop shaped yew trees as you can see in the park-like formal garden. They are old and fairly remarkable for the distinctive character they give the place. There are perennial borders (the longest one in England, we were told), and some annual and large formal beds geometricrically laid out in front of the 17th century castle. It makes for a good picnic spot so pack a sandwich and a drink in you bag, and a mat to sit on?  Well, there are benches, too, but not too many.

The other palace, commissioned by King William III (r 1689-1702) for himself and the queen,  Mary II, was built by Sir Chrisopher Wren. It faces the river Thames, and amazingly, you can't even see this facade (below) from the entrance on the broad avenue leading up to Henry VIII's palace.

BTW, There is a significant discount (ca $3.00+) when you buy your ticket on the Web. The link is here.

Glad you found us message, from John

I have high hopes that we'll see a bit of socializing here.  The topic is our upcoming England Shakespeare and English garden tour. But of course, we can talk about whatever we want. I could talk about travel, or England all day and night long. I'd bore you.  Still, it amazes me that travel has become such a big part of my life. I've worked in fairly conventional jobs for most of it, including (not so conventional)  a decade abroad as a teacher. I have come to think of  "travel" as the emblem of change in one's life. The stereotyped gypsy fortune teller of our parents' and grandparents' generations used to predict "you are going to go on a long journey," and "I think you will not be alone," or even, "you will meet a tall dark stranger." As for me, I never hesitate, and I know one more appropriate cliche: "the greatest journey begins with a single step," and that really always does make it easy for me to start.  (and come to think of it, what would we humans do without this whole travel metaphor to explain our lives to ourselves!) So let's start.

Traveling is what it is.  It can be tough enough to bring you to tears on occasion, but also ultimately joyous, that is,  if you stick with it and don't give up. It seems that for about half the people I meet, the idea of travel is somehow central to their dream. At worst, a journey can be boring, get dangerous, or bring intense moments of frustration,  At best it can be life-changing, legendarily so (but not necessarily like in the movies, e.g. Eat, Pray, Love). Here's a cliche expression for you, "travel is my muse," but it could also be one's supreme catharsis. (I think I like that better!) There is magic first of all in choosing a destination. Suddenly you're starting preparation, your mind may race with the possibilties, or perhaps you're returning to a beloved place with beloved people.  Budgets notwithstanding; we live like the royalty of old except that we have choices they may never have dreamed of! You may be choosing England, either now for our current Shakespeare/English Gardens tour, or in the past.  Whoever you are, welcome to this blog; please feel free to contribute something.

One thing we may do here is begin to think about ourselves as "anglophiles." For example, let's discuss tea and scones! or the Royal Family. Not now, I mean later when the blog gets going. I'm looking forward to offering everyone some knowledge and encouragement about visiting England, and especially for the May 2011 tour.  Readers in turn, can take this blog in various directions as they wish. I'm game.
I'm hoping people who just drop by this blog become our tour participants and use this blog space to find community with their tourmates. Simple. The tour is limited to 20 participants and that may mean that we can have a little of everybody, a friend, or some friends for everyone here! It might be for some of us that we'll remember the people we were with, rather more than the places we've visited. That's not a bad thing! England is there for us in any case, I love it, so if you coming with us, here is the place  to get and keep people informed and thereby help everyone enjoy this trip to the fullest.

Another of the blog's goals? that it give you the opportunity at least "to think about it," if you are someone who has not yet decided about the tour. You can take some weeks or even months, have your ideas bounced around by me and some others here.  Build confidence!

John