On the 9th August I went along to the newly constructed Shakespeare's Rose Theatre in York to watch 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. The theatre is a limited edition recreation of London's The Globe, and will house a few of Shakespeare's most famous & well loved plays until the 2nd September 2018. My friend messaged me after seeing the pop-up playhouse during a day out in York and we elected to buy some tickets and get ourselves down there for what I can now say was a once in a lifetime experience!
York is a historic city and actually used to be the capital of the country, which means it's a popular tourist destination. Which in turn means it's always very busy. For this reason, we opted to park and ride to the theatre. A pretty self explanatory concept, you drive part of the way, park up, and then get on a shuttle bus that takes you into the city centre so you don't have to tackle all of the traffic and narrow streets on your own. It was £3.10 for a return on the park and ride bus, which was cheaper than parking would've been in the centre for sure! They're very efficient and easy to work out, usually they'll pick you up wherever they dropped you off, so you just have to keep your eyes peeled and remember where that was!
The park & ride that we selected dropped us off almost directly outside of the theatre, which was perfect! The theatre is of course located on Tower Street, which is home to Clifford's Tower and is therefore aptly named. The tower is the largest remaining part of York Castle, and can be seen in the photo to the right, serving as a backdrop for my lovely friend Emily!
You may notice that Emily has a drink in her hand, which she purchased at the theatre. Before it is time to enter the theatre you can buy food and drinks from the Shakespearean Village, which is just what we did. Prices are pretty high, so be prepared, a glass of Pimms was £6.00 and there wasn't much else for cheaper. I think you can make allowances for this sort of thing if you're out for the day, just think of it as a one off or a treat, but I do understand that it's never easy to part with that sort of money when you know you could get the bottle for not much more! If you can't accept it then people did take their own food and drinks in with them, and bags were not checked so they got away with it too! Definitely a good idea if you're trying to budget or save.
There were lots of drinks on offer - beers, prosecco, Pimms, ciders, gins, vodka, and of course soft drinks and warm drinks too. You could even pre-order drinks for the interval to save you queuing which was quite a good idea! You could also get yourself a burger or a hot dog from some of these little huts, and they smelled and looked delicious, but again were a bit extortionate! Ice-cream was sold at the interval too, so there are plenty of food and drink options available if you were willing to part with your cash.
Overall, the Shakespearean village is pricey but pleasant. It's very small so I wouldn't recommend giving up a lot of your time to have a look round (you wont need long) but it's good for while you're waiting ahead of the show and gets you into that Elizabethan mood!
We stayed in the village for about 20 minutes before queuing up to have our tickets checked at the groundlings entrance. We paid £12.00 each for the tickets, which is a lot more reasonably priced than the seated ones were at £30 and more. Luckily we had the choice of either sitting or standing, and we had brought a picnic blanket so decided to sit. At first it was quite uncomfortable, but the play was that good that by the end you'd forgotten all about your dead leg - you just have to persevere! For such a price difference I think it's totally worth opting to be a groundling, it's cheaper and you're part of the action down there so can soak in the incredible atmosphere.
The theatre is one of a kind, just like the production. As I've said, we went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I had seen before but many years ago, so I wasn't too certain of the plot. This was a concern of mine at first, but I soon got my Shakespeare ears on and it was actually really easy to follow. The actor playing Bottom was phenomenal and
really stood out, even among such a strong cast. The entire play was very entertaining, with the second act being particularly amusing. There was lots of physical theatre which was a pleasant surprise, and lots of audience involvement for those of us on the ground! As much as it all felt very traditional and as if it could've been performed at The Globe all those centuries ago, there were a few twists that made it unique. Shakespeare was of course known for questioning and playing with gender roles, and that technique is used within this production to make for an amusing presentation of both Titania and Oberon.
Overall, it was a brilliant, authentic portrayal of a hilarious story. If you're a Shakespeare fan then I would certainly recommend coming and watching one of the performances here. It's a shame that they wont be continuing throughout term time because I think that this would be ideal for GCSE, A Level and degree students trying to get to grips with Elizabethan entertainment. Tickets can be found on the website, which I will link now. https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/shakespeares-rose-theatre
Come along and be part of this one off experience while you can!