February 15th: Valentine's Day, Twelfth Night and Ghosts

Wednesday, after a leisurely morning of devotions and breakfast I got all dressed up and took the tube to the British Library. After walking around and peeking into the reading rooms I went to the Treasures Gallery and listened to someone read an excerpt from Jane Eyre while looking at the original manuscript of the last chapter and then listened to "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" while looking at the papers, napkins and greeting cards upon which Lennon and McCartney penned the lyrics of several of their most famous songs. Very romantic, I know.   After the Library I went to class and listened to a lecture on the Tudors and then went to the only medieval church in England that Catholics still worship in (when Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the newly created Church of England he took over all churches and made them Anglican). After dinner in town we went to the Old Vic for another Propeller performance, this time of Twelfth Night. It was certainly a very strong and very enjoyable performance, but I can't say it was the best play I've ever seen like many of my classmates did. Good, yes, incredible, not especially.

Thursday night we went to see Ibsen's Ghosts at a small theater in Notting Hill. The play is, of course, quite bleak, but it was very well acted. It was quite a change from all of the Shakespeare we've been seeing. Also, The Gate is a very small theater and had a very intimate, almost local theater feel; again different from the Old Vic or the Novello which are both enormous, elaborate, beautiful theaters.