Candlelit '20s

A night out by candlelight

Since moving to London I have been itching to engage with the history of the place - so much as passed within these walls, and on these streets, and I was sure that somewhere in London I could find a bit that felt like the past.

You have moments, walking through the old cobblestone streets that survive in London, under the eaves of Tudor buildings (Tony always tells me they're fake), when you feel like you're transported to another time. They're rare as you travel your way to work on the tube in your corporate suit but they are there.

They are also there when you look for them. I went hunting for a 1920s night - and I found it. The Candlelight Club is a 'secret club' (with a facebook site and a webpage). Every month they organise and run a 1920s night with well researched cocktails, a band playing hits from the 20s, champagne in flat glasses, and a slightly different take on the 20s each time. During the Olympics it was 'games in the 20s', before that 'rum runners', and the weekend we got tickets for - 'an Indian Summer'.

Tony decided that if I was going to drag him along to this pretend night in the 20s, that he would at least embrace it full on. He shaved his beard off - much to my horror, found the suite in his wardrobe that suited the indian theme the best, and got into the drinking champagne out of flat glasses thing with gusto.

I decided I wouldn't wear the flapper dress I made last year - as every other girl would be in one. I instead chose to be a little ahead of the times with a 1930s dress in silk, floor length, with batwings, covered in a frangipani pattern, to better complement the Indian nights.

The nights are impeccably organised - secret locations communicated the night before, excellently researched cocktails, nibbles, and band. We spent half the night drinking and eating and watching everyone else, and the rest of the night carving up the dance floor - not sure dancing salsa to 20s is quite the done thing but oh well.

The room is entirely lit by candlelight - and I had never realised quite how bright the rooms must have been before lightbulbs. I did go home covered in candlewax - and looked up how to remove it the next morning - but it gave the whole night a special feel.

We are booked to go to the next one with a group of friends - Halloween Ball 20s style - suggestions for costumes welcome. Can't wait.

The Globe - lessons in English History via Shakespeare

Richard III and Henry V at the Globe

I remember in high school when one of my English teachers said that London had recreated Shakespeare's Globe. I don't remember if I was skeptical about a 'fake' globe and whether it would feel all a bit too much like pretending to do things 'how Shakespeare intended'. Tony certainly was when I announced to him that we would be going along to not one, but two Shakespeare plays at the Globe before the summer was over.

An empty Globe

It turns out that whilst the Globe is open for tours all year round, it only has a theatre season during the summer. Having now been to see a play outside at the end of September in London I can see why. The Globe's only modern convenience inside the theatre itself are lights - just enough to allow them to do evening performances until daylight savings ends - not stage lights, no spotlights and no special effects. There is no roof, you are exposed to the wind, the rain - and even the passing aircraft . It is glorious but requires a certain amount of luck, and warm clothing.


Once you walk through the doors, push past people,  find your seats (if you're amongst the posh crowd), or get a good vantage point from the floor, you are transported back 400 years. The theatre with its wooden posts supporting the upper seating levels, the bare benches (cushions are £1 each to hire on the way in), the marbled pillars and painted backdrops are excellently done. It is a remarkably small space (whilst seating and standing hundreds), which allows for the actors voices to travel to the highest reaches (even over a buzzing helicopter).

Handsome Henry V

We went first to see Henry V - my favourite history Shakespeare - at the end of August. It was still hot - and we went without jackets. We had splashed out on the posh seats (at about £35 each plus cushions) and were sitting on the lower level - about level with the stage. When we bought the tickets they warned that the view was obstructed (this is really common as the supporting posts go all the way around and are really solid - probably a good thing). I sat behind the pillar as I know the play well and wanted Tony to see everything that was going on. I did spend much of the play chasing the actors around the stage by leaning this way and that to see around the pole - but it didn't matter. As soon as the Hearing the opening lines of the Chorus implore you to forget your hard seats and the confines of the 'wooden O', you really are transported to the fields of France imagining the thousands of soldiers, the horses, the castle walls and the shouts of battle.

Somehow I don't think i'll ever quite be able to enjoy the way Shakespeare is done in modern times in quite the same way. Growing up on Bell Shakespeare I always enjoyed the modern twist he'd add, modern dress, amazing sets, music etc. The 'real deal' at the Globe however highlights how perfect these plays are as they were written - timeless in both their story-line, and their audience appeal - without the need for costume, music or set to translate for a modern audience. In particular the jokes and audience throws were so much more obvious - the way in which Shakespeare plays to the crowd and engages them in the action. Tony spent the whole time wanting to cry out 'he's behind you'!

In Henry V the crowd was the army King Henry appeals to through his St Crispian's Day speech. We were the soldiers expected to rush forth in full battle cry in response to 'once more into the breach dear friends, once more!'. I have never before felt such an urge to rush onto the stage and be part of the action.

Pistol and the Welshman - eating the leek

In Richard III, in once scene where the guards were debating whether or not it was right to kill the Duke of Clarence as ordered by Richard of Gloucester. Mid debate one knelt and asked the closest member of the audience 'what do you think?' At once the audience thought 'I'm glad he didn't ask me' while also laughing at the engagement with the audience on this moral dilemma.

Roger Lloyd Peck as Buckingham

We unknowingly booked tickets to the closing night of Henry V - which meant that the actors were in full flight. The Welsh jokes were flowing in particular - more text populated with 'Look You's' than I remembered from Shakespeare's text - but the actors were evidently enjoying themselves.

We were also really impressed with the quality of the actors. Roger Lloyd Peck (who I knew first as the eccentric father from Cold Comfort Farm) played an outstanding Buckingham. I recognized 'Sir Pitt' from the BBC's Vanity Fair - playing Pistol. The other actors - whilst I didn't recognize them - were superb.

Richard III and Anne (a male actor playing a woman)

Richard III was Tony's favourite. Captivating from the first moment we walked through the doors - finding our standing 'seats' part way through the introduction with a drink in each hand - we were immediately held by Richard. Not a hunchback - but a deformed cripple as Shakespeare implied, we was excellent. The audience loved and hated him at the same time. Once he was asked (by his own design) to be king, the audience was invited to cry 'God Save King Richard, the one and rightful king' - which we did dutifully.

We exited both performances absolutely brimming with excitement and praise at what we had just witnessed - and next season we will make it to every show.