O, call back yesterday – bid time return!

 

A Hamlet's-eye view of Autumn just starting in Stratford

I have been back from Stratford for a week and I'm only now getting a chance to sort out my notes, my second hand book purchases and my photographs from five nights staying in the cottage I like to pretend is my second home.  I'm struggling to get my head round the fact that my greatly anticipated September visit is past and gone already! It was the availability of the cottage that made me decide in July that I needed to make another visit.  The fact that the dates available included the last weekend of the summer holidays enabled me to shoe-horn four performances into four nights, gave me a chance to see As You Like It in the outdoor Garden Theatre and also take in a talk by Simon Russell-Beale in conversation with Greg Doran on the Sunday evening.

Sunday's performance was the final one for the Garden Theatre - it was fascinating watching it being dismantled on Monday! - and there was some doubt as to whether the weather would mean it was cancelled: as an entirely metal structure, thunder storms present a particular hazard! We were late starting but the atmosphere was fabulous and the 'edited' 90 minute text managed to squeeze in all the significant lines.  There was something particularly wonderful about being in that space, just feet away from the doorway where Henry Ainley was photographed as Orlando c.1910 - the photograph that started the Bensonian obsession for me!

 I'd requested some material for the Monday and Tuesday openings at the Birthplace Reading Room to make up for missing out in February, delving into the minutes of the Company after 1911, with a particular focus on the build up to the American tour.  It was fascinating - if rather sad - to observe Benson gradually losing control of his company after the Memorial Theatre stepped in to try and deal with the vast amount of debt he'd built up.  

As always, I kept my eyes open for Bensoniana around Stratford and found this addition to The Greenwood Tree in the Great Garden of New Place, which I had not seen the last time I had been there - evidence that there are other Merry Shrews out there! An entirely appropriate epithet, I think!

The theatre's exhibition space had changed some of its exhibits since the last time I visited it and this time, the Benson cabinet displayed Constance Benson's outfit as Mistress Ford.  At close view, it appears to be made from very heavy wool - almost blanket-weight - fabric, which moths had clearly had some fun nibbling on over the years, as it was patched in several places.  The lack of embellishment on this fitted with the studio portrait from Dublin and the photograph from The Tatler in 1902 which showed the Laundry Basket scene:

It was suggested by the label that this was one of the costumes borrowed, possibly from Irving, after the Newcastle Theatre Royal fire.  Merry Wives of Windsor was one of this summer's plays as was The School for Scandal, both, of course, regularly played on tour by all of the Benson companies.  Both were fabulous - performed by largely the same cast - as was Pericles - a play which I saw at the Globe some years ago and really didn't enjoy much.  This production had, admittedly, had some quite creative editing - doubling Gower and Marina was inspired - and was very simply but effectively staged in The Swan, with an exceptional central performance from Alfred Enoch.  It is still a flawed play but it did polish up well!  I was very impressed by what I saw of the RSC's season and the whole place seems to have a renewed sense of energy and purpose.

Stratford was as lovely as ever, although last year's heatwave was replaced by some very humid and then showery weather which felt much more autumn-like than I'd been expecting.  I am so grateful for these short 'escapes' to Stratford and the chance to indulge my obsession! Having the cottage so close to hand is incredible and having somewhere to come back to at the end of the day where I can type up my notes in comfort, prepare my own food and basically please myself is an absolute godsend.  Fingers crossed that 2025 provides at least one opportunity to do it all again.

Sunflowers I bought to celebrate being back in Stratford in September!