Shakespeare in June

Like many travelers, I am constrained by school holidays for my getaways which translates into traveling during the “high season”: higher airfares, higher hotel rooms, higher season tickets, etc.

To find low cost airlines, I comb the websites and New York Times Travel section which is where I found Zoom. Amidst the rash of transatlantic airline bankruptcies, I have selected to fly Zoom to Gatwick from New York for a theater marathon in London. Zoom is not a carnival ride. It is an airline. Although I cannot find a travel agent who has heard of Zoom. The rate was so good that I tried to book additional tickets for January 2009 to see Judd Law in Hamlet at the Wyndham Theatre in the West End. The punch line is that Zoom does not book that far in advance. Fingers-crossed, we take-off and return in June 2008.

My favorite London theaters are The Donmar Warehouse, The National Theatre, The Royal Court Theatre and The Globe. When planning my theater marathons, I check the productions at these play houses first. For summer trips, I start with The Globe followed by the National. The Globe is famous for its Shakespeare productions in Elizabethan garb in the authentic Shakespeare Globe Theatre venue.

The key to a theater marathon is carefully planning your dates to maximize your time in the theater at the lowest cost. Depending on the theater, the productions may be in repertoire which means that the dates alternate between more than one play in the same venue. Unlike New York, Sunday is a day of rest for the theater in London.

The Globe is on the South Bank of the Thames near the Tate Modern and not far from the National Theatre. It is an outdoor venue which like the US Postal Service “neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night” can stay these thespians about their duty to act. Typically, I stand in the “returns line” on the day of the performance at whatever theater I am going to whether it is sold out or not for maximum flexibility. However, I am reforming my ways to take advantage of discounts; and frankly, the returns line at the Globe can be quite chilly. Remember to bring cash if you do pursue the returns line option, neither Visa nor American Express is accepted.

For the independent traveler, there are two ways to secure discounted tickets at the Globe. The first is to purchase a Groundling ticket for about £5 or about $10. You must be prepared to stand with 700 other Groundlings—2 to 3 hours-- for the entire performance in an area not dissimilar to an orchestra pit. My daughter is passionate to become a Groundling. I am NOT! If you purchase tickets for three performances at the same time at the same price ticket, you are eligible for a 10% discount. Since we are visiting London in June and August, my family qualifies for the 10% discount. I booked our tickets for Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, King Lear, a Midsummer’s Night Dream and Timon of Athens. Even with a discount, if you select the best tickets you may still be in for a shock.

Next, I will book our tickets to the National, Donmar and my first trip to Strafford-on-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) summer season.

beTwixt, beTween and beTwain: A Mark Twain Musical Comedy

Living on the fringe of Manhattan allows me to indulge my passion for theater on Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway. Last evening, we had the sheer pleasure of attending beTwixt, beTween and beTwain, A Mark Twain Musical Comedy. A talented group of troubadours danced, sang and regaled us with the wit, poignant and humorous lyrics of Danny Ashkenasi. The Producer’s Club Crowne Theater is an auspicious destination up a narrow flight of stairs wedged between restaurants in the opposite direction from Patti Lupone’s Gypsy and the Broadway venues. And yet, the full theater experience is achieved with fellow theater patrons in the small 55-seat venue.

The cast of seven, energetic players and musicians take us back to the 1860s to the American West to a steamer ship sailing to Europe & the Near East. The tales are punctuated with Twain witticisms, local color and larger than life characters including Dan’l Webster the Calaveras Frog and Blue Jays with perfect diction. It is rare for a musical to sweep me away with the recent exception of South Pacific. However, Danny Ashkenasi’s lyrics and talent for combining actors with their instruments ala Director John Doyle’s revival of Sweeney Todd created a captivating evening of charm and humor.

The tour of Europe from the collapsed efforts of the Pilgrims to order wine in French to the destruction of Pompeii capture the essence of each international destination from the accent to the physical movement of the actors. Based on Twain’s Innocents Abroad, we are reminded of the subtle trials and tribulations of international travel in the 1860s. Imagine traveling via steamer ship after months of seasickness to be told you could not disembark at your destination due to quarantine. Such is the fate of our Pilgrims when they arrive at Athens---only to see the Acropolis is the distance.

When you leave the theater you wonder if there is a CD to listen to or an opportunity to purchase the sheet music to enjoy the melody of Remember Me and Over the Hills and a Far Far Away again and again. Hopefully there is!

Inagural Posting

This is my inaugural blog in which I will merge my life-long passion for travel and theater. My goal is to travel cost-effectively to a new country or destination every three to six months with trips to London sprinkled in for theater marathons. Given my passion for London theater and international travel, I look for every possible comfort at a cost effective price for my family of three to travel as often as our schedules allow.

Currently, I have a London theater marathon planned for the last two weeks of June and our first trip to Russia scheduled for the last two weeks of August. In preparation for my current trips, I am looking for ways to stay in touch with my husband during my London theater trip with my daughter who is an avid Shakespeare fan.

So I have entered the world of Skype™. I have set up my first Skype account in less than two minutes and tested my web camera and voice connection in the New York area where I live with my family and with a friend in London. The connections were brilliant. The only potential disadvantage to Skype is traveling with a laptop, but the cost savings on international calls will presumably outweigh the disadvantages; plus the additional advantages of video calls. This will generate a substantial cost savings during our June trip calling Dad daily at home.

I received my confirming email from Zoom which has the lowest cross Atlantic fare between New York and Gatwick. Zoom is an under the radar low cost alternative to the major airlines which does not appear on any of the travel websites such as American Airlines, United or other brand name airlines.

I will be Zooming away soon.