If music be the food of love, play on

Trip Start Jun 12, 2007

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Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of United Kingdom Stamford, England, United Kingdom
Saturday, August 15, 2009

It was a beautiful summer afternoon by the time we reached Stamford – something that has been quite a rarity in England this year. The British often moan about the weather and often I can't quite see the problem. It is a fact that England doesn’t get as hot as a number of other countries and it is true to say that we probably get more than our fair share of rain, but people who live here should be used to that by now. This summer however, truly has been a complete washout weather wise – there have been very few days where the rain hasn’t come down at some point during the day and often it’s been torrential rain. I really wouldn’t be surprised if it has been the wettest 'summer’ since records began.

Anyway, our reason for being in Stamford was to go to Tolethorpe Hall and more specifically the open air theatre within its grounds. Every year in June, July and August the Stamford Shakespeare Company present a number of plays so that people can enjoy the works of this playwright. We usually go to a couple per season and today turned out to be the perfect weather for it. They open up the grounds a couple of hours beforehand so that people can take along a picnic to enjoy prior to seeing the play. We found a wonderful spot, directly in the early evening sun and munched away on our picnic before taking our place in front of the wooded glade to watch The Tempest. Some of Shakespeare’s works are easier to understand than others and there were a few points in the play where I wasn’t totally aware of what was going on. That is to say I followed the story and the gist of what was happening, but some of the speeches in this play were very long winded and somewhat lost their way for me.

A very enjoyable afternoon/evening all the same.

For anyone coming to England in the next few weeks – or indeed next summer, here is a link to their website http://www.stamfordshakespeare.co.uk/default.asp?page=296