The Comedy of Errors

James and I were back in Stratford-upon-Avon today to see The Comedy of Errors at the new RSC Outdoor Theatre, specially built so that plays can be performed during the pandemic, and only recently opened. It was a very hot day, and I was sweltering before we even arrived in Stratford, because we had decided to go for a walk in Northleach on our way. I have always said that the English know how to build beautiful villages, and Northleach is certainly very beautiful with its buildings made of Cotswold stone, and its little lanes and marketplace. It’s also where the very funny mockumentary “This Country” is filmed. We walked across fields of wheat to St George’s Church in the nearby hamlet of Hampnett. It was delightfully cool inside the little church compared to the roasting day outside.

Back in Northleach, we had a coffee sitting outside the little Black Cat tearoom, before continuing our journey to Stratford. Unsurprisingly it was extremely hot there too, a startling contrast to the time when we visited and it was so cold that I had to buy a woollen hat and matching gloves. We had a lovely pre-theatre meal at the Rooftop Restaurant up on the 3rd floor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. We sat out in the balcony where there was a slight but pleasant breeze. However there was no respite from the heat when we went back downstairs to watch the play; we were seated on the side of the outdoors theatre where the sun was shining directly onto our faces. The play started at 6.30 p.m. but the sun was still quite high and it was blazing hot. After about half an hour I had to slip out of the theatre to cool down. The friendly staff were all very concerned and offered to seat me at the other side, but I decided just to wait until the interval and then go back in. The sun had gone behind a nearby building by that time, and it wasn’t very difficult to catch up with the slapstick plot. It wasn’t Shakespeare’s finest play, but it was all good fun thanks to the enthusiastic actors who sang and danced and leaped about. 

It was a really good day but oh boy was it hot!