Day eight: Globe Theater

Today we kept the schedule relatively light as we wanted to do laundry in the afternoon. We need to start packing as we leave for Bath the day after tomorrow. All we did was go to the Globe Theater. It was, unfortunately, not air conditioned and very stuffy especially as we are still stuck in the middle of a heat wave. Some displays were interesting, and some were interesting but could have been done a lot better. The exhibits were mostly about the construction of the Globe Theater as a replica of the one Shakespeare had originally built and used in 1600 and the customs of the Elizabethean era which would have influenced Shakespeare's work. The replica is close, but not exactly on the original site. They designed the building according to archeological evidence from both the remains of the original Globe as well as the nearby Rose Theater. They had a display of musical instruments which would have been used, sound recordings of various performances of Shakespeare, and the various costumes which would have been worn back then and how they were made. I think that was the most interesting. I had no idea they wore so many pieces of clothing back then. The card explaining how an oufit long was a good half page long in small font. First there was a linen shift, followed by a corset and something I don't remember the name of, followed by a kirtle, and then an overdress. Apparently it took an hour and a half for two people to dress someone as Queen Elizabeth and another hour and a half for makeup and hair. It's a wonder they ever got anything done back then, let alone manage to discover American and circumnavigate the globe.
The laundry attempt was successful. No disasters yet today. I was afriad that everything would bleach or the colors or bleed or something equally or more catastrophic. Phew.=P