24th May 2026
In November last year we found ourselves in Stratford-upon-Avon – see ‘Festive Spirit’, 16.12.25. Our gin’s great, by the way – come over for a snifter from our bottle at Pollards Mill!
When planning our visit we naturally looked up what would be showing at the RSC when we were there. No Shakespeare, but we took in a terrific Cyrano de Bergerac at the beautiful Swan Theatre, starring Adrian Lester as the eponymous hero. We enjoyed the RSC building so much we returned for an enthralling tour the following morning, and ended up at the box office perusing the schedule for 2026. Wow – Kenneth Branagh is playing Prospero in The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (the RSC’s main venue in Stratford):
That would be something, we thought. “Any tickets available?” we asked. “No, sorry – the entire run sold out months ago”. “Oh well, no surprise there but no harm asking”. “Hang on – our computer’s just reported a bunch of returns for one night only – 20th May. Is that of interest?”.
Well. 20th May is Nicola’s birthday. The stars were aligning. We grabbed the tickets – and returned to Stratford last week. Currently gracing our cinema screens as an unlikely husband to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada 2, Sir Ken made a triumphant return to his natural milieu – his first work with the RSC in over 30 years. We were both blown away by the production and performances – definitely the best thing I’ve ever seen in the theatre. Not that I know anything!
The Tempest wasn’t a work either of us knew, so we acquainted ourselves with it beforehand by reading it and learning something about its context. All the action takes place on a nameless island. The play was written in 1610, in the embryonic days of the British Empire. Even I can’t suggest that the island might have been Barbados – a wee bit too soon for that – but the existence of a world beyond Europe was widely known. Miranda coins the immortal ’O brave new world’ and Ariel mentions ’the still-vexed Bermudas’, known even then for storms and shipwrecks, including a 1609 vessel called the Sea Venture. It’s been suggested that this might have inspired Shakespeare’s plot the following year, and various learned writers have explored colonial themes in the play. I, meanwhile, must remind myself that this isn’t my Eng Lit doctoral thesis but a humble blog post!
Anyway. It was utterly, utterly brilliant. Wonder if this fella papped in the audience two nights later felt the same?
Come on – I had to find a place for a ‘King Charles’ in there somewhere!
Stratford is evidently a place of serendipity for us. Strolling around town we looked in at The Other Place, which is the RSC’s third venue in town. Well, what do you know? Currently playing was this brand new drama set in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1956, when Nicola’s mother was a local teenager:
Two tickets for tonight? Had to be done. Atmospheric, beautifully staged, but no Shakespeare. Nevertheless, plenty to enjoy. We think we were the only two audience members laughing at the quoted lines from ‘Jean and Dinah’, the classic calypso number by The Mighty Sparrow, and the reference to doubles with curry sauce (Trini breakfast – see ‘My Saturday’, 5.10.24). Amazing coincidence.
It wasn’t all drama. Here’s Will on a local barge offering up a Mr Whippy:
And there was a birthday to celebrate. The sanctity of marriage means that what’s mine is hers, apparently…
For final words, however, I must return to the Bard, and beg your indulgence to include Ariel’s achingly beautiful song of freedom, which seems to fit nicely above the bucolic scene at Anne Hathaway*’s Cottage:
Where the bee sucks, there suck I
In a cowslip’s bell I lie
There I couch when owls do cry
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
Sublime.
*Also starring in The Devil Wears Prada 2 😆
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