London Day 6, A Fairytale of a Day

Even though Saturday was technically a "free day". There was no bumming around to be done. After sleeping in just a smidge, it was time to go to another museum! This time it was the British Museum and a place we had passed almost every single day.
It was exciting to finally be actually going into the building  and luckily Tine was able to join us for our historical adventure!

The British Museum reminded me a lot of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. It was the same sort of mix of history and artwork. They had one key item the MET certainly does not have, the Rosetta Stone. There it was, right at the doorway. It was great to see, even though it was certainly hard to see. Not because it was badly displayed, but rather there were so many people just crowded around it, and rightly so, it's an amazing part of the history of language and archeology and a key link to understanding the mysteries of the past.






 
There were some other really great exhibits at the museum. We of course took full advantage to take photo ops with them.

Also similar to the MET, the museum was HUGE. We took a while to look all around, from Classical Greece, to Assyria, all the way to Egypt and mummies. In fact the only section that wasn't very comprehensive was the modern section, it was just a tiny room in the corner that held a few tiffany objects and some art noveau. Luckily I had seen all needed to see of modern works at the Tate and the V and A Museum. I really am grateful for all the museums I got to see while I was in London. We were so lucky in that we got to a see a true variety, but I do admit it left my brain a little bit mushy with so much information and visual stimulation just piling on top of itself in my brain.
After we had spent a good amount of time in the Museum it was time to keep on moving. We next headed to a little less brain twisting activity. We were off to see a classic farce called a Flea in Her Ear.

I really liked a Flea in Her Ear, there was plenty of physical comedy and LOTS of slamming doors. Sometimes the cockney accents were a bit like "wait whaaaaa" but it wasn't long before I got caught up in the story. It was interesting to think that they show we went to two of the main characters were actually played by understudies, but I think the acting was great and I really enjoyed just the pure stupid fun of it, not to mention the hotel set was spectacular, with rotating sections it was a ton of fun. And the fun was not over yet, we had one more fun show to see before the night was over.

While A Flea in Her Ear was fun, our next show was really going to take it to the next level. After a stop at an AMAZING Carribean restaurant that had Kyle and Sami in tears of joy (or spice) it was time for a fairytale adventure and the Theatre Royal. It was time for Little Red Riding Hood, a true Panto.
A Panto in England consists of a musical rendition of a fairytale that includes audience interaction. It was great.

When we first arrived we were seated to realize that we were sitting right in front, in the front lines. The stage was almost so close we could reach it and I couldn't help but notice my seat was right at the foot stairs coming down from the stage and I got a little nervous that I was soon going to have an actor in my lap giving me a hard time. Luckily i t was John, not me who got lucky and got picked.

While the actors never came downstage, they still made their knowledge of your presence very known, before the show even began we were already being coached to scream oink oink oink at the right moment. During the show kids were screaming at Grandma to turn around! The wolf was right behind her! It was really great to see such an interaction between audience and performers, I couldn't help but wish we had something like this in the US. I would have loved to have gone something like this as kid. When I think of theatre I always tend to think of the audience being uptight and quiet and it was great to see that break down and to let the audience truly express whatever the play makes them think or feel. Man playing baddie would be a slap to the self esteem, all that booing!

After the show was over we got to go backstage and meet Sherona, one the performers who was also a New Paltz alumni. It was really neat to go back stage and play with the props and really being able to talk to the performers face to face and see them in their natural environment. Because it wasn't really a planned tour it was a really accurate glimpse at what a backstage is really like.
Also did I mention we got to play with the puppets?

After the Panto it was time for bed and then DAY 7.