Saturday January 12th 2019

As the old joke may never have said,  I've been Bard in Stratford Upon Avon. Back on July 24th 2018 I was stressed,  exhausted and not a little fed up with the world. It was a ridiculously hot dry summer. Work was incredibly busy for reasons best forgotten and life seemed as though I'd had a load of rotten kippers dumped on me. Thus on that Tuesday lunchtime I went on line and purchased our joint Christmas present. A pair of tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of A Christmas Carol, and a night of board and lodging in the Arden Hotel directly opposite the theatre. I'm at a stage of life where driving back from an evening event spoils the event. Make it easy I say. 

At the time of booking my mind flicked across a snowy January day,  frost hanging heavy on the air. It was six months away thus booking it in the stifling July heat I longed for cool.

As it turned out it was a mild January day that we found ourselves parking up in the Arden Hotel, grey overcast and unseasonably warm. I was in short sleeves. Never fear after tipping the concierge I sat in the room looking into the RSC shop. We were that close. Lovely. I've loved the work of the RSC ever since watching Roger Rees take central stage in Nicholas Nickleby in 1984 (I think). Back then the RSC did a six week Newcastle season. It was fantastic. I saw Nicholas Nickleby in a 9 hour single performance,  with three breaks. That hooked me into live theatre,  especially the RSC. Charles Dance cavorting unbelievable stage presence in a WW2 themed Coriolanus was exceptional. Later having a girlfriend whose parents lived at Evesham I started visiting the old Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford most performances and still try and get here as I can,  though it's a 3 hour round trip now. 

I'm not sure what the RSC does that appeals to me,  but their stage direction and use of minimal props really appeals. I recal watching Henry 3,  nothing on stage other than actors as soldiers in the battlefield. They held a tarpaulin overhead and rain cascaded down upon them for the big scene. I sat there mesmerized as the recreation of the outdoors enveloped me. Stunning. 

Tonight's performance was up there with the greats. Considering this is theatre,  the special effects could come from film. Simple lighting in the dark revealing the ghost of Christmas Future as a small girl dressed in funeral clothes at the back of the stage surrounded by dry ice. Seconds earlier she wasn't there. An example of how the RSC just does theatrical illusion for our emotions so well. Long may the RSC continue,  I just wish the Newcastle season had continued,  it was a huge part of my young adult life,  unavailable to modern Geordie generations.