The Pilgrimage to Mecca

Before I begin, I'm just going to announce that I will not be posting anything here until I return from Barcelona after Easter. So, here's everything you'd want to know:
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1) We watched our knife fight videos on Monday...fun, funny and entertaining. I got positive feedback, but there's still things I need to work on. Then again, I have J. David Brimmer waiting for me in the fall.
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2) It is official that I will be playing Lucio 1 in our final performance, Measure for Measure, alongside Maggie Cummings as Lucio 2, which WILL be open to the selective public. I don't want to get into how they divided up the character, but get ready for some fun, parents.
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3) Rehearsals for M4M are going steadily and smoothly, but they'll be taking up a lot of time, so don't be surprised if the Barcelona update comes a bit later than you expected.
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That's should cover the academia...now, back to the blog.
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Well, the plans to go to Oxford fell through. Luckily, I ran into Tommy who was going to Stratford-upon-Avon for the weekend with Nathaniel, Valerie, Katelyn, and Maggie. I decided for my Saturday to not suck, so I went with to the Mecca for classical actors.
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Don't try to bullshit me and say that the classical acting Mecca is in Greece because they invented theatre. If that was really our Mecca, the important shit wouldn't be falling apart over there.
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Maggie and Katelyn missed the train there by mere seconds and the next train wasn't for another three hours, so the four of us who made it there when we wanted to took a brief tour of the city.
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We ran into this little farmer's market where we decided to eat lunch. As Joel once put it, the only meat you find yourself eating in England is sausage.
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I had the best sausage sandwich of my life.
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Look at that shit. Just fucking look at it. Christ, I wanted to build a house out of it and live inside it.

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For those of you who don't know why Stratford-upon-Avon is so important, this is where William Shakespeare was born. Seriously, right in this house.

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This is also the deathplace of William Shakespeare. Seriously, right around here, he had a house that got torn down many many years ago...which he happened to have died in.

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This is also home of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The RSC theatre was undergoing massive renovations at that time, so I felt it wouldn't be necessary to take a close-up picture of the carnage. It's the building in the back left with the cranes around it.

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The town is called Stratford-upon-Avon because it is situated on the River Avon...and you know what that foolishly translates to from Welsh and how many of them there actually are if you've read my previous entries. Remember to pay attention. When I get back to the US, there will be a quiz on all this information.

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We walked alongside the River Avon down this wooded path that made us feel like we were in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hey, the man wrote what he knew and saw. Of course it would feel like that.

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In this picture, Tommy is searching for his Demetrius.

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In Holy Trinity Church, S-u-A, we were able to see the original parish archives that have entries for Shakespeare's baptism and funeral. His entries were anotated by little white arrows.

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Very few people know this, but Stratford-upon-Avon is a town of milkmaids: if they find a cow with good milk, they will squeeze that cow dry. Their cow is Shakespeare. There was always a street performance happening of something Shakespearean. We weren't sure what this man was doing, but we did know that we pitied him

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Want to rent a boat and row down the River Avon? They have boats named after Shakespearean heroines. Personally, I think it was just bad planning to have an Ophelia boat and a Miranda boat. You'll understand why that's funny if you've read The Tempest and Hamlet. If you haven't read The Tempest, do so now. If you haven't read Hamlet, jump head-first through the windshield of the nearest burning car and wait for the gasoline to ignite, ending your pathetic existence.

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Shakespeare is their god here. They have a Byzantine mosaic of him over a bank and hundreds of statues. We get it...Shakespeare is from here.
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We get it...(if confused, consult Othello...not "Aladdin")

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We still get it...(if confused, consult King Lear, also not "Aladdin")
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Oh, is that from one of his plays? That's mighty clever of you, Stratford...(if confused, consult "Aladdin")

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These aren't your dad's puns. These are energy puns! TURBO-PUNS!

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In all seriousness though, this was our trip to Mecca (be prepared for further references to the Islamic Hajj...if confused, go to Wikipedia).

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Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon...the Elizabethan Masjid al-Haram itself.

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The altar of Holy Trinity Church, somewhat modest, but if you look below the altar at the little plaques on the lower level and look at the one furthest left, obscured by a pole, you'll see my personal Kaaba...which I believe made the whole trip to Stratford, nay, my entire semester in Britain, worth it.

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