England's Fair and Pleasant Land

Day Eight: Waterloo and Shakespeare

Last breakfast at Little Broom. The fabled oatmeal and spinach!

We left charming Little Broom after our hearty and delicious breakfast and drove off toward Moreton-on-Marsh, where a celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo was taking place.

More wild beasts in the road

Along the way, we stopped at a fancy organic farm and food complex we had been told was a must-see. They did have some nice-looking produce!

We also got a little lost and stumbled upon Chastleton, a lovely village that should have been mentioned -- but wasn't in any guide I've seen -- as one of the best of the Cotswolds. Or maybe it shouldn't be mentioned. The locals are up in arms because the National Trust wants to open the nearby stately home on Sundays and bring hordes of tourists into their otherwise quiet and beautiful village. 

Two tourists do not make a horde

 Eventually we arrived where we intended, just as the Waterloo Victory Festival was getting underway.

Sporting of them to give Napoleon equal billing.

The Festival was wonderfully English, with the soundtrack provided by a steam fair organ.

Have a listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-tQ7SZhVN4

They had a fine display of farm animals: small, medium, and large.

Nice job braiding these tails!

There were performances by young and old ....

School-children's chorus acting out one of their songs.

What the English mean by spinning!

And fun for children of all ages:

After which we headed off to Stratford-upon-Avon to absorb some culture.

This is Anne Hathaway's cottage. The playwright's wife, not the actress ....

Stratford is an old town.

Even so, we probably drank more cider than ale on this trip ....

I wanted to make sure that sign got into the picture ....

John Harvard's relatives. 

We walked to Shakespeare's church, but it was too late in the day to visit his grave.

He's in there somewhere

After seeing all these sheep everywhere, it was only fitting that we dined pre-theatre at this restaurant.

What other address could it have?

The older part of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre -- The Swan -- was undergoing renovation, so we never got a chance to go inside. 

This is what we came to Stratford to see.

It's not permitted to take photographs during the performance of course, but this is what the theatre looked like just before the (imaginary) curtain went up.

It's a thrust-stage, with three or four tiers of seating on three sides.

It was an outstanding performance, and quite an innovative production. Iago was played by a black actor, dramatically changing the nature and dynamic of Iago's relationship with Othello (who in turn was played by an actor bearing no small resemblance to Nelson Mandela ...) and heightening and further explaining the tension between Iago and Michael Cassio. So perhaps the play is really and mostly about Iago ....

You maybe able to see a live performance at a movie theater later this month (August) on one of those video broadcasts. http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/othello/