Today we spent the afternoon in Stratford-upon-Avon, the famous home of William Shakespeare. Let me tell you, this cute little town has certainly capitalized on Shakespeare’s popularity, and it’s working. During our afternoon in Stratford, we saw his birth home, childhood home of his wife, grave site, and a whole string of places that he and/or family members frequented. It was just a nice afternoon in a small town.

Later on that evening, we saw the play Henry IV Part 1 put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company in their Courtyard Theater. The theater is a temporary theater to be used while the main RSC theater is under a three year renovation. Even though the Courtyard Theater was temporary, it was beautiful, with an “interactive three sided stage” for the audience to sit around the scenes. Two of the other CRL Fellows, (Abby and Megan) and I happened to be one of the first people to get our tickets from the director of the Alma College program, which meant we sat center stage in the second row for the amazing performance. We were sitting in the middle of the action and it was great.

Oh, and James Franco was in the audience.