Hamlet at Stratford-Upon-Avon

I HAD THE MOST AMAZING ADVENTURE EVER!

Mary [not room mate mary], Jeany, Kathie and I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon to watch the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet starring Patrick Stewart and David Tennant. We were trying to get the 4 of the 10 stand-by tickets they had available.
I did not realize how far it was from Brighton...it's pretty much in the middle of the country [it's located Warwickshire]. So, it took 4 hours to get there by train.

Once we got there, we went straight to the hotel to nap because we were all pretty tired from the train ride.
We had dinner at The Dirty Duck pub. It's located vert close to the Courtyard Theater [where the RSC is holding their production]. I had the chicken breast smothered in goat cheese. REALLY REALLY GOOD. After dinner, we went to the grocery store to stock up on snacks and caffeinated drinks to help us stay up all night.

Once we got to the Courtyard theater, we talked to the ladies that were working at the box office to ask them what time they open, etc. We told them our plans and were either a). impressed, b). thought we insane or c). both. They also told us that the actors come out the stage door to sign autographs.

We got some brochures, flyers, etc. from the theater for the actors to sign. We got there pretty early before the show ended so were first in line. The first person to come out was PATRICK STEWART! He's a very sweet man. He signed autographs [couldn't get a picture with him because there was a lot of people who were in line for autographs as well] and went back in. Then, David Tennant came out [loud screams from girls] and he signed out stuff too!

DAVID TENNANT CONVERSATION:
me [i think it was me]: David, we came all the way from California to see you!
[someone else in our group, I can't remember who]: We're going to wait all night to get tickets for tomorrow.
David [in his Scottish accent]: Now why would you do that??

We also met another member of the cast, his name is David Ajala..he plays Raynaldo[he's also in The Dark Knight]. He's really cuuuuuuute! Really pretty eyes hahahaha. We told him about our plans of camping out to get tickets. He gave us a copy of the program, in which he signed "U GIRLS ROCK! I HOPE YOU GET YOUR TICKETS!"

While waiting outside the box offfice of the Courtyard Theater, we met 2 girls from London [who apparantly are big on youtube] and 2 girls from Ireland [I think...well one of them was Irish] and a guy, Tom, who was camping out like us. We all just hung out and talked until around 3 AM before the girls had to leave to catch their bus back to London.

Tom was very nice...he let Kathie and Mary borrow his clean socks to keep their feet warm, and he also let Kathie borrow his sweater hahaha. He's 23 and is getting his MASTERS IN CAMBRIDGE IN ENGINEERING and is writing his disertation on Bio-fuels. He's kinda cute too hahaha!

So, camping out without "camping" stuff is...an experience. It got really cold betwee 3-5 AM and I was in and out of sleep in those times. It was also kinda scary because the building lights were all off and the only lights we had were our cell phones and the street lights.
Bathroom = the woods.
Dont worry, we took toilet paper from the pub before we left and I had kleenex wipes with me.

People didn't really start showing up to the box office until 8:30, so we [Kathie, Jeany, Mary, Tom and I] were the first ones in line! Once the box office opened, the lines were split between the 10 16-25 year old stand-by tickets [5 pounds each] and the return tickets [that cost A WHOLE LOT MORE ...about 50-100 pounds].

After we got our tickets, the girls and I went back to the hotel and SLEPT!
After we woke up, we watched the original British versions of "Deal or No Deal" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics." They are soo much better than the American ones...the shows here had more heart.

Before the performance, we also met Canadian girls that were as excited as we were.

THE SHOW:
IT WAS AMAZING....FANTASTIC! David Tennant was a really great HAMLET! David and I made eye contact for 2 seconds! hahahahaha
I really really loved his performance! Especially the scenes where he was pretending to be crazy [or is Hamlet really crazy? hahahaha English essay question]...you can see the madness in his eyes...I loved how he used his entire body to capture your attention. I cried a little in the scene when they were burying Ophelia and he discovers that the dead person was Ophelia, and Hamlet's death scene.
and Patrick Stewart as Claudius and the ghost of Old Hamlet was astonishing! He was SO GOOOOD!!!
The entire cast was just FABULOUS! I can't even describe how freakin fantastic the show was! It just captures your attentions right from the beginning and does not let go! The most amazing Shakespeare experience of my life!!!!
IT WAS DEFINITELY WORTH THE WAITING IN THE COLD AND LACK OF SLEEP!!!

Intermission:
During intermission, we met Tom and his friend, David. David kinda looks like John Lennon.
One of the Canadian girls, Jessica, found us and dragged us to show us where Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes sat.
So when we got back to our seats before the 2nd half started, we just stared at Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes. She sat further away from us. She's so pretty in real life! I wanted to approach her after the show, but we wanted to get our programs signed by the actors.

After the show:
Got our programs signed by Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, David Ajala and the actor who played Horatio.

We got drinks at The Dirty Duck with the Canadian girls,Tom and David. We saw the actress who played Gertrude and the actor who played Horatio at the pub.

BEST WEEK-END EVER.