Friday's Flashback: "The Globe"

After church and lunch at McDonald's (where, incidentally, I couldn't figure out how to flush the toilet and ended up setting off an alarm...they had a strange set-up in there), we walked along the River Thames, heading toward the Globe Theater.  Of course it's not the original Globe but a replication.  The original burned down twice, I think. Winding our way through busy, narrow streets, we passed a famous prison.

This was educational for me because I didn't know The Clink was a real prison; I'd only heard Barney Fife call the Mayberry jail "The Clink."  Now I know the origin of that reference.

We went on a guided tour, and being there, and hearing about what the area was like during Shakespeare's time, I understood better why the Puritans weren't fans.  Before I met KJ, who loved reading the works of the Puritans in college, about the only impressions I had of them were that they hated the theater.

But The Globe was by the river, and there were a lot of unsavory things going on in the acting community. 

We were there during the off-season, but in the summer they run plays, and you can pay for seats or stand in the area in front of the stage like the poorer folk in the old days.  We heard it's a lot of fun and like stepping back in time.

But despite what life around the theater might have been during Shakespeare's day, the number of phrases he coined is astounding.

And there you have it.