Tudor Life

Falstaff & the Bard Lady Macbeth & RSC


I recently visited Stratford-upon-Avon to see Harold Pinter's play, "The Homecoming", and to visit the famous Shakespeare's town that I never get around to visit until now. From London, it takes 2 and half hours to get there by train, so I decided to make a weekend break, visiting Warwick Castle on the way back. In this entry, I will cover my trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.

Stratford-upon-Avon is a beautiful small town, with well-preserved historic buildings nestled around the Avon river. Because it is the birthplace of Shakespeare, everything about the town is associated with him, from the Royal Shakespeare Company, to the houses of his birth and death. The custodian of the houses, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, has done excellent job preserving them, as well as excavating the lost sites and collecting Tudor furniture. There are other Tudor houses in town that are independent of the Trust, such as the site of "Tudor World" where they host a Tudor-themed museum (and Lantern Ghost Tour which I will mention later) and old pubs that have been operating before the time of Shakespeare. The town is steeped with social history of non-ruling class Tudor Britain and as I learned more about them, I felt closer to the smallfolks of the time.


The oldest pub


Below are some of the highlights of the trip:

Ann Hathaway's Cottage
Of all the houses (except for Mary Arden's Farm that I was unable to visit) managed by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, this was my favorite. The cottage is located about half mile away from the center of town, and can be reached by a passageway built between residential houses. The place is less crowded than other Shakespeare houses, and the Trust provides knowledgeable guides who offer 30 minutes talk on the life of Hathaway family and Tudor farmers. I really enjoyed the guide's talk, as she explained the lives of relatively wealthy farmers such as the Hathaways:

• The house was originally built with just one room, with a hearth in the middle of the room with no chimney, where the kitchen is currently located. Other rooms and fireplaces were built over generations. Over 10 people lived in one room at the beginning.
  
• 4-poster beds and Roofed bed had clear functions; they were to keep out the mice and critters crawling into beds as they dropped from the thatched roof with no plaster covering.
  
• Tudors cleaned their chimneys by tying the legs of chickens and dropping them head down. The birds flap their wings (usually to death) and if they were lucky enough to survive, they lived as long as they lay the eggs.
  
• The 'First Bed' was usually placed in the room where guests were hosted. It was one way to display their wealth. The 'Second Bed' was for the head of the household and his wife (and family) to sleep in. Shakespeare left his Second Bed to his wife, and this was most likely handed down for generation as household treasure by the Hathaways.
  
• Child mortality rate was low; only 1 in 5 survived.
• All households were mandated to keep the fire on hearth 24/7. Husbands had right to whip their wives if the fire went out, and they were advised to do so during the day so as not to disturb the neighbors!
  
• Second to the child birth, cooking was the most hazardous task for women.
• It costs 75,000 pounds to re-thatch the roof!
• Tudor houses do not have corridors. One room is connected to another, with or without doors, and every space had purpose. No privacy!

Ann Hathaway's Cottage


Ghost Tour at the Tudor World
The Tudor World, which is located in the middle of Stratford and used to be a barn that are converted to the house over generations, is a museum that showcase the social lives of Tudor smallfolks. It also claims to be the "most haunted house in Britain", and during the night, they organize Ghost Tours in the museum, guided by just one lantern held by a guide. As someone who could be easily spooked, I booked the earliest tour starting at 6:00PM, while there are still daylights outside. The guide was a chirpy young lady, and thanks to her, I was able to complete the tour. Inside the building, it was pitch dark, and a lantern was not bright enough to let me see beyond the length of an arm. As Tudor World displays mannequins, some of them gory, it was eery to go through room to room in the darkness, even without the stories of ghosts and spirits said to inhibit the building. There were some rooms that were markedly chilly, and overall, it was one of the spookiest tours I've participated. The experience was unique and I don't regret taking it, but it is not what I like to go back to in the future. One thing I learned from the guide of this tour: ghosts are those who relive their experiences but not to bother the living, while the spirits are those who retain their wills and could communicate with the living.

The Royal Shakespeare Company
The RSC recently completed the refurbishment of their building, and the result was an astonishing building with two theater spaces with perfect mixture of tradition and modern convenience. The theater space retains Tudor-style seating encircling the stage, with surprisingly comfortable bench-like seats. For the Pinter's play, the production has effectively used the vertical space (meaning, stairs and first and second floors landings behind the stage) to create additional acting space, as well as walkway areas attached to the central stage. The entrance to the building is a marvel, with tall glasses bringing in the lights, but the building retains Victorian construction in the back. For any theater-lovers, this is the 'must-go' place, and the most appropriate homage to the famous Bard.

Unfortunately, the weather at Stratford during my visit was a typical British weather...unsettled with cloud, sun and rain. Perhaps most fitting to the very British playwright.