It’s nearly time for the much anticipated RSC chronological Histories cycle. I left my cat in my mother’s care yesterday, where the little beast is probably being spoilt rotten on filleted cod and peeled shrimps, and set off for Stratford. It’s good to be back here, even if it’s always a bit of a shock to the system getting adjusted to how small and quiet this place is. I remember a visit back in January of last year, where the whole town centre seemed to be absolutely deserted at around 16.30 on a Saturday afternoon. That was a very strange sensation for a city girl like me, to be somewhere that actually closes down completely, and so early at that, and it felt a bit like walking round the set of some post-apocalyptic disaster movie where not a living soul was to be seen, eerie, and a bit unnerving. Still, this little town has its charm.

The cycle kicks off tomorrow with R2, which is the only production of the eight that I’ve already seen. I had intended not to see any of them before the full cycle, in order not to spoil the surprise of how they are staged, but I caved in back in January after hearing one favourable opinion after another about this production of R2, and I’m very glad that I did, as it means that I will get to enjoy it twice and not just once. I awarded it a full five stars back then, which is something that no other production (Shakespeare or otherwise) has earned from me in the last five years, so tomorrow evening should certainly be good, and the cycle will start on a high note.

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In mid-March the RSC will perform all eight plays of Shakespeare’s two tetralogies in chronological order in less than 72 hours, and all this with the same cast. I’m going to write about the experience of seeing this full cycle being performed, and you’ll be able to read about it in this blog. It’s going to be an exhausting few days for everyone, audience and cast alike, and should finally answer the question if you can ever have too much Shakespeare; my opinion has always been that you can’t, but I suppose I might possibly change my mind after this massive dose.

Time will be short on the days when they’re doing three plays on the same day, there’s 80 minutes between “Henry IV part 1” and “Henry IV part 2”, and then only 70 minutes between “Henry IV part 2” and “Henry V”, if the listed time for each production is correct, and it looks very similar for the three parts of “Henry VI”. I hope to be able to post on each play before the next one starts, but those 70 minutes look very, very tight indeed, as I also need to fit dinner into that equation, plus the minutes it’ll take me to get to where I’m staying and then back again, so we’ll see if it works out, otherwise some posts will be slightly delayed. I suppose it’s too much to hope for that there might actually be a wireless network near the theatre that I could log onto, as that would save quite a bit of time, but who knows.

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