From Berlin to the Globe Theatre to Camelot

Last night I went to Berlin, hopped in at the Globe Theatre for a little Shakespeare, and afterwards spent some time in Camelot. Okay, I did not literally go to any of these places, but I did in the figurative sense.

There’s this café and lounge in Itaewon, Seoul, known as Berlin. A friend, Christine, had a birthday get-together there last night. I’ve blogged about Berlin before. It is undoubtedly one of the nicest lounge-bars / restaurants I’ve been to in the city. The quality of the food is superb, and at a very affordable price. It was an intimate group of people invited by Christine, so I think Berlin with its wonderful ambience was a good choice.

Afterwards I went to A Night of Shakespeare performance by Seoul Players & Actors Without ‘Bard’ers at another bar in Itaewon called Roofers. It didn’t matter that I was an hour late and only arrived for the second act; the reason for going was to see if it would be appropriate to take my Shakespeare Film class to the second performance next Saturday night. And indeed, I will definitely do so. A Night of Shakespeare entails a selection of scenes and speeches from a variety of Shakespeare’s great plays, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III, King Lear, Henry V, Henry VI, Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, Othello, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. I think this could be a good bonding experience for my class of fourth year literature students, and give them an opportunity to see the magic of Shakespeare when performed live.

When I got home I went to Camelot. Or at least, I watched the final four episodes of the TV-series Merlin (the first season). The story deviates a lot from the original Arthur-legends, but it is still very enjoyable. The Merlin series is good family fun, and the two main characters, Merlin and Arthur, quickly grow on you. It is not very deep, nothing too serious (nothing like the great classic Excalibur), and I guess that is part of the appeal for me. After a long day of work it is nice to sit back and relax a bit, without having to think too much. I like fantasy, so it is a great escape to an alternate existence when swords and sorcery ruled the world, taking me back to my childhood when this alternate existence was often my primarily existence; I spent hours of my day there as a child. I'm a little sad that I've finished watching this season as I do not have access to the second season yet.