London: A Comedy, A Tragedy, A Feast

London is a city of possibilities: the history, commerce, culture, and experience. We conclude our travels with a dive into the London culture scene.

Theatre

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” (As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7)

The Globe Theatre, on the banks of the Thames, is an experience not to miss. The open-air theatre harkens back to the time of Shakespeare himself. The timbered stage, with wooden benches stacked high around the theater walls (rent a cushion for added comfort), resembles the Tudor half-timbered buildings of Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon.

The ceiling is open to the night sky, and there is a chill in the air. Whatever your experience with Shakespeare coming into this performance—be it gleeful lover of iambic pentameter or tormented high school survivor of English class—you leave in joyful awe of the wit, poignancy, and poetry of this amazing performance. We are here for the performance of Twelfth Night, and it is as raucous as promised. The company involves the audience (the gleeful have all purchased standing-room tickets by the stage). Whether comedy or tragedy, Shakespeare at the Globe is always done right.

The West End (Broadway’s British cousin) has world-class productions. A trip to London is incomplete without a show. Creativity abounds. The 2025 Olivier Award for Best Musical goes to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The Musical.

It takes the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the movie with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, and reimagines it in a Cornish fishing village, complete with a musical score that will have you tapping your toes. It is magical in every way. For two hours you travel through time and space and are forever changed. Hopefully this show makes its way to NYC!

While a musical is always a good idea, a rip-your-heart-out drama is never far behind. We learned that Mary Page Marlowe was opening at the Old Vic (a fabulous theatre known for its outstanding productions) featuring Susan Sarandon. This show, too, suspends the linear dimension of time and tells a life in memory and episode.

The Life of Mary Page Marlowe unfolds and refolds with five different actresses portraying her across the ages. The striking resemblances and similarities of the two actresses (Andrea Riseborough and Susan Sarandon) embodying her during adulthood are engrossing. While not a feel-good story, it is raw and real and all that theatre should be.

Museums

There’s a history in all men’s lives.” (Henry IV, Part II, Act 3, Scene 1)

London has sites everywhere to behold. Walk down any street and drink in the history. View the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Parliament, Buckingham Palace—the list goes on.

But if you make your way to Trafalgar Square, go past the fountain guarded by the lions and find the National Gallery. Museum geeks, prepare for joy. The collection is extensive, and audio tours allow you to curate your time and tastes.

We enjoyed the highlighted tour spanning the centuries. A twist on the typical track: along with museum curators, narrators include poets, actors, and horse trainers who put a different insight into the paintings and leave us wondering, questioning, savoring. And when you begin to feel peckish, Chinatown is a short walk away for a delicious bite!

The history of Britain as a world power is on display in Southwark at the Imperial War Museum. Rather than a celebratory display of Britain’s might, it is a somewhat cautionary tale of freedom and enslavement, power and domination, alliances and allegiance, and, frighteningly, the repetition of history.

The multistory building was originally Bedlam, an asylum for the presumably insane. Having been closed for years, it was refurbished and reinvented to house the collection of war memorabilia and is now arranged in World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, and special exhibits such as Victoria Cross medalists, stories of British citizens who gave heroically to support the efforts of Britain in war-torn times. It is well worth a visit.

Food

“If music be the food of love, play on.” (Twelfth Night (Act 1, Scene 1)

An international city, London offers a wonderful mix of flavors. Don’t fail victim to old ideas that the food is less than. While you can gorge on fish and chips or Mrs. Lovett-like meat pies, the high end cuisine competes with the international light bites. When in Southwark, the Turkish cuisine at EV is a rockstar. A feast for the eyes and the palate, the various meze combinations served with sumptuous Anatolian bread filled our stomachs and our souls. 

While in London taste all that is good! London gave us a feast of culture — Shakespeare under the stars at the Globe, bold new stories on the West End, raw truths at the Old Vic, and treasures in its museums. It’s a city you don’t just see, you feel. Our visit was brief, but as Twelfth Night reminds us, “Journeys end in lovers meeting” — and we know we’ll meet London again.