The beasts are abroad and they kill and maim with no regard.
The London Bridge/Southwark terrorist strike on London has come far too close
to my heart—even for a guy who was shepherding
students around the city years ago during ‘the troubles.” My heart goes out to the victims whether they
be British citizens, expats, immigrants, or tourists because this is a
signature route that I have taken at least a hundred times over the past fifty
years. It is to a theatre person about as sacred a walk as any in the artistic
universe.
Crossing London Bridge is a
part of the first chapter in my London Theatre Walks book, You are asked to pause in the middle of the (latest)
London Bridge and imagine the medieval bridge and its view upstream toward old
St. Pauls and downstream toward the Tower. You are asked to see the men of Will Shakespeare’s company
carting the timbers of their old Theatre across the river and using them to
assemble a new theatre on Bankside, which is now remembered as The Globe.
The walk then takes you into Southwark and past the Borough
Market and into Southwark Cathedral, where you might now feel obligated to
leave a prayer.
You will learn that
Shakespeare paid there for a funeral bell tolling for his dead brother and you will
also find there a handsome memorial to Shakespeare. You will leave the church and walk along the
shore for more views that the Bard would still remember.
And finally you would come
upon the re-constructed Globe itself.
“Courage and comfort,
All shall yet go well”
King John
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