Suddenly you find yourself
Inside The Globe! 
The detailed recreation
Of what once was 
Shakespeare's playground

There is a feeling of exhilaration
The theatre has been beautifully re-created
The whole thing is utterly stunning
The grand columns
The box seats
The wide open space on the floor for 
The "Groundlings" 
The long and narrow thrust stage
Cutting through the middle 
The floor is concrete
You try to imagine layers of straw and dust and dirt and grime

At the apex of the stage
A balcony,
Its windows closed for now
It seems Juliet could fling them open and lean over the railing and "ah me" at any moment
The boxes right above the stage with their richly coloured frescoes 
You can imagine royalty sitting there
Sitting to be seen 
Even from the position of the pleb
You really can see everybody 
The audience watching each other
Playing a game of being
The audience 
The way you see sky when you look directly up
There's something dramatic about Shakespeare and sky together
The sky is pale blue
Translucent thin whispy clouds
It's the end of the day
Mild, not too hot, not too cold

Tonight's play is called Blue Stockings
Rear centre stage a small drum kit and a music stand
A small balcony above, more music stands, a trumpet, lights for the musicians
(You forgive the modern intrusion)
The columns have been made to look like book shelves
The play is about the fight for women's access to college education
And the fight
At the end of the 19thC
For the right for women attending college to graduate
There is something tongue-in-cheek
About a feminist play being produced
At the Globe 

It is beautifully produced
It is refreshing to see a genuine issue discussed, dissected
The relevance of women's education
The prejudice we faced
Still face
Through the play we see their struggle
And sacrifice
And we are heart broken
It is easy for a modern day, predominantly white, presumably educated audience to laugh at history
“I can’t believe he just said that!!”
Chortle.
But in this year, the year 2013
University fees are so prohibitively expensive
Many will not be able to attend university at all
Last year a teenage girl was shot in the head
For daring to speak out and fight for her right
To an education
And even still, today, right now
Men continue to try and ultimately control women
Deny access to basic human rights

Blue Stockings offers no solutions
Only that we must go on
Must continue learning
For the sake of learning
To inspire great minds
To allow people to go out into the world and achieve their fullest potential
To understand and to dream

I am incredibly aware of the privilege
That has bought me to be standing in the middle of The Globe
One night at the end of summer
The fact that I am a university graduate
With two degrees to my name
The fact I got to go to school at all
Is a fight
That was won
Before I was born
But is still being fought
In a treacherous warzone

History and story-telling
The stories that have resonated throughout
The Globe
To demand an understanding of history
So that we may imagine
The meticulous re-construction
Of a better place

The end.