Our family has always loved Kenneth Branagh, a British actor who has directed and starred in many films and plays such as Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing. Branagh took those plays by Shakespeare and made them into beautiful films. If you haven’t seen them…what are you doing still reading this?! Go watch them!
So imagine my excitement when my mom tells me that Kenneth Branagh was coming to New York City to star in Macbeth. I don’t think he’d ever performed in the USA before. Basically, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Mom and I begged Dad to let us go to NYC to see him in Macbeth as a present for my graduation. I really tried not to get my hopes up, because I knew NYC is so expensive. But we did get the opportunity to go!!
Fast-forward like 3 months, to this past week. I just graduated and Mom and I set off on our adventure. As is typical for us, we got Starbucks and bagels at the airport after we got through security and waited for our flight. Our flight was only a little longer than an hour (I read To Kill a Mockingbird while trying to ignore the loud conversation of the couple behind us). After landing, we took a cab to our hotel in the Upper East Side of NYC. I’m not sure if I was just motion-sick from the plane or if it was the taxi driver’s chaotic driving that made me so sick. Not a great start to our trip, but once we got out of the cab (which cost like $80 to get from JFK airport to our hotel), I felt fine after I got my feet back on firm ground. And there we were, in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the country, with no car or any idea where we were.
We left our bags in our cute little hotel called “The Franklin” (which had a doorman and the elevator was practically an antique). There was barely room to walk around in the room, it was so small. But it was so old and cute! Mom and I are both directionally-challenged, but we somehow managed to navigate our way around NYC! Without getting lost even 1 time, I might add! We walked what seemed like 100 blocks to get to where Macbeth would be performed the next day. It was in what looked like a castle: The Park Avenue Armory. Inside where real weapons which would be used in the play! After visiting the armory, Mom and I kept walking past all of the expensive apartments until we got to 5th Avenue for some shopping. We stopped at Pret A Manger for lunch (a cafe that we loved when we were in London) and then looked around in all the stores. It was mostly window shopping and trying to get up the courage to go into one of the fancy stores. When we went into Saks 5th Avenue, we just strutted around pretending that we definitely had enough money for that $1200 pair of Jimmy Choos! I don’t really remember how many stores we went in, but it was a lot! I insisted that we go in the American Girl store, for old times sake. I honestly think that we had more fun in there than any of the little kids! We went for supper in one of those little family-owned restaurants near our hotel; the food was SO good!
The next morning, Mom and I went to the Met. I don’t think I could have been any more excited about this! I really could live in a museum. And what a museum this was….we probably only went in a fourth of it, because we didn’t have time for it all! So we went in the Ancient History sections and the European Art sections. I didn’t know that Degas’ Little Dancer was at the Met. Degas is one of my favorite artists and I danced ballet as a kid, so this was wonderful. And she was breathtaking. It was one of those moments when you walk into a room, not knowing what you’re going to see. And then this familiar sight hits you: a statue that you have seen in so many art books, and it was so achingly beautiful that I wanted to cry. The painstaking detail, the faded ribbon in her hair: it was all gorgeous. I took about 200 more picture of the Met, but I wouldn’t want to bore you with that!
On the way back to the hotel from the Met, we stopped for ice cream because Mom said that it was the exact same ice cream that she would get as a kid when she lived in New York! We took a nap for a couple hours and then got ready to go see Macbeth.
Oh how do I describe Macbeth? There are no words for it. Jaw-dropping, maybe. Or astounding. It gave me chills!
I really wanted to take pictures in there, but the workers wouldn’t let you (if you really really want to see, there’s pictures on the internet now, I think). Upon arrival, we were split into clans; we were in Fife; and were herded into the arena by eerily cloaked figures. On one end, there was a Stonehenge-like structure, and on the other, there was a miniature chapel. There wasn’t even a stage; the actors were on the ground in between the audience, who sat on tiered benches. The whole place was completely black, except for the occasional torch. It gave you the feeling that blood had really been spilled there. It was very creepy. They used real armor and weapons and it rained on the battlefield (Lady Macbeth’s dress kept getting muddy!) Kenneth Branagh was, of course, far better than I ever could have imagined. Alex Kingston as Lady Macbeth was fantastic.
After the play was done, Mom and I waited for at least an hour to try to meet Branagh. After a while, an official-looking man came out and said that “Ken had left, but Alex was still inside talking.” So Mom and I went back inside and I got Alex Kingston’s autograph (she’s River Song from Doctor Who, in case you were wondering!).
The next morning, it was time to leave..the ride to LaGuardia airport made me carsick again, and we were home all too soon.
