Like most I was introduced to Shakespeare at school and enjoyed it enough to take enough interest to go to the occasional play. Now these were usually fine, but I always had a hankering to go and see it in Stratford, basically to see if there was anything noticeably better in a Royal Shakespeare Company production.

Now, it is surprisingly difficult to get tickets for any play, I tried a few times until I managed to get seats for a play that I wanted to see on a night which was convenient. I suspect that many of the tickets are sold to tour companies months in advance, so that they can offer tours with a theatre ticket. There are three theatres, the Swan, the Globe and the other place. They all show varied plays so you are not restricted to Shakespeare.

Although in theory it looks that varied ticket prices are available I found it impossible to get anything less than the full price ticket- paying £37 for one play was a bit excessive, but I thought it would be worth it for the experience. I would imagine you would have to book months in advance to get a reasonably priced ticket. However, there is an alternative, cheap tickets are available on the door before the performance. I think they cost £5 and are standing room only. There is a barrier for leaning against. A certain amount of tickets are kept back for every performance, so if you turn up early enough you can just about guarantee a viewing. The fact that you don't have a seat should be looked upon as a blessing, not a hinderance as I have never been so uncomfortable in a theatre in my life. The legroom is appalling. I felt absolutely crushed and had to take my shoes off for the extra few inches space it gave. Now I am pretty big anyway, but I would say that anybody who is over about 5'8 is going to be very uncomfortable, and regardless of how good the performance is, being uncomfortable will certainly mar it. The seats right in front of the stage are the worst, I believe that
you could end up hospitalised after the performance. Deep Vein Thrombosis is not limited to airlines! However I only visited 'The Swan' so I can't comment on the other Theatres.(The 'RST' and 'The Other Place'

Now the standard of the play was excellent, the acting and staging was superb and much better than anything I had seen before. The verse was naturally spoken and the ease of the performers made is easy to follow a style of language which is not common to us today. The theatre was not particularly large so you felt a certain intimacy with the situation - it should go without saying, but no microphones were used or necessary. The setting was quite minimalist (Henry IV part 2) but that added, not detracted from the performance.

So would I recommend it?, not really, the productions are splendid, but the uncomfortable seating, difficulty of getting tickets and the sheer expense of the ticket put me off. If I was around Stratford I would certainly go for a last minute ticket and as the RSC regularly tour the sticks I would go to a local performance. But I wouldn't book in advance for a performance again.