Conversations at the Pop-up Globe

Well-heeled gentleman in the middle gallery: Who are all those people down there?
Me: Those are the groundlings, the cheap tickets and the best view in the house.
Well-heeled gentleman: Are they part of the play? Or can anyone buy those tickets?

*

During a school matinee of Othello:

Schoolboy 1: [whispers earnestly and at length the plot of Othello to his chum]

Schoolboy 2: Oh, thankyou... I understand now.

*

Lady [peering at my lanyard]: Why are you volunteering here?

Me: Because it's fun!!

Lady: Oh...

*

And, without fail, every time I volunteer there will be a version of this conversation:

Friendly fellow volunteer/audience member: So, what do you do?

Me: I'm-a-PhD-student-in-English-Literature-looking-at-medieval-drama-in-the-modern-context.

Friendly fellow volunteer/audience member, light suffusing their features: Ah! So that's why you're here! Living research!

At first I tried earnestly to explain that Shakespearean drama is not medieval but Elizabethan/Jacobean, i.e. early modern, and that I am at the Globe first and foremost because I love it... now I just smile sweetly and say, "Indeed."

I am also asked fairly regularly if I am an actor; I have no idea why (perhaps the 'dancer's posture'?) And someone asked me today how I do my hair. Life is never dull at the Pop-up Globe. 😊