the play's the thing!

Once upon a time, there was an amazingly lucky girl named Kylie who spent her 20th birthday in London. How did she celebrate? Let me tell you. June 11 began early for the no-longer-teenager. At 6:00 AM, Kylie and a group of her friends took the bus and then walked to a theatre to wait in the line to get the coveted tickets for this:

(I'm done talking in third person now.) We got tickets when the box office opened at ten. We entertained ourselves by playing "Snog, date, dump." (Best game ever. If you want to know how to play, contact me.) And boy, did we get tickets! Laura and I got a private box with a perfect view of both the stage and the theatre. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

After we scored awesome tickets, we walked back home via Oxford Street. Oh! I forgot to tell you why all the walking: London Underground Strike. Yes, the tube was out from wednesday-friday. It totally crippled London, too. Imagine, two million people more people are out on the streets, having to use bus, bike, or legs to get to their usual location. nightmare.

Oxford street was fun, though. I did go shopping for my birthday, but to tell you the truth I was so sleepy, so after shopping, I came back to the Centre and found this on my bunk before crashing for a couple hours before dinner.

I made some lovely friends at the London Centre, who share my love of The Office. If you too share this love, you will appreciate the great effort one of my roommates made to put this up. Thanks, Sara.

For dinner, we ate Indian food (my fav) on banana leaves!!! No plates! Just awesomeness!

Then, the play. It was phenomenal. My favorite play I've seen in London. Perhaps ever. It was amazing. Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare tragedy and I know it front and back. I re-read it for the fifth time on the place ride to England, in fact. This production was incredible. The actors wore modern, dark clothing. The set was simple, and the lighting created the different settings for the various scenes. Hardly any props were used. And the acting, ladies and gentlemen, blew my mind. I have never seen such command of the stage. When Hamlet walked on stage, everyone was mesmerized, and had no problem understanding the Shakespearian language because he made it so simple to follow along with him. Amazing. I was so emotionally exhausted by the time it was through. I loved it!

Of course, after the play, we waited at the stage door to get Hamlet to sign the program. Lucky me, we got a picture, too.

Yes, I met jude law. THE jude law. And, may I just throw out that he is even better in person than on a screen. I didn't think it was possible, either. And, he's an amazing actor. Okay, okay, so when I got my picture taken with him, we had a little conversation. It went like this (K=kylie, j=jude):

k: thank you so much (huge smile)

j: (charming smile and wonderful accent) you're very welcome

k: i loved the play. it was fantastic! you were amazing!

j: i'm so glad that you enjoyed it. thank you for coming. (curteous nod as adoring fans screamed his name, drawing him away from me).

best birthday ever. i defy you to beat me with a better birthday. :)