"Cheryl and Dave (daughter and son-in-law) go every year and are going this Friday for her 44th birthday. Last year we went with them. They get there very early, park facing the way out and very close to the exit at the Planetarium. It worked great for us. They said they’ve also been held up forever in the traffic jam exit…also pays to book a seat near the exit. "
They are seeing Macbeth which is also apparently very good according to the woman I was sitting next to. We probably saw the most unusual performance ever of Macbeth in the first season of the Old Globe in 1997. We were thrilled to be able to be at this wonderful reconstruction of the Globe by the Thames in its first year.
https://variety.com/1997/legit/news/zulu-macbeth-to-play-bard-s-old-globe-1116676963/
Some of the "groundlings" in the performance of Henry V were acting like the groundlings in Shakespeare's day. They were making comments to the actors and I would say the actors weren't exactly pleased. This was among one of the first performances and I wonder if they now have restrictions about this.
I picked this up on Trip Advisor from 2014. For the Zulu Macbeth we stood as groundlings and for Henry V we had a seat. If I remember correctly we missed the second half of the Zulu Macbeth and retired to a pub on the Thames. Standing in the crowd was rather uncomfortable but it was an experience. I guess the actors are used to this now but in the perfomance (Henry V) we saw they were rather bewildered!
"Don't miss a play at the Globe, even if you aren't sure you love Shakespeare. The experience is unique: the actors interact a bit with the groundlings standing near the stage and interesting things happen during the performances: pigeons swoop, seemingly on cue; it might rain for a while, and even a helicopter whirr can get incorporated into the dialogue. I recommend paying for one of the tiny, narrow seats and renting a cushion rather than standing, but suit yourself."
