Oh, I love him so much. SO MUCH. It kind of broke my heart that you disliked Mark's Olivia, but I can respect that... just so long as you loved Sam Barnett the right amount. :D Did you get to see Richard III as well?

Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much I loved Sam. :) He was delightful as Viola, and steely and wonderful as Queen Elizabeth (we saw both plays, at 2 PM and 8 PM).

I thought Mark Rylance's Richard III was interesting and weird (and I loved his Richard II, way back when), so I was sad not to like his Olivia! Maybe it would have been different on a different night...

My friends and i are still not recovered from what we have termed DAT EXIT for Sam's Elizabeth. The shifting power dynamics in that scene are INCENDIARY.

Yes! Richard turns into a petulant child in front of Elizabeth's implacable, furious-yet-restrained logic. And that kiss was so violent and angry!

That's the reason I left the Globe last summer and described it as Sam and Mark going head to head and Sam WINNING. Just thrilling- she's lost and she's won, all at the same time.

Sam and Mark going head to head and Sam WINNING

I was so ridiculously proud of him - especially remembering that the Globe season was his first time doing Shakespeare! My goodness.

And Elizabeth is in such a desperate spot there, which Sam conveyed so well: she knows what happens to people who get into Richard's way, but she still defies him - and then has to seem to acquiesce in order to buy time to forge the alliance with Richmond...