Richard II at The Old Vic… with Kevin Spacey in the lead role

Early in the week I went to see Shakespeare’s Richard II at The Old Vic. The production (with Kevin Spacey in the lead role) has received good notices from every review I have read, but in any case it is a play I try to see whenever it is on. I did my degree in medieval history with Richard II as the main focus of the third year E Paper - I feel I know the man on a personal basis.

Because I was early I got off the tube at Embankment to walk across the new Hungerford Bridge. It was the first time I had gone that route since the old bridge was replaced (there is hardly any reason for me to go to Waterloo since THAT relationship came to an end). The new Hungerford Bridge was designed by Lifschutz Davidson and combines strength and grace in a spiky post-modern neo-gothic lattice across the brooding bulk of the railway bridge immediately behind. Unlike the old Hungerford Bridge, which was strung off the side of the railway bridge, the new structure is a proper bridge in its own right, standing on piers (or are they pylons?) sunk into the river bed. The sinking of the piers caused a great deal of controversy since there are a number of powerful unexploded German bombs on the river bed at this point. It was feared that the construction work would detonate the bombs and fracture the Underground lines that run under the Thames, flooding the Northern Line.