My Romeo and a Rubbish Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe

People who know me well know that I'm fairly obsessive when it comes to Shakespeare, Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Globe, and, in particular, Shakespeare plays at Shakespeare's Globe.

I'm happy to pay a fiver and stand; I've been there in my role as an English teacher, with a fab student; I've sat in v good seats with my bro, sis and sis-in-law; I've even been down on Shakespeare's birth-deathday and got into the free fun such a date brings.

And happily I've been freely cushioned and charmed by the press people on a couple of visits.

As a result, I've been lucky enough to see and review the following to date:

• Othello (May 07)
• The Merchant of Venice (July 07)
• The Frontline (July 08)
• and now, Romeo & Juliet (May 09)

But last night was the first time JC had been. It was nice to go with a fresh pair of eyes, but I'm sorry the play he saw wasn't quite up to scratch. I'd told him how good I thought Ellie Kendrick was going to be: sadly, she totally failed to live up to my enthusiastic promises.

But it was still a lovely night out. CB and her mate J were there, as was my new friend Nick Curtis (!), and a few other critics I recognise (like KB). And I think (hope!) JC enjoyed it too.

I simply love the place.

I'll stick my neck out and say I'm pretty sure Shakespeare's Globe is my favourite place in the whole of London.

Sure, it's uncomfortable, awkward, hard to hear, and, well, quite hard work. But that's what Shakespeare's like too, so it feels like a totally fitting venue to me.

I love how you can watch other people watching the play. How you have to work hard to get the most out of it. How you do have to strain to hear. How people do this weird endurance thing with the hard benches and the standing, and still come back.

And I'm looking forward to seeing more things there in the future.