Walking with Shakespeare – a performance, an invocation, a time machine
Barbican Tube Stop
Guided by Rick Jones
Adult: £20 · Students & Seniors: £15 · Children: £5
Walk Times
| Day | Walk Type | Start Time | End Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Weekly | 11.30 am | 1.30 pm | Winter Summer | Reserve Online |
Shakespeare’s London still exists.
In hidden lanes and ancient churchyards.
In the shadow of the Barbican.
Across the river to the Globe.
And on this extraordinary walk, with songs, stories and live lute music, Rick Jones brings it thrillingly to life.
Step out of modern London and into Shakespeare’s world.
Guided by distinguished arts critic, Shakespeare scholar and lutenist Rick Jones, this remarkable walk follows Shakespeare through the streets he knew, from the City to the Globe. Along the way Rick conjures up the world of actors, taverns, playhouses, rivals, friends and forgotten corners that shaped the greatest playwright in the English language.
This is no ordinary Shakespeare tour. With music, quotations, drama, performance and the “lascivious pleasing of the lute”, Shakespeare’s London rises again around you.
Along the route we encounter Shakespeare not as a marble monument but as a working Londoner: actor, playwright, businessman, colleague, brother. And all around us modern London slowly gives way to the city he would have known.
“You haven’t walked Shakespeare’s London until you’ve walked this tour.”
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on”
Shakespeare’s London was noisy with music. Songs drifted from taverns and theatres. Ballads filled the streets. And on this walk the sounds of Shakespeare’s London return as well.
Across the river lay the playhouses: thrilling, dangerous, crowded, alive.
Stratford bred him. London gave him a stage, literally and figuratively, for his fortune.
And let us not forget the supporting cast. Rick tells the story of Shakespeare’s younger brother and boy actor, Edmond, his milkmaid Elizabeth Newcomen, his saddler John Bingham, his butcher Robert Harvard and his fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell, to whom we owe the survival of the plays themselves.
Not marble monuments, but actors, apprentices, milkmaids, musicians and friends.
Make no mistake, Shakespeare still inhabits this city.
SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON? IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
Want more walks like this? Check out our other literary tours of London.
Ruth and Harris –
London Walks has never disappointed us. Rick’s Shakespeare tour helped bring the “Bard of Avon” alive. The information Rick relayed was presented in an interesting and informative way. His lute concert at the end of our tour was delightful.
Alan Lee –
Rick’s tour was fun and informative. We learned so much of the life of Shakespeare. He made him come to life as a real man with all the common issues of the time.
We loved his little concert at the end!
Ruth Casadei –
A very enjoyable Saturday morning spent walking through Shakespeare’s London with an entertaining and knowledgeable guide.
Ann Bailey –
What a delight – we joined Rick’s guided tour last Saturday and loved every minute of it. The scene is set with some delightful lute playing, interspersed with comments about the music and the role it played, continued in Southwark Cathedral and then roamed through parts of London (on both the south and north banks of the Thames) I knew very little about. We were introduced to people and places that played a key role in Shakespeare’s life in London and as an actor and playwright. The walk is well paced and hugely informative – cannot recommend it too highly.
Robert –
This tour takes you out of modern day London and forces you to slow down and focus on a different age. A magical experience.
Lesley –
Rick is an excellent, knowledgeable and entertaining guide. Lovely lute playing and singing are an added bonus.
Katherine Summers –
Rick Jones will take you through The Bard’s London with the lightest touch of an Elizabethan minstrel. This tour began at Southwark Cathedral where we treated to the gentle strains of his lute, seated by Shakespeare’s alabaster monument. (Even Ophelia’s fresh rosemary ornamented the statue’s hand – a modest garland gathered from the nearby herb garden.) Every detail of this tour is well considered and marvellous. Rick fills your walk with amusing anecdotes and interesting tit-bits of history, pointing out landmarks as you walk in the footsteps of our greatest poet. This tour guide didn’t get his ‘blue plaque’ badge for nothing, it has been one the highlights of my trip to London. If you get the chance, just go!
Heather –
Loved this walk – I learned so many interesting and quirky facts. The lute at the start really conjured up an atmosphere of the era too – well worth going.
Dominic Wallace –
Excellent walk by Rick. The lute music and songs were mesmeric and the speeches/quotes from Shakespeare plays, as we walked, brilliantly added to the worthwhileness of this walk. If you’ve booked for the Globe, this walk is a must as a warm.up.
Michael –
Love London Walks and Rick’s Shakespeare tour is a clear example of why.