A Journey to Safety

That was when Dad decided that we'd travel to London and get jobs there. He knew his old school friend William Shakespeare had gone there and found success, so he hoped we could as well.

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"Philip," called Mary from the garden, "have you got everything packed?"

My Dad, Nicholas, worked out it would take ten to twelve days to walk from Stratford to London, so we had a long time ahead of us.

Over the next few days we travelled along muddy tracks stopping at farm houses to sleep. Everyone took turns holding my nine month old sister, Ann, and Lizzie kept us all entertained with little plays with her peg doll Charlotte.

The first village we entered was fifty miles from our old home and the people were all very friendly. We stayed with Mr and Mrs Johnson and their five children. Daisy even had a nice barn to sleep in. Lizzie and I were very pleased to find an empty barrel with a hole cut in it.

"Hello-ooo-ooo-ooo," Lizzie said into the barrel. It echoed round several times. I whistled into it and we both laughed! My parents also laughed, but that was at a thirteen year old boy playing games with his sister.

" Thank you very much," said my Dad.

"You're very welcome," answered Mr Johnson. "Good luck with your journey."

After another five days London was in sight! There were more houses and fewer fields, and there was a very strong smell getting stronger as the days went past. There seemed to be a lot more dirty water running down the ditches by the side of the small cobbled road than there ever had been in Stratford.

The water pumps gave out filthy water as well. Mum tried to find clean ones, but soon we had no choice but to drink brown water. Ann developed a cough, and Dad said if it got very bad we would find an apothecary as soon as possible.

Then suddenly there it was, the Globe! Everyone had talked so much about it at home I could hardly believe I was walking up a road towards it. We were all completely exhausted after our long journey, so everyone fell fast asleep in front of the theatre. Even Ann's coughing stopped after a while so we were all happy. We wouldn't in the morning though.

The next morning was bright and sunny; people were already bustling around getting things ready to sell. Suddenly my Mum screamed,

"Oh no." We all swung round to see her holding Ann out at arms length. Her head flopped to one side and her skin was grey and cold. Everyone immediately started crying. Life was hard enough without coping with the tragedy of a dead baby. Later on, that afternoon we went into a shop and bought a tiny wooden box. We then dug a shallow hole in a graveyard, and with a few prayers, buried her there.

No one ate anything that day, we didn't have enough money. Lizzie was crying again, and we hadn't looked for jobs at all. That night was cold and even the Globe couldn't make enough shelter for us. Over all things were very bad.

The next day was even worse; everyone was starving; there were no jobs and the cow was so thin she was barely strong enough to carry the little she had on her. We decided to sell her after that, we really needed the money. She went for two shillings, and with that we were able to buy a few loaves of bread, but within a week that had gone as well.

While walking by the river I realised that a lot of people wanted to get across it and I told this to my Dad.

"What a good idea son!" he cried. Lizzie ran closer to the water and spotted an abandoned boat in good condition.

"Dad, over here," she called to him. After testing it out he decided it was a good boat that was quite easy to row, and with that his first customer clambered in and he rowed off.

In four days Dad had made half a crown and we bought some bread and apples. Mum had also made some money by selling some clothes she had made with some of Ann's old blankets.

There had been no plays while we had been sleeping outside the Globe, but now there were murmurs going around the streets about Shakespeare performing a play on twelfth night and he was looking for actors. I was very excited because now I was fourteen, I would be the perfect age to play a woman, and Lizzie could probably be able to get a job backstage.

That evening the auditions started. I said a verse from the only play I knew well; "Romeo and Juliet." I was very pleased when I heard I'd got the part of someone called Olivia. Lizzie got a part making costumes and my Mum helped to. Rehearsals started the next day, and Dad said he'd come along as well to see his old friend William.

The theatre was full of men drinking beer and talking loudly about which parts they were going to play. Dad recognised Shakespeare immediately and grinned at him.

"Nicholas," William shouted out, running over to us." I thought you still lived in Stratford."

"We did, until it got attacked by rats," my dad answered gloomily.

"Oh dear, do you have a part in the play?" William inquired.

"No, but my son has," he said pushing me forward.

"Yes, I remember you, very good actually. Well we'd better start the rehearsals. Nice seeing you again, Nicholas."

"You too, William." I was led off and given a script, and that was how my acting started. After all the trouble in my family, it was good to finally have some money.

Jane F