dramatic london

9 nights/10 days: March 6-15, 2025

Detour with Jane & Tim

We have been leading educational trips to London for 25 years and are thrilled to share our favorite place in the world with you! Because of our extensive UK experience, we can relieve you of many of the hassles and details of travel so you can enjoy every moment of your time. . . and we’ll make sure you have the best seats at the most stimulating theatrical productions in town! Of course, half the fun of having fantastic cultural experiences is talking about them; so we will lead informal informational discussion sessions for our London outings. So let’s to Dramatic London, for there is in London all that life can afford. It's a trip you’ll never forget!

highlights include

  • Settle into the best seats in the house at six world-class theatre productions.

  • Marvel at the magnificent Cate Blanchett in a new production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.

  • Experience the multi-award-winning My Neighbor Totoro in the most innovative theatre in the West End.

  • Meet an all-new Hamlet in award-winning Director Rupert Goold’s production with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

  • Enjoy private tours of the British Museum, Lord Leighton House, and Middle Temple Hall.

itinerary

Continue to check back as we round out our itinerary with new theatre productions!

History? Nine hundred years of it—and that’s just the Tower of London. Art? Four of the greatest art museums in the world are all within a short tube ride of each other. Cosmopolitanism? London is a true world city embracing 30+ languages, cuisines, and cultures—or as Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli noted, “London is a nation, not a city.” Glamor? Take your pick: the splendor of Buckingham Palace, the shopping opulence of Harrod’s or Liberty, or the hush of St. Paul’s Cathedral at choral evensong. We’ll sample London through exclusive private tours, specially arranged art encounters, and delectable markets and restaurants. But despite all these riches, the glory of London is its theatre scene. The most thoughtful and exciting playwrights, directors, actors, and designers on earth work in London, and we’ll take in the best of the best as dramatic London offers us all that life can afford.

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford.”
— Samuel Johnson

day 1: Welcome to London!

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Welcome to our London home, The Rockwell hotel, in the beautiful Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Unpack, relax, and get ready for our Welcome Walk around your new ’hood—which happens to contain Kensington Palace, home of assorted royals. Appetites properly stimulated, we’ll settle down to our welcome dinner at San Pietro, Kensington’s toothsome Italian restaurant. Early-ish to bed beats jet lag in one night!

It’s an easy tube ride from London’s Heathrow Airport to our hotel in Kensington. We’ll meet around 5 pm for a welcome walk.

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: D | Activity Level: Moderate

day 2: the world comes to london

Friday, March 7, 2025 | ON STAGE: My Neighbor Totoro

After a terrific complementary buffet breakfast at our hotel we begin our day with the first of our informal discussions held in a private upper room at the King’s Head Pub, just around the corner from our hotel. Today it’s all about getting ready for Italian Renaissance art and a joint British-Japanese theatre production—a good reminder that London is the most international city on earth. Then it’s off to the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace to see the “Drawing the Italian Renaissance” Exhibition. That evening we go to the most innovative theatre in the West End to see the über-charming, multi-award-winning My Neighbor Totoro.

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: B | Activity Level: Moderate

day 3: BritMu, Stichelton, & Galadriel

Saturday, March 8, 2025 | ON STAGE: Cate Blanchett in The Seagull

The British Museum is the single most visited venue in London. It can get pretty crowded in there—but not when you have the place to yourself, as we will in a specially arranged private Before-hours Tour. Prepare for wonders. Then we’re off to Neal’s Yard Dairy, where some of the most seriously scrumptious cheeses in the world pair with other goodies to create an exclusive tasting event. That night, after a Theatre & Culture Discussion at the hotel, the stars will be out even if it’s cloudy because we have tickets to see the magnificent Cate Blanchett in a new production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: B, L | Activity Level: Strenuous

day 4: Tower of London & High Tea

Sunday, March 9, 2025

There is nothing more quintessentially English than a choral matins service in a beautiful, old English church. In this case, the chapel dates back to the time of Henry VIII and is in the medieval Tower of London. Our souls satisfied, we’ll stroll over to see the Crown Jewels, lodged safely in a fortress next to the chapel. Did you see King Charles holding the scepter at his coronation? It features the largest white cut diamond in the world, and we’ll see it up close. Then it’s on to high tea at the Four Seasons Hotel. This is your chance to sample lapsang souchong tea and munch on ridiculously fancy little sandwiches and pastries. Rule Britannia! Free evening. How will you spend it?

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: B, L | Activity Level: Moderate

day 5: lord Leighton & Pre-Raphaelites

Monday, March 10, 2025 | ON STAGE: TBA

After a morning Culture & Theatre Discussion at the pub, we’ll stay in our Royal ’hood for an exclusive private tour of Lord Leighton House, built and filled with art by the late Victorian artist and art patron. The exquisite “Arab Hall” alone is worth the visit, but every room in the mansion vies for most beautiful. Lord L. particularly favored and patronized the iconoclastic Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, some of whose paintings adorn his rooms. Many of the rest are at the Tate Britain art museum, so we’ll go there to get good views of them. We’ll enjoy dinner together followed by an equally outstanding play, to be announced.

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: B, D | Activity Level: Moderate

Day 6: botanical gardens & football

Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | ON STAGE: Dear England

We’re away to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, 300 acres of breathtaking flora. Truly, Kew is an Earthly Paradise: towering, centuries-old trees, enormous Victorian glass houses—one containing a whole jungle—and in March a carpet of a million blooming spring bulbs. Also, we’ll take in the “Expressions in Blue” Exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, astonishing contemporary ceramics which spill over into the Gardens. That night we’ll have dinner at Lasdun Restaurant at the Royal National Theatre and then head into the Olivier Theatre to see Dear England, a new, mesmerizing play about the joys and agonies of English football. Want to truly get the English? This is your shot.

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: B, D | Activity Level: Strenuous

day 7: shakespeare at london

Wednesday, March 12, 2025 | ON STAGE: TBA

Our Discussion today is in an exceedingly special, appointment-only venue: the Elizabethan-era Middle Temple Hall, where Shakespeare’s company premiered the Bard’s play, Twelfth Night, in 1602. And Shakespeare is what today is all about. We’ll see the original site of the Globe Theatre where he worked, followed by the church where his younger brother was buried, Southwark Cathedral—home, too, of the famed stained-glass Shakespeare Window. How many Shakespeare characters can you spot? Lunch is at foodie heaven, Borough Market. Will you have the venison burger, the raclette, or the paella? Another great play completes the evening.

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: B | Activity Level: Strenuous

day 8: shakespeare at stratford

Thursday, March 13, 2025 | ON STAGE: Hamlet

Today we detour by private coach to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s home town. We’ll settle into a bed and breakfast, rest a bit before strolling over to lovely Holy Trinity Church to see where the two events that bookended Shakespeare’s life occurred: his christening and his burial. Then it’s off to the Birthplace, a lovingly preserved Tudor house (there’s a First Folio there, too). Dinner will be at what we think is Stratford’s finest restaurant, Lamb’s on—wait for it—Sheep Street. That evening we’ll see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of what famed author Anthony Burgess called “the play which, of all plays, the world could least do without,” Hamlet.

Hotel: Bed & Breakfast in Stratford | Meals: B, D | Activity Level: Strenuous

day 9: oxford: learning paradise

Friday, March 14, 2025

On our coach ride back to London we’ll stop in Oxford, home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world. It’s also one of the best and, with its “dreaming spires” (poet, Matthew Arnold), perhaps the most beautiful. We’ll enjoy a private session at the Bodleian Library to examine up close Shakespeare’s First Folio, plus a quarto edition of Hamlet. Then we’ll take in a few more Oxford splendors, including Blackwell’s Bookshop, which, like the TARDIS, is somehow bigger on the inside than the outside. After a short coach ride back to The Rockwell to unwind, we’ll conclude our grand adventure with a Celebratory Dinner at a delightful Kensington restaurant.

Hotel: The Rockwell | Meals: B, D | Activity Level: Strenuous

day 10: parting is such sweet sorrow

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Our theatrical detour ends this morning after breakfast. We are happy to help with return transportation to the airport, or to other locations in the UK and beyond. No matter where you’re off to next, we’ll look forward to future travels!

$5,995 per person (double occupancy)

$6,895 (single occupancy)

10% deposit

Navigating London on foot is physically demanding. To enjoy the experience, you must be in good walking shape. The most active days may average 5 miles of walking (often over uneven surfaces and including lots of climbing/steps), lots of standing while listening to your guide during group sightseeing, and possibly stair-climbing while carrying your own bag up to your hotel room.

FAQs

  • Each detour includes the price of all admissions to sights and plays seen as a group; tours by local guides, meals as listed in the trip itinerary; accommodations each night of the detour including breakfasts; all transportation required for group activities from the first hotel to the last hotel of the detour (transportation for optional group activities and independent travel during the detour is not included), travel consultations and advice from our staff, guides, and vendors including suggestions, tips, and directions, and all trip leader, local guide, driver, and hotel tips. Prices do not include airfare to and from the detour, nor ground transportation to/from airports.

  • Detour prices do not include international airfare or ground transportation to/from the airport.

  • Each detour includes all breakfasts and about half of your lunches and dinners as indicated in the meal guide included in each itinerary: B=breakfast, L=lunch, D=dinner, HH=happy hour

  • Our groups range from 10-20 participants with 1-2 trip leaders and local guides to connect us to local culture and experiences.

  • Yes! Our detours are the perfect way for children (and adults) to learn in action. We welcome and celebrate multi-generational travel. History class was never so fun!

  • Our detour begins the evening of March 6 at The Rockwell hotel in Kensington. We will meet at 5 pm for a welcome walk of our neighborhood before enjoying our first group dinner together.

  • While this varies by detour, we generally plan to meet between 5-6 pm at our hotel on Day 1. If you plan to arrive a day early and want to stay in our trip hotel, please make arrangements with the hotel directly, indicating that you are part of our group.

  • London Heathrow is the international Airport connecting US arrivals to the UK. It's a breeze getting from Heathrow to central london via tube or taxi. If you have pre- or post-travel plans and need help coordinating, we are happy to help!

  • Each detour web page has a link to our online registration and payment provider. There you can pay the 10% per person deposit and complete the registration form.

  • Deposits are refundable for 30 days from receipt. After 30 days they are nonrefundable.

  • Final payment is due 90 days prior to detour commencement but you may pay in full any time prior to this.

  • Cancellations are allowed without penalty (excepting deposit) until the final payment deadline. After the final payment deadline 100% of funds paid are nonrefundable.

  • The 10% deposit is due upon registration, after which time you will receive a payment link where you can choose to pay the remaining amount or pay in installments.

  • Yes, all published prices are per person, based on double occupancy, or when available, single occupancy. Please contact us for triple occupancy pricing.

  • During the registration process you will have the opportunity to request single occupancy, if it is offered. Due to the boutique nature of our hotels, we are not always able to offer single accommodations, but are happy to pair you with another single traveler.

  • Yes. You must be able to carry your own luggage up at least three flights of stairs and on uneven ground for up to a quarter mile.

  • Navigating London on foot is physically demanding. To enjoy the experience, you must be in good walking shape. The most active days may average 5 miles of walking (often over uneven surfaces and including lots of climbing/steps), lots of standing while listening to your guide during group sightseeing, and possibly stair-climbing while carrying your own bag up to your hotel room. We’ve included an activity guide for each day of our itinerary: light=mostly sedentary, moderate=walking 1-3 miles on mostly even ground, strenuous=walking 3+ miles on hills/uneven ground.