Creating the kind of magic that happens on a stage is very different than what your imagination can create when you read a book, or read a play. While both forms of art can transport you to another world, I had no idea how great the power of theater could be until we visited Shakespeare’s Globe.

London is an incredible place to be, so full of history and culture. It is also a bustling city, with big, red double-decker buses, millions of people, and constant noise. But the moment we entered the Globe from the banks of the river Thames, everything seemed calmer. Packed into the open air, Elizabethan theater we waited for the music to begin.

We first saw "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and while it was a modern (and somewhat raunchy) retelling it still took us out of the damp, cold London theater and into a world of magic and comedy. The actors interacted with the audience and had a us laughing until our sides hurt. When the metaphorical curtain came down and we exited the theater back into the real world, it was almost a shock to the system to see cars and not fairies everywhere.

After a quick dinner and a stroll along the Thames, we took in another play at the Globe, this time "The Taming of the Shrew." When we took our seats, the mood was different, darker. The actors took us to a world of pain and sorrow, but also filled with great beauty. The play itself can be hard to stomach for modern audiences but the company took a feminist perspective, and while dark it at least made me feel better about how the play ended.

Whether it be a tragedy, a comedy or a farce, Shakespeare’s Globe has the power to take us to worlds vastly different than our own, even if just for a few hours.