Keeper of the Clown Bell

One of the pleasant oddities located in the central Virginia town of Staunton is a replica of the Blackfiars Playhouse which is where the thespians studying at the American Shakespeare Center practice their craft. It's an authentic experience with open bench seating, "lights on" staging and minimal set design just like they did it in merry old England back in 1608. Even with the rainbow stew anachronism, woke LBGT++ transposition of she for him and he for her casting, and modern day antiseptic slovenliness of the audience these plays still deliver astounding insights due to the physical location of  their performance.  Last week I took in The Taming of the Shrew and was overjoyed to see this play performed straight and, to my mind, incorporate the authentic "sly" twist in the Bards massage that so many contemporary drama critics miss. This years troop at the ASC is great and, as is their custom, the actors perform a few popular music covers that resonate with th

On the subject of English Queens I’m more knowledgable and fascinated by  Elizabeth I from the House of Tudor than I am by Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (AKA Windsor). As a native of Virginia I fully appreciate the majesty and Herstoric importance of Gloriana’s reign and believe the incredible civilization that has shaped the world for the past 500 years was conceived by her (and her wise councilors) and serves as the spiritual progeny of The Virgin Queen. While QEII oversaw the dissolution of the British Empire and its concordant moral degeneracy, it was Good Queen Bess who ruled over “The Golden Age” in which England grew so strong and prosperous that it might rule an empire upon which the sun never sets. That legacy of Elizabeth's reign includes the colonization plans and subsequent