Only in America is a wonderful phrase. It can be said with pride, with baffled amusement, in disbelief, in anger, in any way that suits the moment. In Staunton, Virginia there is a replica of Shakespeare's Blackfriars Theatre - only in America. The only one in the world.
Staunton is a small town. Probably about the size of Mansfield, possibly smaller. Jim Warren and Ralph Cohen the co founders wanted to build their theatre in Harrisonburg. Harrisonburg wasn't keen and so they took the idea the Staunton who said , yes, please, and now every spring, summer, and autumn there is a programme of plays from Shakespeare and his contemporaries. And it supports a touring programme. We saw Merry Wives, and, carried on its cast's enthusiasm, it made for a very enjoyable evening. As far as I could discover the actors are mainly amateur at the moment, but they hope that will change soon. The whole place is full of enthusiasm. Enthuisasm is a good thing. If someone suggested a similar project here in the UK - cf The Globe and how long that took - we would only see potential difficulties, over there, a small town took about a week to say - Okay,why not?
Next year in Staunton they intend to start building a replica of the Globe (sic).
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