Given the unique dynamics of this presidential campaign season, it's a remarkable coincidence that the Chesapeake Shakespeare Companyhas produced a play about the intersection of power and sexuality, with a strong, determined woman at its center. Anne of the Thousand Days, written by Maxwell Anderson and directed by Kasi Campbell, describes the historic, 16th century romance between Anne Boleyn and King Henry the Eighth of England, who was desperately seeking a woman who could give him what his lawful wife, Catherine of Aragon, had failed to deliver: a male heir. The daughter Anne bore the King as his Church-defying second wife would eventually become Elizabeth the First, England's greatest monarch, but things didn't work out so well between Anne and Henry. It's a great story and true, brought to life on the CSC stage with the help of sumptuously detailed costumes by Kristina Lambdin.
Our theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who stops by Midday every Thursday, joins Tom with her review.
Their conversation also turns to this weekend's Charm City Fringe Festival, an 11-day "explosion" of theater events around the city. Click here to check out the events and schedules.
Anne of the Thousand Days continues at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company on South Calvert Street in Baltimore through Sunday, November 13.
