Willy’s Lil Virgin Queen (2022 Online Production) Theatre Review

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Willy’s Lil Virgin Queen is a one-woman show written and performed by Terra Taylor Knudson, and directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson. Often hilarious and yet also quite moving, this show combines Terra Taylor Knudson’s passion for Shakespeare with personal anecdotes marking important moments in her development, as both an actor and a person. One thing that is remarkable is how seamless it all is, the way she is able to move from the words of the bard to her own words and back so easily, creating a flow that pulls the audience into her story. And though she speaks of things from the past, there is a strong sense of immediacy for both her and the audience, especially at key moments. That feeling is so strong that at times we want to offer comfort.

The performance begins with Terra Taylor Knudson giving us a bit of Mistress Page from the beginning of Act II of The Merry Wives Of Windsor, reading the love letter from John Falstaff. Her reaction to the line “You are not young” is delightful. And once she gets to the end of the letter, she breaks from Mistress Page and talks about her first experience with the works of Shakespeare, attending a performance of Merry Wives when she was nine. She doesn’t just speak about it, but rather relives it, taking the audience to the excitement of that moment. The impact of that experience is clear in her voice and body language. She moves back and forth from the play to her reaction to the play, as she is both the performer and the audience, which is wonderful (and I can’t imagine all that easy to do). Some of the humor comes from her admitting that at first she did not understand much of it. “It sounded like English,” she says, “but only when the occasional recognizable word would pass me by, like ‘and’ or ‘the’ or ‘or.’” Certainly, many folks can relate to that. She then describes the moment when the poetry hit her and she was sucked into it, and it was then that she knew that she wanted to perform. It is the sort of passion you hope everyone experiences, if not for Shakespeare specifically, then at least for something. And so even those who might not be extremely knowledgeable about Shakespeare can connect to her performance, to her passion.

Terra Taylor Knudson builds a rapport with the audience by speaking directly to them, and at times interacting with them, as when she asks for a show of hands as to who has seen at least a few of the plays. And for those who are not familiar with Shakespeare, she provides a brief history of his life, joking about those pesky gaps in his known history, and also provides an abbreviated course in English history, related to his history plays, drawing cheers and applause from the audience as she quickly lists the monarchs. She moves in and out of the works themselves, delivering a bit of Joan of Arc from The First Part Of King Henry The Sixth, and a little of Richard The Third, for examples, and making it all so easy to follow, even for those with little to no experience with Shakespeare. She also sneaks in a Monty Python reference, so of course I can’t help but fall for her. The performance is at its most captivating when she connects her own life to certain Shakespearean characters, such as Ophelia. And when describing part of her college dorm experience, she works in my absolute favorite speech from all of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth’s “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” speech, and does an absolutely great job with it. Much of this performance is hilarious, which makes the serious moments toward the end all the more powerful and heartbreaking, leading to a heartfelt and moving Hamlet. This is a fascinating and completely enjoyable production, showing that Shakespeare is always relevant.

Willy’s Lil Virgin Queen is hosted by C ARTS, and can be viewed by clicking here. Tickets are a pay-what-you-can deal.