For Dainty Ballerina

My love for Shakespeare started when I was a small boy, at my little primary school in Stoneyburn. We were studying history, Scottish history. Most of it was about Bannockburn, Culloden, The Highland Clearances and the road system. All subjects I really liked. Maybe not so much the road system. One day we turned to Scottish Kings and Macbeth came along. I can remember the text book, in particular the picture. it was of a castle surrounded by trees. When we read the story we discovered that there was an army behind the trees. Found out today that Macbeth was a real King of Scotland around 1060's and Shakespeare based it loosely on him. I got mixed up between fact and fiction. This must have been my first introduction to the historical plays.
Years later, I was really lucky to see Kenneth Branagh. I think with his own company, at the Edinburgh festival. I wish I had the program, lost it years ago. That's a common thing with me. They performed two plays King Lear and A Midsummer Nights Dream. I had to jump through hoops to get time off work on two different nights. I will never forget it, my first time seeing Shakespeare live in the theater. And what a great cast, with Emma Thompson and Richard Briers. In King Lear, Briers played Lear, Branagh played Edgar and Directed. Emma Thompson was the Fool, unrecognizable all wrapped up in bandages. She was really creepy a bit disturbing and fantastic. A Midsummer Nights Dream, Directed by Branagh was magical and funny, very different from Lear. I remember it being a play within a play, and I was glad, at last to see Emma Thompson without all the rags and bandages, and looking beautiful.
That will do for now. If anybody ever reads this, I hope its not been to boring for you. I must warn you there will be more. I haven't even scratched the surface. Another warning, I am slightly dyslexic and I trust the spell check. Sometimes I will get mixed up with things like, no and know or been and bean, its always been embarrassing, but thanks to the spell checker, I can write like everyone else. Oh aye! I'm hopeless at grammar as well, so reading this will be more painful for you than me. One last thing. Not sure if this is the right place to say this, but hear it is anyway. Thank you to the Dainty Ballerina. You are a Princess.