Boudica E-Book

Tristan Bernays

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

A brand-new ancient-history play in verse that tells the story of one of Britain's most iconic women: a queen, a warrior and a rebel. 'I'd rather walk in blood than walk a slave For he your Emperor!' AD 61, Britannia. On the furthest outreaches of the Roman Empire – at the very edge of the known world – rebellion is brewing. The King of the Iceni has died and his widow, Boudica, has tried to claim her rightful throne. For her insolence in defying Rome, the queen has been flogged, her daughters have been raped, and they have been banished from their homeland. But now, Queen Boudica has returned. And this time she has an army. She will have revenge. She will have blood. She will make Rome quake in fear. Boudica by Tristan Bernays premiered at Shakespeare's Globe, London, in September 2017.

Leseprobe

Tristan Bernays

BOUDICA

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Introduction

Original Production

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Characters

Time, Place and Pronunciation Guide

Boudica

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Introduction

It’s unusual to start a Monday morning at work watching Gina McKee cut out someone’s tongue – but that’s what’s been happening in this morning’s rehearsals, and I couldn’t be happier.

To be honest, I never dreamed I would be here in this rehearsal room. Before Boudica, I wrote a play called Teddy – a play unsurprisingly about Teddy boys in 1950s London. It was a firecracker of a show – very loud and exciting, but in reality, actually quite small. Just two actors playing all the characters. My show before that, The Bread & The Beer, was a one-man show about the ancient god of beer, sex and chaos, John Barleycorn, being dug up in modern-day London – again with just one performer (me, this time) playing all the parts.

So far, it had all been small plays. I was ready for something big. Something huge. Something epic. A multi-narrative, sweeping drama so large that no one would ever really produce it. It would basically be a calling card to show I could ‘write big’ so that, if any big theatres came a-knocking in some far- flung, misty future, I could send it to them.

And that’s where Boudica came in.

Many years ago, when I was still an actor, a close female friend and actor told me she was sick of not having the fun that her male counterparts got to have. Male actors get to have sword fights, gun battles, car chases. Most parts for women, she said (especially in Shakespeare and classical theatre), require them to be beautiful and witty in a pretty dress, before they die gracefully. Which is fucking boring.

Seven years later, when it came to writing this ridiculous epic I had planned, I remembered this conversation and realised I wanted to write something for women. Something where they got to play complex and difficult characters – not just two- dimensional heroes or villains. More than that, I wanted to write a show for women where they got to have the fun. Where they got to wield swords and lead armies. Fight and destroy. Kill and be killed. Something where they got be warriors.

What better story than Boudica’s?

Of course, no one would be foolish enough to produce a show which required around twenty characters, gods and queens and warriors and generals, sword and fist fights, buckets of blood and no less than three battles.

No one could be that foolish, surely?

Thank you to Emma Rice and Shakespeare’s Globe for being that foolish. For wanting to put strong and complex female characters front and centre. For trusting me with their incredible stage. For letting me run riot and bring the story of this extraordinary woman hurtling into the twenty-first century.

Boudica may be two thousand years old, but we need characters like her. Now more than ever.

Tristan BernaysLondon, August 2017

Boudica was first performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, on 8 September 2017, with the following cast:

ENSEMBLEBethan ClarkCATUS DECIAMUSSamuel CollingsENSEMBLEOwen FindlayLUCIUSJenny FitzpatrickSILVIAKate HandfordALONNAJoan IyiolaSEJANUS/SESTUSBrian MartinCUNOBELINEForbes MassonBOUDICAGina McKeeANDRASTE/ROMAN WOMANAnna-Maria NabiryeBADVOCAbraham PopoolaSUETONIUSClifford SamuelBLODWYNNNatalie SimpsonCLOTHEN/CATOTok StephenDirectorEleanor RhodeDesignerTom PiperComposerJules MaxwellMovementTom Jackson GreavesLighting DesignerMalcolm RippethSound DesignerDavid GregoryFight DirectorsRachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie Ltd

Acknowledgements

It takes an inordinately large number of people to get a play from page to stage, and I’d like to thank a few of them for their invaluable help, love and support:

Emma Rice – for programming us in the first place and letting us run riot in The Globe.

Matthew Dunster – for invaluable dramaturgical support.

Karishma Belani and Lottie Newth – for putting up with me during casting.

Jess Lusk – for being a woman who gets shit done.

Every staff member and volunteer at The Globe – for helping make this whole thing happen.

Eleanor Rhode – for continuing to work with me (despite all evidence suggesting she shouldn’t) and for doing such a wonderful job bringing my words to life.

The cast, crew and creative team – for making the show so damn awesome.

Sarah Loader – for helping to get Boudica up and running at the very beginning.

Simon McBurney – we’ve not met but I definitely owe him a beer.

My agent, Katie Langridge – for endless feedback, help, advice and a whole heap of other stuff.

All the actors who helped in workshops and readings – without your time and effort, we wouldn’t have got this far.

The London Library – there’s nowhere better in the world to write.

Lucy – for love, support and reminding me to enjoy myself. You’re good police, Champ.

Mum, Dad, Butts and Bakerloo – for not telling me to get a real job.

If I have forgotten anyone, please forgive me – I am a forgetful bugger.

T.B.August 2017

This play is dedicated to women everywhere – now more than ever.

Characters

BRITONS

BOUDICA, Queen of the Iceni

BLODWYNN, Boudica’s daughter

ALONNA, Boudica’s daughter

CUNOBELINE, King of the Trinovantes

CLOTHEN, a Trinovantian lord

BADVOC, King of the Belgics

ANDRASTE, Goddess of Victory

GUNNERVIK, Tribal King

WAYLEN, Tribal King

GUARD

DRUID

WARRIOR WOMAN

ICENIAN WARRIORS

BELGIC WARRIORS

ROMANS

GAIUS SUETONIUS, a Roman General

CATUS DECIAMUS, Procurator of Britannia

SEJANUS, a Roman official

SILVIA, a captive Roman

CATO, Roman soldier

LUCIUS, Roman soldier

SESTUS, Roman soldier

CENTURION 1

CENTURION 2

MESSENGER

ROMAN WOMAN

Time

61 AD

Place

Brittania, on the furthest western borders of the Roman Empire

Pronunciation Guide

Andraste – An-drass-tay

Alonna – A-low-na

Cunobeline – Kew-know-beh-lean

Gaius Suetonis – Guy-us Sue-toe-knee-us

Catus Deciamus – Kay-tus De-see-ar-mus

Prasutagus – Pras-yew-tay-jus

Camulodunum – Cam-yew-lod-yew-num

Verulanium – Ver-eh-lay-knee-um

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

Prologue

Enter ANDRASTE, Goddess of Victory.

ANDRASTE.

When first they came, their ships did cut the sea

Like gleaming scythes; their shining armour burned

Our native eyes, and filled our hearts with dread.

They came from Rome, an empire which reached

From smoky tips of Indian East unto

The Afric’ South of Egypt and toward

The cold Germanic North; and now its gaze

Was westward-fixed upon this little isle.

A seeming barren wasteland where they thought

No noble flower grew, but they knew not

That harsh environs breed a hardy weed

With thick strong roots – and so were the native clans.

A double dozen different warring tribes

Whose several kingdoms compassed this small isle.

The Celts and Picts, the monsters of the north;

The Belgics, fearsome soldiers, men of war

Whose blood and bravery was nonpareil;

The Trinovantes, skilled in word and trade,

Whose craft would make the god Hephaestus blush;

The Druids, shadow walkers, men of night,

Whose wisdom ran as deep as did the woods

Where gods like me and mine do darkly roam.

A hundred years, the Romans gave us siege;

A hundred times we tribes did drive them back

Through bloody battle and brave noble deed.

But we could not forever hold the tide

And soon the Romans claimed this isle as theirs

And we have since lain underneath their yoke

A broken, fractured isle of slaves and curs.

But many wore their slavish bonds with pride:

The client kings who made a pact with Rome,

Which in return for this did offer them

The Roman life of gilded luxury

And dazzled them with wine and song and wealth

Even as they robbed their kingdoms blind.

These client kings took Rome’s gold offerings

And thought themselves as equal with great Rome –

But a chain of gold is still naught but a chain

And they were no more free than were their subjects

Who heavy felt the conquering heel of Rome

Grind their faces down into the dirt.

Now here we witness this: the funeral

Of one such client king, Prasutagus,

King of the Iceni (a noble eastern tribe:

Masters of horses, carriers of the spear).

His fellow client kings have come to mourn

And celebrate his life in liquor; while

Already Rome’s imperial officer,

Catus Deciamus, has begun

To carve his lands and wealth up for great Rome.

But soon will come a figure to this scene:

The wife of Prasutagus, the Icenian Queen

Who comes to claim her kingdom – but perforce

Will come to claim the right of this whole isle

For those who live in it, and she will lead

These scattered, fractious tribes in unison

Against their tyrant masters. She will dip

Her javelin’s tip into their blood and write

Her name in history so all will know

The warrior queen who made the Romans fear.