Glory on Earth E-Book

Linda McLean

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Serie: NHB Modern Plays
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 75

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

'Whom shall I believe? And who shall be judge?' Tuesday, 19 August, 1561, 9 a.m. Through the fog a ship arrives in Leith docks, and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, steps ashore. She is eighteen and on her young shoulders rest the hopes of the Catholic establishment of Europe. The nation that receives her has just outlawed her church and its practices. Its leader is the radical cleric and protestant reformer, John Knox. Both believe themselves ordained by God. Both believe themselves beloved by their people. Both were exiled and returned home… but only one can make Scotland their own. Linda McLean's play Glory on Earth premiered at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in May 2017, in a production directed by Lyceum Artistic Director David Greig.

Leseprobe

Linda McLean

GLORY ON EARTH

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Characters

Note on Text

Glory On Earth

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Glory On Earth was first performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh on 20 May 2017, with the following cast:

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTSRona MorisonJOHN KNOXJamie SivesTHE MARYSChristina GordonChristie GowansKirsty Eila McIntyreHannah Jarrett-ScottShannon SwanFiona WoodDirectorDavid GreigDesignerKaren TennentLighting DesignerSimon WilkinsonComposerMichael John McCarthyAssistant DirectorEve NicolMovementJanice ParkerCasting DirectorLaura DonnellyDeputy Stage ManagerClaire Williamson

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Jane Dawson, John Laing Professor of Reformation History at the University of Edinburgh, for sharing her time, her expansive knowledge of John Knox, and her enthusiasm for her subject.

Rona Munro’s gentle encouragement while I was lost in research and feeling as if I had a huge mountain to climb, was balm to my soul.

David Greig’s absolute belief that we could do this is what made it possible.

I’d also like to thank Eve Nicol, who is the Assistant Director everyone will be looking for, because she is thinking faster and further than anyone else in the room.

And many thanks to Fiona and Brian Gayne, who provided me with a home from home.

Thanks and love to Blandine Pelissiér and Sarah Vermande for their great skill and sisterhood.

Eternal love and thanks to John D Ferris, who smiles at me every morning.

L.M.

For my mother, Margaret Maxwell,who believed in me before anyone else did.

Characters

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, eighteen to twenty

JOHN KNOX, forty-eight to fifty

A CHORUS plays all the other parts

MARYS

LORDS

JAMES

MAITLAND

BRETHREN

HUNTLY

MONTROSE

AMBASSADOR

BESS

SPY

MESSENGER

GOSSIP

The play takes place in Scotland between 1561 and 1563

Note on Text

The lines given to MARY are spoken by both Mary Queen of Scots and the Chorus. These should remain fluid – and be divided up by the company as they see fit. Mary Queen of Scots can choose to join in on as many of the MARY // lines as she can justify. Similarly, the division of lines for when the Chorus play other parts is up to the company.

In general, a double slash (//) means that the Chorus or characters should speak in unison or simultaneously.

A full stop on its own line ( . ) means a lapse in time or shift of place.

(Bracketed words or phrases) are what the character might continue to say if he/she was not interrupted.

Larger/smaller text indicates volume of delivery.

An ellipsis (…) in place of a line means someone might be expected to reply and either can’t or won’t.

A single slash (/) marks a point of interruption.

‘Uh’ is a breath in. ‘Huh’ is a breath out.

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

MARY// Il était un petit navireIl était un petit navireQui n’avait ja-ja-jamais naviguéQui n’avait ja-ja-jamais naviguéohé ohé1

MARYEverybody knows about our death

MARY// Dear God

MARYThat undressed

MARYUn-blesst

MARYUn-confesst

MARYParsimonious

MARYPunishing end

MARYLittle warning

MARYFew friends

MARYMother of God

MARYIt couldn’t have been worse

MARYHad we been cursed

MARYI think we’re all agreed

MARY// Aye

MARY// I don’t

MARY// ?

MARYAgree

MARYBut it was

MARYClodhopping chopping

MARYMis-hitting bone

MARYMuttering lips

MARY// Sweet Jesus

MARYCack-handed hews

MARYLolloping head

MARYRusting axe

MARYScraping through stringy sinews

MARYMary Queen of Scots got her head sawn off

MARY// Mary!

MARYNowHow could it have been worse?

MARYWe might have screamed

MARY// Never

MARYStruggled

MARY// Jesus Mary and Joseph

MARYBegged

MARY// Save our soul

MARYSister Queen

MARYIf they had dragged us to that block

MARY// Fwack

MARYKicking

MARYScreaming

MARYCursing

MARYOr worse

MARY// ?

MARYUnconscious

MARYOur horror

MARYFear

MARYTerror

MARYIncontinence

MARYWould have been the story of our end

MARY// God forbid

MARYHe didI meanAt least we died with dignityDidn’t we?

MARY// Aye

MARY// I think // so

MARY// So the leaving could have been worse

MARYAnd everyone knows how it goes

MARY// Chop

MARYStop

MARYBut the beginning

MARYWho knows the beginning?

MARY// Which one?

MARYThe first breath?

MARYTouch?

MARYLook?

MARYStep?

MARYWord?

MARYThe first berth to France and its motherless love

MARYThe first communion

MARYThe first dance

MARYThe first kiss as a bride

MARYThe moment the darling boy died

MARYThe day we came back in a haar

MARYSo deep and marrow-chill that we clung to the rail of the ship until the captain fired the cannon

MARY// boom

MARYTo announce our arrival

KNOXIn a city made dark and dank by our cautioning Lord

MARY// And my heart sank

KNOX// And my heart sank to depths already plumbed by bloody revenge and long years of exile

MARYAs I walked with steady footsteps on this plank

KNOXWe will all be damned for sinning

MARYMy beginning will be my end

MARYUhhhhh

MARYThe first breath then

MARY// Huh

MARYLet’s begin with that

MARYIn a palace

MARYIn Linlithgow

MARYIn a chamber

MARYOn a bed

MARY// Aaaaaaaaaaa

MARYBarely take the first rush of sharp December air into my chittering lungs

MARYWhen those men

MARYAlways the men

MARYRush in with that first-to-tell-the-news privilege on their lips

LORD// Dead

MARYThey said

MARYBarely take my first breath, my first open-eyed look at the woman holding me before my heart fails

MARY// Tock

MARYAnd in the failing there is flight, a sight of the shock from above, a dove perched on the sill coos a pillow of

MARY// hoo Hoo hoo

MARY// hoo Hoo hoo

MARYIs dead?

MARYTon Papa

MARYThe woman I love stiffens and falls, we are all three of us, mother, father and child, joined in a perfect trinity of still, no tick or tock, bar the rocking of the lullaby in the vein

MARY// whoosh

MARY// wheesh

MARY// now babbie

LORDYour daddy

LORDFather

LORDKing of the castle

LORDIs dead

MARYThey said

LORDAnd won’t be the last to lose his sons

LORDBut gain a daughter and see her misfortunate future pass before his eyes

MARY// A lass

LORD// A lack

KNOXA monstrous thing

MARYSays Knockes

MARYFrom above I see the woman I love more than any other, being watched and prayed over

MARY// Hail Mary full of grace

MARY// The Lord is with thee

MARYTripping off their noble tongues

LORDGive the babbie to me, one of them says

LORDGive her over

LORDI’ll keep her safe

LORDI have a son almost the same age

LORDI have a palace

LORDAn estate

LORDA treasure

LORDI see her hesitate

LORDI have a crown

LORDAn army

MARYI feel my mother’s fear from here in the rafters, a draught blows through the opening door

MARYA conspiracy of

LORDIt could be done now

LORDIf we had the nerve

LORDThe steel

LORDThe end might serve us right well

LORDAnd our English neighbour

LORD// Who’s with me?

MARY// Who’s with me?

MARYThis child is the blood and bone of us

MARYHeart and soul of us

MARYWhoever owns the child owns the purse

MARYWhoever kills the child earns the curse

LORD// Are you mad?

MARYWith grief alone which crushes my heart

MARYMy mama says

MARYSo that my limbs are weak, you all saw me fall, but my mind my mind is a separate thing, it serves me well and badly at the same time, it thinks on as regularly as if today were any other day when the difference could not be more glaring, and so this heartless mind of mine is well aware of your generous offer to care for my daughter, who has barely taken her first breath

MARY// Uh

MARYAnd yet finds herself at once fatherless and in possession of his crown

MARYThey bow down

MARY// Your Majesty

MARYMarie

MARYThey reach

MARYThey kneel

MARYThey offer their swords

MARYTheir words of fealty and admiration

KNOXIncantations of worldliness trip from their tongues

MARYIt should have been obvious that day

MARYHow the men in this realm would betray me

KNOX// Even then

MARY// Even then

KNOXAt this first temptation of their valour

MARYPower

KNOXPleasure

MARYWill

MARY