James IV: Queen of the Fight (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Rona Munro

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

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Scotland, 1504, seen fresh through the eyes of new arrivals Ellen and Anne, two Moorish women who were expected to take their place at a royal court… but not this one. Both women now have to fight to find and keep a place in the dazzling, dangerous world of the Scottish court of James IV. It's a world where war is never far away, words of love and promises of peace are not what they seem, and where poets might turn out to be more dangerous than any assassin. Rona Munro continues her journey through an uncharted period of Scottish history with James IV: Queen of the Fight, which was first presented in 2022 by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland, and directed by Laurie Sansom. It follows the spectacular success of Munro's plays about James I, II and III, which were first performed by National Theatre of Scotland, transferred to the National Theatre, London, and were named Best New Play at the Evening Standard Awards. 'Epic and intimate... abounds with curious, colourful characters... Scotland's answer to Shakespeare's cycle of history plays. The similarities are there in the scope of [Munro's] script, the cross-section of courtly society she presents and in the flashes of humour that illuminate the evening. Most of all, they are in the play's questing contemplation of royal and national identity, then and now... a fun and fascinating riposte to Shakespeare' - The Stage 'Explosive and chilling' - Guardian 'Ambitious and admirable... a history play that says a great deal about modern Scotland' - Financial Times

Leseprobe

Rona Munro

JAMES IV: QUEEN OF THE FIGHT

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

About the Co-Producers

Author’s Note

Characters

James IV: Queen of the Fight

Glossary of Scots Words

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

James IV: Queen of the Fight was first produced by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland and first performed at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, on 30 September 2022, before touring. The cast was as follows:

TURNBULL/ENSEMBLE

Ewan Black

JAMES IV

Daniel Cahill

DONALD

Malcolm Cumming

DAME PHEMY

Blythe Duff

DUNBAR

Keith Fleming

MARGARET

Sarita Gabony

ELLEN

Danielle Jam

ANNE

Laura Lovemore

PETER

Thierry Mabonga

DOUGLAS/ENSEMBLE

Samuel Pashby

ENSEMBLE/ MUSICAL SUPERVISOR

Gameli Tordzro

Writer/Executive Producer

Rona Munro

Director/Executive Producer

Laurie Sansom

Designer

Jon Bausor

Movement Director

Neil Bettles

Composer

Paul Leonard-Morgan

Lighting Designer

Lizzie Powell

Sound Designer

Garry Boyle

Fight Directors

Rachel Bown-Williams & Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie

Historical Consultant

Dr Onyeka Nubia

Associate Director (Rehearsals)

Jaïrus Obayomi

Associate Director (Tour)

Luke Kernaghan

Casting Director

Laura Donnelly CDG

Executive Producer

Margaret-Anne O’Donnell

Executive Producer

Gillian Garrity

Raw Material

With over twenty years’ independent experience making and touring celebrated Scottish theatre around the world, Margaret-Anne O’Donnell and Gillian Garrity, founded Raw Material, an award-winning, independent producing house based in Scotland in 2018,

We believe theatre plays a crucial role in championing socio-political change. Our shared ambition to develop, create and tour bold accessible theatre that inspires, entertains and captivates audiences across borders formed the foundations of our company. We are advocates for access and diversity within the theatre sector and are passionate about enabling creative ambition, developing new models for success and supporting all stages of making theatre happen. We celebrate and applaud the artists, creatives, production teams, marketeers, funders, partners and audiences who continue to support the creation and touring of Scottish theatre both at home and abroad.

To find out more about our work or to support us further www.rawmaterialarts.com or find us on social media @RAWMaterialArts

Since inception in 2018, Raw Material has produced work both in the UK and internationally. Productions include James IV: Queen of the Fight by Rona Munro (Raw Material & Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland, UK 2022), The Stamping Ground by Morna Young (Raw Material & Eden Court Highlands, UK 2022 & 2023), In The Interest of Safety Can Patrons Kindly Supervise Their Children at all Times (21Common & Raw Material, UK 2022, supported by Made In Scotland), Unicorn Christmas Party by Sarah Rose Graber & Ruxy Cantir (Raw Material, HMT Aberdeen, Eden Court Highlands & Capital Theatres, Scotland 2021, 2022 & 2023), Unicorn Dance Party by Sarah Rose Graber & Ruxy Cantir (Raw Material, Scotland 21 & 22), The Signalman by Peter Arnott (Raw Material & Perth Theatre, UK 2021), Glasgow Girls by David Grieg & Cora Bissett (Raw Material in association with Regular Music, UK & international 2019), Dancing in the Streets by Janice Parker (Raw Material, Edinburgh International Festival, UK 2019), What Girls Are Made Of by Cora Bissett (Raw Material & Traverse Theatre, UK & international 2018 & 2019, supported by Made In Scotland), We Are In Time by Untitled Projects & Scottish Ensemble (produced by Raw Material, UK 2019), After The Cuts by Gary McNair (Raw Material & Beacon Arts Centre, UK 2018), Off Kilter by Ramesh Meyyappan (Raw Material, Tron Theatre & TheatreWorks, Singapore, UK & international 2018/19), The Spinners by Limosani Projeks & Al Seed (Raw Material, UK 2019).

Capital Theatres

Capital Theatres present world-class shows to entertain and inspire audiences of all ages.

In a normal year we stage over 700 performances, at the Festival Theatre (1,900 seats), the King’s Theatre (1,300 seats) and The Studio (155 seats), in a broad and inclusive programme featuring the very best in drama, dance, musical theatre, live music, comedy and pantomime.

In June 2021 we reopened the doors to our buildings and welcomed audiences back for the first time since the pandemic turned our theatres dark. Since then we have announced a series of co-productions including James IV: Queen of the Fight, Sunshine on Leith and three festive early-years commissions, the first of which, The Enormous Christmas Turnip, premiered in The Studio in December 2021 while the second, The Gift, will play there this Christmas. We’ve also progressed our talent development strand through our Musical Commissioning Hub.

Much of our programme is exclusive to our venues in Scotland, providing the only opportunity for audiences to see the biggest shows touring north of the border, the best in international contemporary dance and the latest productions from leading local and national companies.

We support access to the arts for everyone and have an extensive creative engagement programme of talks, workshops and events to introduce and develop engagement and interest in the heritage of our buildings and all areas of live performance.

This year we plan to begin the capital redevelopment of the King’s to turn it into both a thriving community hub and a world-class venue while maintaining its history and heritage. You can learn more about how to support this transformational redevelopment by visiting our website.

We are a registered Scottish charity (SC018605) and our theatres and our programme are supported by the City of Edinburgh Council.

www.capitaltheatres.com

The National Theatre of Scotland

The National Theatre of Scotland is dedicated to playing the great stages, arts centres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations of Scotland, the UK and internationally. As well as creating groundbreaking productions and working with the most talented theatre-makers, the National Theatre of Scotland produces significant community engagement projects, innovates digitally and works constantly to develop new talent. Central to this is finding pioneering ways to reach current and new audiences and to encourage people’s full participation in the Company’s work. With no performance building of its own, the Company works with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. Founded in 2006, the Company, in its short life, has become a globally significant theatrical player, with an extensive repertoire of award-winning work. The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government.

www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

Author’s NoteRona Munro

The Queen of the Fight is a stand-alone story but it’s also the fourth play in a series that began with The James Plays trilogy, first staged in 2014. My desire to write a history cycle focusing on the medieval kings and queens of Scotland arose when I first saw the Royal Shakespeare Company stage the entire cycle of Shakespeare’s history plays over three days. That was an extraordinary theatrical experience. Watching it I realised two things: we had no equivalent theatrical celebration of Scottish history, and almost all popular accessible understanding of that period of English history came first from those plays. Every time I have a conversation with anyone about The James Plays, they invariably say the same thing, ‘I don’t know anything about this history.’ Hardly anyone does, but possibly no one in the general population would know about Henry V or Richard III without Shakespeare. I’ve no illusions I can match Shakespeare but I thought someone should try and dramatise Scotland’s history. History is the foundation that forms our present, I think popular culture can do a really important job, examining and revealing the nature of the ground on which we now stand.

Other plays in this series have been completed and some are moving into production as I’m writing this. However each play stands alone, an audience doesn’t need to have seen the previous instalments, but there are Easter eggs and rewards for those who have.

The obstacles to making this particular invisible history visible were, for me, quite daunting. The events of the Queen of the Fight are based on historical facts but they challenge most people’s perception of the true diversity of Scottish history and how long ago it was that people from a wider world were first absorbed into the community of Scotland. I was certainly labouring under several misconceptions. I gradually discovered these to be inaccurate as I finally located the work of historians who have made a detailed study of original source material about Black British history. The insights that allowed mystifying historical events to become explicable came most particularly from Dr Onyeka Nubia when he became our historical consultant for the first production.

The starting point for my research for the play itself was a poem written by the fifteenth-century Scottish makar William Dunbar. This one is usually called ‘Ane Blak Moor’ (A Black Moor). It describes a woman who was the centre of royal tournaments, the ‘Queen of the Fight’. It’s one of the first references to anyone from the global majority in Scottish literature, and it is very clearly derogatory and demeaning. It has been written to hurt someone, to diminish them.

As a first literary milestone for Scotland it does us no favours. But what both troubled and fascinated me was that I felt William Dunbar was a gifted writer. His poetry is, in my uneducated opinion, a mixed bag, some of the poems seem like elaborate imitations of famous medieval English writers but many others, especially those written unequivocally in Scots, are startling in their immediacy. Once you have the tools to penetrate the more archaic language you are reading vivid descriptions of such mundane torments as headaches, poignant evocations of the fear of death, human experiences and emotions that are the same as they ever were. He also returns over and over to another theme that speaks particularly to any writer’s experience, the struggle of the freelancer trying to get a wage for their work from an erratic group of patrons.

As a Scottish writer, looking back at another across a gap of centuries, I felt, possibly in my arrogance, that I might be particularly well equipped to try and understand how that particular poem, ‘Ane Blak More’, came to be written. That was the starting point of this story and I hope the play suggests some possible answers – fiction, speculation, but answers that make sense to me. Dunbar has his legacy and his published record. If I am slandering a ghost I hope at least we are making others who were part of his story visible as they have not been before.

If you are reading this script with a view to staging it I’ll say what I say to every director: the staging suggestions and stage directions are simply that, suggestions, to be used only if helpful. But please don’t mess around with the words. There should be a good reason for every line.

September 2022