Filled with song and poetry and heart and guts, it is a violent, sumptuous and altogether thrilling ride, set in the period of Edward’s rule, but with a contemporary edge. Threatened by the preferment shown to the ‘upstart’ Gaveston, and exasperated by Edward’s neglect of matters of state, the king’s nobles join forces with Queen Isabella and the clergy to plot the downfall of Edward’s circle of flatterers, and ultimately of the king himself.Įdward II is a play about homosexuality, the abuse of power and a quarrelling court. King Edward recalls his lover, Gaveston, from banishment and sets in motion a chain of events that will culminate in some of the most shocking scenes in all of early modern theatre. It depicts a gay relationship in the 14th century, written in the 16th century, in a way that most stories and lives were not openly portrayed until the late 20th century.Please note that this production has now closed. Gammons, “ Edward II was kept off the stage for more than 200 years, in large part because of the cultural ambivalence of its social matter and the spectre of male sexuality as a threat to the civilized order of society and power. These conflicts lead to Gaveston’s exile and murder, new and shifting romantic loyalties on all sides, and revenge and retribution that ultimately seal Edward’s fate. His radical ideas around affairs of state, lack of military acumen, and loyalty to his ambitious lover Piers Gaveston pit him against powerful nobles and his calculating queen.
In the wake of Edward I’s death, his son Edward has taken the throne as Edward II. Marlowe uses the tumultuous history of 14th century England to share one man’s struggle between self identityĪnd the demands of his court and kingdom, presented in a taut new version that pares the work to eightĬharacters to suit the intimate space of the CWT and the intensity of his script. “Can kingly lions fawn on creeping ants?” “My father is deceased come, Gaveston, and share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.” The great-grandfather of Richard II, Edward II showered favor on his treasured friend, Gaveston, leading to bitter resentment from the nobles with fatal consequences.
0 kommentar(er)
