The Abdication
T01701216812
"The Queen of Sweden sleeps alone and swears she'll never marry. Come Board the Monster, Dame or Man and see which sex she'll carry!" So the bawdy Tavern tune lyricises the dilemma of Queen Christina of Sweden. Her bizarre life and unprecedented choices are under the spotlight in Ruth Wolff's skillfully written contemporary historical work. It is 1655 and Christina arrives in Rome after abdicating her throne and embracing Catholicism. Expecting to be welcomed by the Pope himself, Christina finds herself facing less than she'd dreamed of and something more frightening than she'd imagined. Cardinal Azzolino is charged with discovering Christina s motives for abdicating and converting. In seeking the truth, he compels her to confront the nightmares of her childhood, the ambiguity of her sexuality and her supreme fear of intimacy. Through seamless, dream-like sequences, her conflicting masculine and feminine personas, Chris and Tina reveal more than Christina, left to her own devices, would be willing to divulge. As she is impelled to trust this commanding man of the church and Azzolino is drawn to her fascinating and complex character, they are shocked to discover something that could offer them Heaven for one moment and cause them to lose it forever.
Archive :: production:T01701216812, play:S2055631871, venue:V217
Production details
Through their portrayal of these historical characters, Eudicyde Productions’ large cast converts the intimate setting of Pentameters Theatre to the Vatican of 1655, the court of Christina’s childhood and the present-day arena of a woman in search of herself. Contemporary yet timeless, Ms Wolff has created an achingly poignant story of a woman whose life fascinates and baffles.