The Virgin Trial
“…political intrigue boils at the surface of the second of Hennig’s…plays about the Tudor queens.”
San Diego Union-Tribune
“An impressive switch from being one of Canada’s most notable actors to being one of our most noteworthy playwrights”
The Globe and Mail
“A bold combination of historical research and creative moxie”
Toronto Star
“Powerful, taut, moving and often-witty visualization of the young Princess Elizabeth”
Stratford Beacon Herald
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Wilde Tales
Cyrano de Bergerac
Mother's Daughter
The Virgin Trial
The Last Wife
Kate Hennig continues her Queenmaker series by cleverly exploring victim shaming, sexual consent, and the extraordinary ability of girls becoming women as she reimagines a scandalous and little-known story of Elizabeth the First before she was Queen.
Fifteen-year-old Bess has no idea when she heads to London to see her uncle Ted that she is about to find herself at the heart of a scandal involving sexual impropriety; her stepfather, Thom; and an attempted overthrow of the government. What does all this have to do with her? How adroitly can Bess manoeuvre through a series of interviews to avoid being swept up in the peril that might ensue? And will she be able to spin the facts to create a myth based on her own innocence?
Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press, 2017
Materials: Script available upon request
Selected Production History
: Stratford Festival (Stratford, ON); Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa, ON); Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary, AB); Cygnet Theatre (San Diego, CA
)
