Elizabeth Rex:
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By Timothy Findley
Directed by Robin Johnson
Featuring Robin Johnson, Jeff Huset, Bob Webster, Michael R. Mikula, Emily Anderson, H. Wesley McClain, Keith Reed, Isabel Nelson, Benjamin Latz, Randy Kapelke, Geoffrey Frethem, Korey Houska, Daniel Sassenberg, Mary Jo Andrusko, Craig Anderson, Deb Ervin, Tucker Nelson
Directed by Robin Johnson
Featuring Robin Johnson, Jeff Huset, Bob Webster, Michael R. Mikula, Emily Anderson, H. Wesley McClain, Keith Reed, Isabel Nelson, Benjamin Latz, Randy Kapelke, Geoffrey Frethem, Korey Houska, Daniel Sassenberg, Mary Jo Andrusko, Craig Anderson, Deb Ervin, Tucker Nelson
The Anne Simley Theatre
Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota
"If you teach me to how to be a woman, I'll teach you how to be a man."
Summary:
It is 1601 and Queen Elizabeth I, distraught at having had to condemn her lover, Essex, to death, has demanded distraction. She commissions William Shakespeare and his players to perform a play. Afterwards she comes to the barn, wanting to meet the actor who played Beatrice and finds him equally distraught. He is dying of syphilis. Throughout her reign, Elizabeth has been aware of her necessity to "play" out the traditional characteristics expected in a male monarch. She foregoes compassion and emotion. "I killed the woman in my heart," she mourns, "that England might survive." Meanwhile, the actor Ned Lowenscroft, has spent his life playing women. As his death grows near, he struggles to face the end with the strength and courage expected of a man. Ned and the queen strike a bargain: "If you will teach me how to be a woman, I will teach you how to be a man," she says. As Shrove Tuesday passes into Ash Wednesday, player and Queen must come to terms with who they truly are and how they will cope with the inevitable.
"Robin Johnson has a better handle on the character of Elizabeth than anyone has a right to have."
-- Sally Wingert, The Guthrie Theater
"Elizabeth Rex is a Best Bet!"
-- Dominic Papatola , St. Paul Pioneer Press
Robin Johnson named Best Actress of the Year by Lavender Magazine
"This play is so well written, it borders on the perilous. The rhythm Johnson established spoke of the script's ultimate structure. A lesser director would have missed that."
-- Alisa Pritchett, Asolo Mainstage, The Great American History Theatre
"Johnson was the cog around which everything else worked. I admired her performance immensely. Bravo!"
-- Mark Wheat, 89.3. The Current
Production sponsors of Elizabeth Rex:
"Robin Johnson has a better handle on the character of Elizabeth than anyone has a right to have."
-- Sally Wingert, The Guthrie Theater
"Elizabeth Rex is a Best Bet!"
-- Dominic Papatola , St. Paul Pioneer Press
Robin Johnson named Best Actress of the Year by Lavender Magazine
"This play is so well written, it borders on the perilous. The rhythm Johnson established spoke of the script's ultimate structure. A lesser director would have missed that."
-- Alisa Pritchett, Asolo Mainstage, The Great American History Theatre
"Johnson was the cog around which everything else worked. I admired her performance immensely. Bravo!"
-- Mark Wheat, 89.3. The Current
Production sponsors of Elizabeth Rex: