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FROM THE BARN THEATRE ARCHIVE

Barn Theatre Club presented

Part of the Barn’s 2021-2022 Season.

The Lifeblood

By Glyn Maxwell

Directed by Glyn Maxwell

22nd – 30th April 2022 at 8:00pm

Matinee on April 30th at 2:30pm

Duration: 1hr 50mins approx. with one interval

The last days of Mary, Queen of Scots

Maxwell’s writing gleams with the wit of John Donne and is delivered in the rhythm of Shakespeare.

☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5

The Scotsman

Presented by arrangement with Glyn Maxwell and Bloomsbury Publishing

Contains a very limited amount of bad language (more information here)

1588. Mary Stuart is held in captivity. She fled to England nineteen years ago, after being deposed in Scotland. Her cousin, Elizabeth I of England, gave her assurances of support, but no help came. Mary dwells in the squalid Chartley Manor with only Claude Arno, her loyal French secretary, for company. Their jailer, strict Puritan Sir Amyas Paulet, watches their every move.

One day a stranger appears. Thomas Gorge tells Mary he is in touch with the Catholic thrones of France and Spain, who stand ready to rescue her. Mary is enthralled by the romantic Gorge, who has smuggled a secret letter inside a beer-keg. It comes from a Catholic aristocrat, Anthony Babington, who will lead the group that will set her free. Mary is thrilled by Babington’s passion, though Arno warns her that the plot also includes a ‘design’ – code for assassinating Queen Elizabeth. Disregarding Arno, Mary replies eagerly to the letter…

Script available here: The Lifeblood

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM

Directed by
Glyn Maxwell

CAST

Mary Stuart

Claudine Arno

Dame Edith Paulet

Sir Thomas Gorge

Sir Francis Walsingham

Glyn Maxwell

CREATIVE TEAM

Assistant Director

Siobhán Hill Elam, Danny Swanson

Production Manager

Wendy Bage

Stage Manager

Sharon Francis

Assistant Stage Manager

Tori White, Natalie Fox-Connor

Set Design

Rosemary Bianchi

Set Construction

Ian Bage, Bob Cameron, Keith Collingwood, Keith Lambert, Norman Merry, Martin Moore, Nigel Rive, John Sear, Eddie Washington

Set Painting

Rosemary Bianchi, Colin Hickey

Wardrobe

Wendy Bage

Lighting

Clifton Hoyle, Devi Smart, Maia Smart

Sound

Rob Wallace

Properties

Sheila Grimmant, Sue Hantke

Video

Glenn Wylds

Production Photography

John Davies, Glenn Wylds

Rehearsal Prompt

Janet Lloyd

Poster & Program

John Cook, Clive Weatherley

With special thanks to Linda Croston and the Lacemarket Theatre, Nottingham; Farm Factory Studios; Margaret Wallace and Wyldsfilm.

Production PHOTOS

(Click image to enlarge)

MEDIA & REVIEWS

Glyn Maxwell is a superlative writer who has taken the last weeks of Mary Stuart’s imprisonment to cast a modern political drama in the exquisite, metaphor-rich language of her contemporaries.

☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5

The Scotsman

Courtroom drama at its very best.

☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5

The Scotsman

Glyn Maxwell’s script somehow manages to suggest the rhythm and structure of Shakespearian language while keeping it in a modern context… It feels like the history play Shakespeare never wrote.

The Stage

The play grips with its superb, taut language.

Metro

British Theatre Guide’s ‘Best Play’ of the Edinburgh Fringe, 2004.