James I: The Key Will Keep the Lock
Published in volume The James Plays
First Staged:
Edinburgh International Festival, 2014

James I: The Key Will Keep the Lock

By Rona Munro
Published in volume The James Plays

The first part of The James Plays cycle, exploring the complex character of the colourful Stewart King James I – poet, lover and law-maker.

Captured at the age of 13 and crowned King of Scots in an English prison, James I of Scotland is delivered home 18 years later with a ransom on his head and a new English bride. The nation he returns to is poor: the royal coffers empty and his nobles ready to tear him apart at the first sign of weakness. Determined to bring the rule of law to a land riven by warring factions, James faces terrible choices if he is to save himself, his Queen and the crown.

Rona Munro's The James Plays premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2014, before transferring to the National Theatre, London, in a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland.

Published in volume The James Plays

Also by Rona Munro:

The Last Witch
Little Eagles
Bold Girls
James V: Katherine
James II: Day of the Innocents
Scuttlers
Iron
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
James IV: Queen of the Fight
Pandas
The Indian Boy
Fugue
Long Time Dead
Scottish Shorts
The Astronaut's Chair
The Maiden Stone
The James Plays
Your Turn to Clean the Stair & Fugue
Mary Barton
Saturday at the Commodore
James III: The True Mirror
Strawberries in January
Your Turn to Clean the Stair
The House of Bernarda Alba
Gilt
Mary
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
The Basement Flat

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