James IV: Queen of the Fight

Cast: 4f 7m plus optional extras

Staging: Various locations, can be simply staged

Amateur rights performance fee: £85 per performance (plus VAT where applicable)

Paperback, 112 pages ISBN: 9781839041327Publication Date:
13 Oct 2022
Size: 198mm x 129mm£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
Ebook, 112 pages ISBN: 9781788506298Publication Date:
13 Oct 2022
£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
First Staged:
National Theatre of Scotland, 2022

James IV: Queen of the Fight

By Rona Munro

Paperback £10.99£8.79

Ebook £10.99£8.79

Scotland, 1504, seen fresh through the eyes of new arrivals Ellen and Anne, two Moorish women who were expected to take their place at a royal court… but not this one.

Both women now have to fight to find and keep a place in the dazzling, dangerous world of the Scottish court of James IV. It's a world where war is never far away, words of love and promises of peace are not what they seem, and where poets might turn out to be more dangerous than any assassin.

Rona Munro continues her journey through an uncharted period of Scottish history with James IV: Queen of the Fight, which was first presented in 2022 by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland, and directed by Laurie Sansom.

It follows the spectacular success of Munro's plays about James I, II and III, which were first performed by National Theatre of Scotland, transferred to the National Theatre, London, and were named Best New Play at the Evening Standard Awards.

The original three-play cycle is available in the volume The James Plays: James I, II and III.

Note for Performers: each play in Rona Munro's cycle of Scottish history plays is designed to stand alone. An audience doesn't need to have seen previous instalments, but there are rewards for those who have.

'You're a wonder. You're a window into a wide world.'

Press Quotes

'Epic and intimate... abounds with curious, colourful characters... Scotland's answer to Shakespeare's cycle of history plays. The similarities are there in the scope of [Munro's] script, the cross-section of courtly society she presents and in the flashes of humour that illuminate the evening. Most of all, they are in the play's questing contemplation of royal and national identity, then and now... a fun and fascinating riposte to Shakespeare'

The Stage

'Explosive and chilling'

Guardian

'Passionate and timely... hilarious and shocking, with some killer put-downs... Munro skips so nimbly between tones and ideas that you barely notice the expansive ground she's managing to cover. In shining a bright new light on diversity in late medieval Scotland, it's a revelation. More than that, though, it reminds us of some profound questions about tolerance and power that are very much still with us today'

Arts Desk

'Ambitious and admirable... a history play that says a great deal about modern Scotland'

Financial Times

Cast: 4f 7m plus optional extras

Staging:Various locations, can be simply staged

Amateur rights performance fee: £85 per performance (plus VAT where applicable)

Paperback,112 pages ISBN: 9781839041327Publication Date:
13 Oct 2022
Size: 198mm x 129mm£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
Ebook,112 pages ISBN: 9781788506298Publication Date:
13 Oct 2022
£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)

Also by Rona Munro:

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

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