The Glove Thief Read online

  Beth Flintoff

  THE GLOVE THIEF

  NICK HERN BOOKS

  www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

  TONIC THEATRE

  www.tonictheatre.co.uk

  Contents

  Platform

  Introduction

  Historical Context

  Original Production

  Production Note

  The Glove Thief

  About the Author

  Copyright and Performing Rights Information

  Commissioning and publishing a range of new plays which give girls a greater share of the action was always on my to-do list when I founded Tonic in 2011. While Tonic has very big aspirations – to support theatre in the UK to achieve greater gender equality – it is a small company and so we have to make careful choices about where we target our efforts. I spend lots of time looking to identify ‘pressure points’ – places where, with a bit of work, a great effect can be achieved. For this reason, much of Tonic’s work focuses on partnerships with some of the largest theatres in the country, because if they change, others will follow. But it has always been clear to me that youth drama is one of the greatest pressure points of all. It is the engine room of the theatre industry; tomorrow’s theatre-makers (not to mention audience members) are to be found today in youth-theatre groups, university drama societies and school drama clubs all over the country. If we can challenge their assumptions about the role of women’s stories, voices, and ideas in drama, then change in the profession – in time – will be immeasurably easier to achieve.

  Beyond this strategic interest in youth drama, I was convinced that girls were getting a raw deal, and I found that troubling. Having worked previously as a youth-theatre director, I was familiar with the regular challenge of trying to find scripts that had adequate numbers of female roles for all the committed and talented girls that wanted to take part. In nearly all the various youth-drama groups I worked in across a five-year period, there were significantly more girls than boys. However, when it came to finding big-cast, age-appropriate plays for them to work on, I was constantly frustrated by how few there seemed to be that provided enough opportunity for the girls. When looking at contemporary new writing for young actors to perform, one could be mistaken for thinking that youth drama was a predominantly male pursuit, rather than the other way round.

  Aside from the practicalities of matching the number of roles to the number of girls in any one drama group, the nature of writing for female characters was something I struggled to get excited about. While there were some notable examples, often the writing for female characters seemed somewhat lacklustre. They tended to be characters at the periphery of the action rather than its heart, with far less to say and do than their male counterparts, and with a tendency towards being one-dimensional, rather than complex or vibrant, funny or surprising. Why was it that in the twenty-first century, the quality as well as the quantity of roles being written for girls still seemed to lag behind those for boys?

  Keen to check I wasn’t just imagining this imbalance, Tonic conducted a nationwide research study looking into opportunities for girls in youth drama, focusing on the quantity and quality of roles available to them. The research was written up into a report, Swimming in the shallow end, and is published on the Tonic website. Not only did the research confirm my worst fears, more depressingly, it exceeded them. Many of the research participants were vocal about the social, artistic and emotional benefits that participation in youth-drama productions can have on a young person’s life. But so too were they – to quote the report – on ‘the erosion to self-esteem, confidence and aspiration when these opportunities are repeatedly held out of reach… [and] for too many girls, this is the case’.

  But despite the doom and gloom of the research findings, there remained an exciting proposition; to write stories that weren’t currently being put on stage, and to foreground – rather than ignore – the experiences, achievements and world-view of young women, perhaps the group above all others in our society whose situation has altered so dramatically over the past hundred or so years. The brief Tonic sets Platform writers is: write a large-cast play specifically for performance by young actors, with mainly or entirely female casts and in which the female characters are no less complex or challenging than the male characters. We ask them to write in such a way that these plays can be performed by young people anywhere in the country, and that there should be scope for every school, college and youth-theatre group performing the play to make a production their own.

  There are now five Platform plays published, of which this is one, and our hope is that there will be many more. Our aspiration – fundraising permitting – is to keep commissioning titles in the series so that over time, Platform will become a new canon of writing for young actors, and one that puts girls and their lives centre stage. The first three plays in the series were published two years ago and already in that time have been performed across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, as well as in Ireland, Australia and the USA. I look forward to hearing about productions of this play, and a future where great stories about girls and their lives are being staged in theatres, halls, drama studios and classrooms as the rule rather than the exception.

  Lucy Kerbel

  Director, Tonic

  www.tonictheatre-platform.co.uk

  Acknowledgements

  Tonic would like to thank:

  Matt Applewhite, Tamara von Werthern, Jon Barton, Marcelo Dos Santos and all at Nick Hern Books, Moira Buffini, Company Three, Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance, the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, and the National Theatre Studio.

  We are grateful to the following for their support of Platform:

  The Chapman Charitable Trust, Didymus, Garrick Charitable Trust, Golsoncott Foundation, John Thaw Foundation, and Unity Theatre Trust.

  Tonic was created in 2011 to support the theatre industry to achieve greater gender equality in its workforces and repertoires. Today, Tonic partners with leading theatres and performing-arts organisations around the UK on a range of projects, schemes and creative works. Current and recent partners include Chichester Festival Theatre, English Touring Theatre, National Theatre, New Wolsey Theatre, Northern Ballet, Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company, Sadler’s Wells, West Yorkshire Playhouse, and the Young Vic.

  Tonic’s approach involves getting to grips with the principles that lie beneath how our industry functions – our working methods, decision-making processes, and organisational structures – and identifying how, in their current form, these can create barriers. Once we have done that, we devise practical yet imaginative alternative approaches and work with our partners to trial and deliver them. Essentially, our goal is to equip our colleagues in UK theatre with the tools they need to ensure more talented women are given the opportunity to rise to the top.

  Platform is a collaboration between Tonic and Nick Hern Books. Nick Hern Books also publishes Tonic’s books: 100 Great Plays for Women and All Change Please: A Practical Guide to Achieving Gender Equality in Theatre.

  www.tonictheatre.co.uk

  We leapt at the chance to publish and license the Platform plays in collaboration with Tonic, and always had high hopes that by making plays available which gave young women the opportunity to take centre stage, we would improve not only their confidence levels, but also start to have a positive effect on the theatrical landscape as a whole.

  After all, here at the Performing Rights Department at Nick Hern Books, we’re often asked,‘Are there any plays for young people?’… ‘Have you got anything for a large cast?’… and ‘Is there anything with strong female roles?’

  Whilst the answer to these questions is, in each case, a resounding ‘Yes!’ (and in fact
the majority of plays we’ve published in recent years have been by women), the number of plays that fulfil all three of these criteria – strong roles for a large, predominantly or all-female cast of young actors – has historically been less plentiful. Yet that’s where there’s so much demand! Nearly every teacher and youth-theatre director in the country knows that it’s girls who make up the majority of their casts, and yet the plays available are often dominated by men. Because we can generally only publish what is being produced on the professional stages of the UK, until the theatre industry starts staging more plays with these qualities, the numbers will remain low. It’s a vicious circle.

  Two years after the publication of the first three Platform plays in 2015, I am delighted to report that this circle has somewhat started to disintegrate. It’s a source of great pleasure that, aside from their social and political purpose, they’re all excellent plays in their own right. As such, we have licensed dozens of productions of the Platform plays to date, providing opportunities and great roles to hundreds of young women (and young men, for that matter) around the world. While this is cause for celebration, it is no reason for complacency – the journey continues – and we are delighted to publish two great new Platform plays, which will hopefully be received as enthusiastically by schools and youth-theatre groups as the first three in the series.

  Nick Hern Books looks after the amateur performing rights to over a thousand plays, and we know from experience that when it comes to choosing the right play it can be confusing (and pricey) to read enough of what’s out there until you know which play is right for you. This is why we send out approval copies: up to three plays at a time, for thirty days, after which they have to be paid for, or returned to us in mint condition, and you just need to pay the postage. So there is no reason not to read all of the available Platform plays to see if they will suit your school, college or youth-theatre group. We’re very hopeful that one of them will.

  Performing rights to all five Platform plays are available at a specially reduced rate to enable even those on a very tight budget to perform them. Discounts are also available on cast sets of scripts; and the cover images on these books can be supplied, free of charge, for you to use on your poster.

  If you have any questions about Platform, or any of the plays on our list, or want to talk about what you’re looking for, we are always happy to speak with you. Call us on +44 (0)20 8749 4953, or email us at [email protected].

  And here’s to many more Platform plays in the future!

  Tamara von Werthern

  Performing Rights Manager

  Nick Hern Books

  www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/plays-to-perform

  Introduction

  Beth Flintoff

  This is the fourth in a series of historical plays I am lucky enough to have been asked to write in the past couple of years. The experience has made me realise how profoundly dissatisfied I am with the way history has been presented to us so far, and how happy to discover that all along there have been countless stories of remarkable women, sitting unnoticed in the dustbin of history, waiting for someone to brush them off. This story, of a group of women forced to spend years closed up together and trying not to go mad in the process, was one such forgotten tale of courage and ingenuity that deserves to be told.

  If such a thing as a completely accurate historical play exists, this isn’t it. I did a lot of research, spending many days poring over books in libraries, but then compressed, ignored, and bullied the facts into the shape of a drama. I have stayed true to the essential story, and, more importantly, I tried to work my way into the heads of these women, to respect their stories through the prism of the centuries. The one total invention is the character of Rose. It’s hard to relate to the actions of the fabulously rich and/or royal unless you’re in that top one per cent yourself, so I wanted to look at the story through the eyes of someone more ordinary. I wanted Rose to take us into Tutbury, with her eyes open wide and her jaw on the floor, gasping in disbelief at the way the other half lives.

  Below I have tried to place the characters of Elizabeth, Bess and Mary in some kind of historical context. All the other characters at least began their lives in the history books, though Cecily is literally just a name on a list. I have no proof whatsoever that she spied for Walsingham, but he certainly did have female spies. In the name of economy I have laced together Walsingham’s role in the history with that of another adviser, William Cecil. In fact, Cecil was the senior official and would have been more likely to give Elizabeth advice, while Walsingham would have been out in the field collecting information. It’s true that Elizabeth had smallpox scars, that her half-sister Queen Mary ate marmalade to aid her fertility, and that at this point Elizabeth was under relentless pressure to marry. It’s true that Seaton and Livingston stayed with Mary until she died; Livingston’s husband lived in the household with them, but Seaton never married. And it’s true that Mary’s cushion cover to Norfolk was delivered by a man called Borthwick, who then disappeared and could not be traced. This was a point I worked backwards from, to get to Rose.

  Being asked to write a play designed to be performed primarily by young women is an honour and a privilege. I spent seven years working with the Senior Youth Theatre at The Watermill Theatre in Newbury, so I understand the difficulty of finding plays that do not result in a bunfight for sparse female roles. I know what it’s like to be that director, but I also know what it’s like to be in that cast. It feels like only yesterday that I couldn’t have a speaking role in the school play because there was only one female part and I’d had a go last year. Tonic represents a movement for change that I am thrilled to be a part of. Every performance by a youth or community theatre is a miracle, a triumph of hard work and faith over practical and financial obstacles. It’s a source of great pride for a playwright to be a breeze-block in the building of such miracles. I hope you have a whole world of fun doing it.

  Acknowledgements

  I am so grateful to Lucy Kerbel at Tonic Theatre for asking me to write this play, and for her intelligent and insightful dramaturgy; to Liz and Harland Walshaw for telling me about the Oxburgh Hangings; to Ade Morris and Hedda Beeby at The Watermill for suggesting I was a writer before I had worked it out for myself; to Nicola Gentle for help with embroidery techniques; to Ola Ince for her directorial suggestions; to the cast, David Zoob and the whole team at Rose Bruford College. I am thankful for the existence of libraries in general, specifically Reading University Library and the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

  I am grateful to my father, Nick, who bought me history books as a child, and my mother, Jane, whose fascination with grammar and words makes her a great proofreader, and endlessly indebted to my husband, Nick, who is just very nice about it all.

  Finally, I wish to pay tribute to Gypsy the cat, who solemnly scrutinised every word in the first draft, but sadly did not live to throw up all over the final version. She was my constant writing companion and I feel her absence very much.

  B.F.

  Historical Context

  In February 1569, Mary, Queen of Scots arrived at Tutbury Castle, having escaped in a fishing boat from the land she had once ruled, with her reputation in tatters. As Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin, she was potentially the next in line to the English throne, making her very presence in England a threat. She also had a son, at a time when Elizabeth’s apparent reluctance to choose a husband and sort out a suitable heir for herself was seen as deeply disturbing by most people in England. Unsure of what to do with her cousin, Elizabeth charged her friends, the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, with Mary’s care, while her previous conduct was investigated. It was meant to be a brief stay, but the years dragged by, and Mary became the subject of endless plots and intrigues until she was finally executed in 1587.

  Mary, Queen of Scots

  Mary’s problems in Scotland stemmed from the accusation that she was involved in the murder of her second husband, Lord Darnley. Their relationship had been
stormy; Darnley demanded to be named co-sovereign and Mary refused. He was jealous of Mary’s secretary, David Rizzio, and had him murdered in front of her eyes during dinner, while she was six months pregnant. Divorce was discussed, but didn’t happen, and it seemed for a few months as though Mary was trying to reconcile with him. But in February 1567, Darnley died from a deliberately caused explosion in Edinburgh while Mary was attending a friend’s wedding. The man everyone thought behind the murder, the Earl of Bothwell, was one of her friends. A few weeks later, Mary went to visit her baby son in Stirling and on the way back was met by Bothwell and taken, either willingly or by force, to his castle. Bothwell had himself been divorced twelve days earlier. Shortly afterwards she announced that they were married, and that she was pregnant with twins. To this day it is not clear whether Mary wanted to marry him or not; it is possible that she didn’t want to say she had been forced because she was afraid she would disinherit the babies.

  Mary’s marriage to Bothwell was deeply unpopular, suspected as he was of murdering Darnley. Twenty-six Scottish lords banded together and raised an army, and in the ensuing battle Mary was taken prisoner, carried through Edinburgh in front of a jeering crowd, and then taken to a fortified island. There she miscarried her twins and was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, James VI of Scotland (later also James I of England). Her half-brother Moray was made Regent, and Bothwell was driven into exile in Denmark where he went insane. The following year she managed to escape, arriving in England by fishing boat. She was taken first to Bolton, then to Tutbury Castle, and into the care of Bess and George Shrewsbury, in February 1569. Tutbury was a depressing place by all accounts – cold, damp and small – so in the end Mary was moved to other houses owned by the Shrewsburys, shunted from place to place at great expense, depending on the state of her health and Queen Elizabeth’s commands.