Taking it to heart

This is totally an acting thing. I keep taking parts more and more to heart.

During the court scene, I started out talking to Henry as Henry. It didn’t really affect me in any way except as the actor Amy dealing with Henry like she would—chastising him, maybe, for being SUCH a dickhead. Then I went method and “what iffed” a guy who had screwed me over into the Henry position. That worked, a little. Then I took it one step further and put my lovely real-life boyfriend in that space. That works best. Katherine still loves him, and once I can embody why, after knowing what I know about Henry, my performance will get infinitely better. I don’t know if she understands why he is tossing her off to the side like that—only partly because of his love for Anne Boleyn, but mostly because he needs an heir, and if Anne Boleyn hadn’t been there, someone else would have.     -Amy

Silly Voyeurs

Hello everyone!  Kathryn H here :)

So there's this really weird thing that's been happening.  It's going to sound really weird I know but just go with it for a minute.

I think people are watching me.

I KNOW I KNOW it sounds weird.  I told you it would!  It's not all the time, but it happens pretty regularly and at specific times of day.  The worst part is that I don't know if they're watching all of us or just me.  I don't want to ask the other Queens, but I feel like I should.  But if the other girls can't see them and I'm crazy, then they'll all just make fun of me.

I hate when they do that.  They think they're all soooo smart with their witty comebacks.  Whatever.  I'm prettier than all of them put together.  That's probably why all these people are watching me.  That's how it's always been.  The boys watch because they want me and the girls watch because they want to be me.

Growing up at Lambeth, no one wanted to be me.  My father was poor, my mother was dead, but I was still nobility so I had to heed my ridiculous grandmother [what an awful, skinny old witch] and deal with my snake of an uncle.  Who would want that?  Plus all the boys watched all the girls.  I was never any different from any of them.  [Except for Joan Bulmer.  She had a face like a bullfrog.  I hoped I was prettier than Frog Face!]

When I arrived at court, people started treating me differently.  From the ladies, there were whispers and glances and giggles.  Some of them ignored me outright.  My dearest Anne of Cleves had to explain it to me.  I still remember how she smiled at me, half laughing and half pitying, and said, "My dear girl, you're very pretty, and I think some of my household may consider you competition."

My face turned as red as Henry's hair.

Henry was one of the many men who started to watch me when I came to court.  I liked the way a lot of them watched me.  Smiling, with a sparkle of mischief in their eyes.  At first I thought that these people who are watching me now might be a memory of that.  Many of them smile.  But no one has that little sparkle.  I miss that, more than many things.  Seeing that and knowing that someone would actually talk and laugh--and flirt ;)--with me, rather than shoving me aside and calling me a silly little girl.

I don't think these people are watching me like anyone in the court ever watched me.  The continual gaze of courtiers was always so judgemental and calculating.  Even the ones who liked me.  The were judging me to be pretty and friendly and frivolous, and that sparkle of mischief happened only once they calculated how to use me.

Henry and Thomas were the only ones who ever looked at me without a plan.  Thomas never had a plan for anything, and, as for Henry, the plan for our brief life together was all my uncle's doing and Cranmer's undoing.

Then there were the people who didn't like me.  The people who just stared.  Totally cold.  I never knew why they hated me so much.  Those were the people who stared out at my execution.  I hated them so much just then, all those eyes looking and judging, thinking that they knew the whole story when they knew maybe only a quarter of it.  When they put the blindfold over my eyes, I was just relieved that I couldn't see them anymore.

These people watching me now, they are different.  They don't judge, they don't seem to want anything.  They seem generally pleased to be watching.  Which is a very comforting feeling.

I don't think I'll ask the other Queens about these watchers.  I think I want to keep them for myself.

I wonder if I can talk to them.  I found this catalog in our Celestial Mailbox [so dubbed by Jane; she's always giving things stupid little nicknames, blech] for a place called Victoria's Secret, and I wonder if I can get one of these watchers to place an order for me.

If not, I'll have to sneak Anne's mobile.  She boxed my ears last time she caught me, and I'd much rather avoid that.

Hearts,
K

Being Jane

Plain Jane or Jane the Fair? Pious Jane, friend of Queen Katherine and champion of the Catholic cause? A saintly little wife? Or plotting, calculating, ambitious Jane? 

It has been a really difficult journey of discovery to decide which side of the coin to play, as an actress. While the personalities of these women do manage to emerge through the ages, they are often characterized by stereotype. No doubt, stereotype is fun to play with, especially when we are dealing in enlarged, baffoon versions of these queens as we do in our show. But I would like to know this woman, have some sense of her I can be certain of. Jane has been especially difficult to put my finger on because there is arguably the least amount of information on her out of all the queens of Henry. Her actions seem to suggest duplicity, and the accounts of her person from the time are too weighted by the controversy. 

Here are a few things I do know about Jane: 

• She was a supporter of Katherine of Aragon and the Catholic cause, which would have made her a very attractive pawn. 
• Also, once she was Queen, she reconciled Henry with his daughter Mary Tudor. She was reputably demure and soft spoken, gentle even, and not well educated. 
• She wrote almost not at all. Ironically, she seems to have been very adept at playing her mistress Boleyn's own game. 
• She refused Henry's advances but kept herself near.

It is frightening to think, though, at what point it became clear to her that supplanting Anne Boleyn would mean not divorce, as in Aragon's case, but certain death. Jane must have had some moxy to go forward knowing that would be the result. If she had any choice at all... Here is a delightfully worded snipet from Victorian Historian Agnes Strickland: 

Jane saw murderous accusations got up against the queen, which finally brought her to the scaffold, yet she gave her hand to the regal ruffian before his wife's corpse was cold. Yes; four-and-twenty hours had not elapsed since the sword was reddened with the blood of her mistress, when Jane Seymour became the bride of Henry VIII.

I relate very strongly to this segment from Karen Lindsey's Divorced Beheaded Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of The Wives of Henry VIII: 

In all the events in which she took part, Jane as an individual seems puzzlingly almost eerily absent. Her brother pushed her at the king, and she, in Strickland's apt word, "received" Henry's advances. Acting as a virtuous woman was supposed to, and as Henry seems to have wanted her to, she held out for marriage, passively watching the horrifying process of Anne's destruction. 

Did she believe in Anne's guilt? Was she angry with Anne for betraying Henry? With Henry for killing Anne? Was she frightened at the thought of marrying a man who humiliated one wife and was about to kill another? Did she ever turn to her brother and say "get me out of this?" We don't know. We don't even have enough material to make an educated guess. Was Jane willing to be used against Anne? Was she eager? Did will have anything to do with it? And what of love? The King mourned her for years. He had her painted beside him in a family portrait long after she was dead, in fact at the time Catherine Parr was his queen. What kind of a woman does Bluebeard love? I can guess a quiet one, calculating or not. A woman with a firm sense of duty and self-control who learned quickly not to interfere in politics. A woman who could attract Henry and even hold him. 

And who knows how long she would have been favored if she hadn't gotten out of the whole situation by dying? After doing her ultimate wifely duty, and giving England a Prince, of course.

 -Brianna

Beyond competition

I finally finished Alison Weir's "The 6 Wives of Henry VIII". I admire Katherine Parr as much as I admire Katherine of Aragon. There, I said it.


-Amy

The Play's The Thing...well, actually, no. It's the character that's the thing.

What is so unique about Piccolo Theatre’s production of “Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry!”? Well, to start, it is a character piece, rather than the traditional “fourth-wall” type drama. It also has an extremely tight and well-balanced ensemble, who certainly deliver “the goods” and deliver them well (in some cases with beautiful pink accessories). Piccolo Theatre specializes in ensemble work and comedy (not “improve”) and most audiences this side of the Great Pond are accustomed to “fourth-wall” story-based theatre: i.e. boy meets girl, boy has girl’s head cut off, boy marries his mistress whilst the audience looks on as voyeurs.


I find this concept of “fourth-wall drama” really pretty funny, as life isn’t quite so simple as having a distinct “through-line”. Piccolo’s show is more like people-watching at your local coffee shop – the “story” isn’t so much the development of a plot, but the development of the character: the “story” of that individual queen.

What has been so enjoyable about this process has been the ensemble itself – each cast member has given their individual skills, which has created a unique balance for this show. The character study of “Six Dead Queens” is an exploration into the grotesque – buffoonery, if you will. Each “character” of the queens has been developed through clown work, physical work, mask – and yes, even a little history and a touch of the traditional “METHOD” yearned for by American audiences.

So, if you’re coming to watch a live version of “The Tudors” you may be in for a surprise. While our actresses are prettier than Jonathan Rhys Meyers, they are also more adept at finding the humor in the lives of each queen (balanced with the tragedy), not to mention a lot less diva-behavior than you find with the Hollywood A-List crowd. Plan to attend this show with the intent to participate as a knowledgeable voyeur – know that you’re “people-watching” (you can even drink coffee, provided you grab one at the concession stand before entering the theatre). Enjoy the grotesqueness of each Queen’s story!

-- Leeann (Anna of Cleves)

Getting attached.

I watched part 1 of the “Henry VIII” DVD, because now that I have a cold, I finally have the time. I didn’t like Helena Bonham Carter’s Anne Boleyn. Or maybe I just didn’t like the writing. I thought she was too sympathetic. Everything she did was for a good reason, except making Henry choose between her and Wolsey. There was nothing about Anne threatening to poison Katherine of Aragon or Mary, nothing about defacing Katherine’s seal out of spite, nothing about being two-faced. (It also didn’t show her donating to causes, obtaining leniency for religious “heretics”, or other positive things, for that matter, but that is not my tirade today.) I know there is not time in a 3-hour epic for such things, but all we saw was her rise to power and fall from it. And that was the movie.  If we have time in a 75 minute show to display Anne’s personality, then surely they could have. I know they had to throw in all that religious intrigue and stuff in there, too, but come on.

                They also cut Katherine of Aragon’s court speech. That REALLY bugged me.

-Amy, coincidentally Katherine of Aragon in our production.

Piccolo hits the New York Times!

 Ladies and Gents,

Our darling little Piccolo Theatre has been noticed by a very prestigious publication.  You have have heard of the New York Times?

At Evanston Train Depot, the Play is the Thing


How exciting is this? Not to mention the tidbits about Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry.

Also, a big "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to William Shakespeare on his birthday, today, April 23, 1564.
(Just 16 years after the death of Katerine Parr, and about 218 years before she actually started to decay. I AM IMMORTAL!!!!)  Heh heh heh!

Chicago Theater Blog review

Here's another!

and I quote:
"Six Dead Queens is an entertaining intersection of academia and vaudeville. At times uproariously funny, at times remarkably sad, the piece successfully explores how competitiveness can make women their own worst enemies, how comfort can make them their own saviors and how men can be pigs."

http://chicagotheaterblog.com/2010/04/20/6-dead-queens-and-an-inflatable-henry/

From the Chicago Reader

So, not yet purchased your tickets to "Six Dead Queens"? Shame shame! Off to the block with you! Here's what the Chicago Reader had to say:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/Event?oid=1394609

Over-inflated Codpiece

My friends Don and Eric recently returned from a fabulous trip to London, where they visited the Tower of London and snapped this photo of King Henry VIII's armor.

Check out that huge peck! Could you imagine that coming toward you in battle?

Would you: 

a) Run in fear?

b) Run in shame of your own pathetic and unimpressive manhood?
c) Worry about getting your eye poked out?
d) Vow to get one of your own, the next time you were at the blacksmith's?

e) Simply fall over, dying of laughter? 

And wouldn't this make it slightly difficult to ride horse? I can only imagine the sorts of unnatural chaffing that would go on. No pain, no gain, eh?  Poor, poor, King Henry! HAHAHA!

Playing Catharine Parr, the last queen who was married to him while he was...ehem!..."unable", I find his overinflated cod-piece unbearably funny!

You are what you eat!

For those of you who will see our production (and you should!), Catharine Parr makes a reference to a certain Gillian McKeith.  I'm guessing not everyone has heard of her, but I can see why our dear Parpy would be such a fan!


"You Are What You Eat" BBC America

Gillian's personal website

Gillian is a hard-nosed, disciplined and diligent mother figure, bent on getting people to ditch their bad eating habits.  Her website has a quote that I think would particularly strike a note with Queene Parr.  "Gillian's latest technique means living under HER roof, following HER rules, with no escape."

After all, Parr was thrown into a family of 1 mad, cantankerous, obese, puss-y legged King Henry, 3 step children who all needed a good education and a mother, and don't even get me started on the state of the union! Who better than Queene Parr to get things in order, take care of the whiney and ill King, and get the noses of those future kings and queens into books?  Bring on the ultimate mother figure!


Never improper, sometimes glamourous, and always in charge and thinking of the big picture, Gillian McKeith is probably the only other human being (besides our dear Parr) who could have brought order and a sense of family life back to the Tudor court. 

Love always,
Denita
(Queene Parr)

Preview #2

What a thrill to have an audience! The preview last night went well - all the queens were ready to deliver their story. Tonight's preivew will continue to help the cast "tighten up" and deliver those punchlines with "one heckuva punch"!

Dead Queens get their say tonight!

We preview tonight to a sold out house and we are thrilled!  We can't wait to get this show in front of people.

Many of you will be familiar with the phrase "Break a Leg", right? It is arguably, historically, and superstiously the best way to tell a performer to "Go get 'em, Tiger!", or "Knock 'em dead!" or whatever it is you want to communicate to your performer without ACTUALLY saying "Good luck", which is oddly considered to be bad luck.

Those who see our show will hear a few references to Charles and Camilla ("Vanilla").  It appears that our dear "Vanilla" has actually broken her leg in honor of our previews!  Prince Charles' Wife, Camilla, Breaks Leg

Poor dear!  The Six Dead Queens wish you a speedy recovery, and hope that you read up on the old custom and simply just wish us broken legs next time.

By the way, Happy 5th Anniversary (today) to the happy couple!

We have a sort of cabaret/burlesque vibe running throughout our little show, so I thought I'd honor that with some dance numbers dedicated to each queen.  Enjoy!!

Katherine of Aragon
Michelle L'Amour's Tango

Anne Boelyn
Ditta von Teese montage

Jane Seymour
Lola Van Ella

Anna of Cleves
Sugar Kane

Kathryn Howard
The Little Blonde Bomb, Inga Ingenue ;)

Catherine Parr
Wrong country, but Dirty Martini has the militaristic thing going fo' sho'!