Queen – a play written entirely in Queen Victoria’s own words, taken from her letters and journals – will play the Assembly Rooms at Assembly Festival, Edinburgh, from 1-25 August 2024 (1pm daily). There will be two previews at the Tabard Theatre in London on 28 July.
Starring Sara Crowe, Grace Darling and the voice of Prunella Scales, and directed by Denise Silvey, Queen is a revival of Katrina Hendrey’s acclaimed one-woman show An Evening With Queen Victoria which Prunella performed for 28 years, starting at the Old Vic in 1980. The play was a world-wide success, on radio and film. Now adapted and re-titled Queen by writer Julian Machin, this production incorporates a recently-made voiceover of Prunella Scales as the elderly monarch whose recorded words are interlaced into the action.
Queen also features masterfully-chosen music (by the late Richard Burnett) recorded by Michael Dussek on an 1822 grand piano by Muzio Clementi.
Queen is presented by Chronicles of Ikaro in Association with Cahoots Theatre Company.
Julian Machin said: “Following the death of Elizabeth ll, who based her reign on Victoria’s, the play has come into its own. It’s so insightful, because it’s all in her own words and acts like a prism through which the entire modern monarchy can be seen.”
Denise Silvey said: “It really is like a prequel to The Crown.”
To book tickets, visit Assembly Festival: https://assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/565-queen
