2004
\nMurray Bramwell<\/p>\n
An Evening With Queen Victoria
\nPrunella Scales<\/p>\n
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre.
\n1 November, 2004
\nTickets $ 40 – $ 69.
\nBookings BASS 131 246.
\nUntil 3 November.<\/p>\n
Melbourne
\nThe Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio
\n6 -7 November, 2004<\/p>\n
Geelong
\nFord Theatre
\n9 November, 2004<\/p>\n
Cairns
\nCivic Theatre
\n23 -24 November, 2004<\/p>\n
Townsville
\nCivic Theatre
\n25 November, 2004<\/p>\n
Rockhampton
\nPilbeam Theatre
\n26 November, 2004<\/p>\n
Canberra
\nThe Playhouse
\n29 30 November, 2004<\/p>\n
Albury
\nPerforming Arts centre
\n1 December, 2004<\/p>\n
Brisbane
\nQueensland Conservatorium
\nGriffith University
\n3 – 4 December, 2004<\/p>\n
Gold Coast
\nArts Centre
\n5 December, 2004<\/p>\n
Hobart
\nTheatre Royal
\n7 – 8 December<\/p>\n
Launcestoun
\nPrincess Theatre
\n9 December, 2004<\/p>\n
Sydney
\nSydney Theatre
\n11 – 12 December, 2004<\/p>\n
Perth
\nRegal Theatre
\n14 – 15 December, 2004<\/p>\n
Imagine being called, at the age of eighteen, to take the throne of England in its most dynamic period of mercantile and intellectual development. Victoria, daughter of the Saxe-Coburgs, reigned for the greater part of the nineteenth century, sixty four years of public life – privately recorded in diaries, letters and other memoirs which give a fascinating glimpse of a monarch often (and mistakenly) regarded as being as strict and prim as the period she gave her name to.<\/p>\n
Well-known English actor Prunella Scales makes a welcome return to Australia with An Evening with Queen Victoria, a programme of readings and music which highlights both the complexity and disarming directness of their subject. The excerpts, dating from childhood to the day before her death, capture the determination and candour of a young woman learning to rule the Empire, the waves and everything in between. \u201cI am rather short for the Queen,\u201d she gripes, elsewhere decribing her temperament as \u201coften overdone,\u201d \u201cvexed\u201d and \u201cfervent\u201d.<\/p>\n
This is all too evident when she falls for, and courts, her cousin Albert with whom she shared more than twenty years of marriage and nine children. She notes, unsentimentally, the ugliness of several of them, especially Bertie, a bear of very little brain who later became Edward VII. \u201cBut what are children compared to a husband\u201d she exclaims of Albert, on whom she doted and whose death she mourned, almost pathologically, for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
Devised and directed by Katrina Hendrey, this depiction of Victoria is subtle and engaging. The diminutive Prunella Scales, in an understated and unfussy performance, presents a woman with a whim of iron, and more than a little irony. Victoria\u2019s journals, often thought to be somewhat dull, are infused with a droll self-awareness which unfolds without undue prompting from Ms Scales. The music – the young Queen\u2019s favourite quadrilles, selections from Beethoven, Schumann, and works written by Albert himself – is performed with distinction by the pianist Richard Burnett and the tenor Ian Partridge. Also well-judged is the use of Tennyson\u2019s In Memoriam and, from The Gondoliers, W.S.Gilbert on The Working Monarch.<\/p>\n
With only simple period decor and a touch of electric gaslight, the success of this Evening rests with the intelligence and nuance of Prunella Scales\u2019 convincing presentation, restless in adolescence, smitten in marriage, weary with grief, and capturing quiet humour and Victorian non-amusement. Here is a royal audience even republicans can enjoy. .<\/p>\n
\u201cMonarch unmasked through diaries\u201d The Australian, November 5, 2004, p.17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2004 Murray Bramwell An Evening With Queen Victoria Prunella Scales Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre. 1 November, 2004 Tickets $ 40 – $ 69. Bookings BASS 131 246. Until 3 November. Melbourne The Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio 6 -7 November, 2004 Geelong Ford Theatre 9 November, 2004 Cairns Civic Theatre 23 -24 November, 2004 Townsville Civic Theatre 25 November, 2004 Rockhampton Pilbeam Theatre 26 November, 2004 Canberra The Playhouse 29 30 November, 2004 Albury Performing Arts centre 1 December, 2004 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-international","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}