WORLD PREMIERE
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Company presents
Glory on Earth
By Linda McLean
Directed by David Greig
Designed by Karen Tennent
Lighting designed by Simon Wilkinson
Composed by Michael John McCarthy
Movement by Janice Parker
20 May – 10 June 2017
PRESS NIGHT: TUESDAY 23 MAY 2017
· Glory on Earth is Artistic Director David Greig’s directorial debut at The Lyceum.
· The production is a new play by Linda McLean, commissioned specifically for The Lyceum’s 2016/17 season.
· This will be a play with music, with composition by Michael John McCarthy, performed by the cast, many of whom are actor musicians.
· Glory on Earth follows the arrival of Mary Queen of Scots and her ladies in waiting, all named Mary, in Edinburgh, her relationship with leader of the Reformation in Scotland John Knox, and the events that led to her legendary execution.
· Making their Lyceum debut as Mary, Queen of Scots and John Knox respectively are Rona Morison (Julie, Northern Stage; The Crucible, Bristol Old Vic; Scuttlers, Manchester Royal Exchange; The James Plays, National Theatre of Scotland; Anhedonia, Royal Court; To Kill a Mockingbird, Regent’s Park) and Jamie Sives (Rush, Revolution Films; Clash of the Titans, Warner Bros; Maleficent, Briar Rose Productions Ltd; One Day, Focus Films; Game of Thrones, HBO Films; James III and James I, National Theatre of Scotland; Hedda Gabler, Almeida Theatre).
Making his directorial debut at The Lyceum, David Greig (whose director credits include One Day in Spring, National Theatre of Scotland; This Wide Night, Tron Theatre; and his own work, Midsummer, The Traverse) joins forces with renowned Scottish playwright Linda McLean (Riddance, 1999; Shimmer, 2004; Strangers, Babies, 2007; Vile Sinner, 2008; Any Given Day, 2010; Fractures, 2011; Sex & God, 2012), for the world premiere of Glory on Earth, an astonishing account of the relationship between John Knox and Mary, Queen of Scots.
Taking its inspiration primarily from four meetings between Mary and Knox, recorded in Knox’s History of the Reformation, the play inventively charts the fatal dance between a charming young queen and an uncompromising old zealot as they battle for the hearts and souls of the people of Scotland.
Glory on Earth is a new commission written by multi-award winning Scottish playwright Linda McLean, whose work is characterized by poetry, mystery, and great emotional depth.
“Whom shall I believe? And who shall be judge?"
Tuesday, 19th August, 1561, 9am.
Through the fog a ship arrives in Leith docks, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots steps ashore. She is 19 and on her young shoulders rests the hopes of the Catholic establishment of Europe.
The Nation that receives her has just outlawed her church and its practices. Its leader is the radical cleric and protestant reformer, John Knox.
Both believe themselves ordained by God.
Both believe themselves beloved by their people.
Both were exiled and returned home… but only one can make Scotland their own.
Starring as Puritan reformer John Knox is Jamie Sives (film credits include Rush, Revolution Films; Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Zentropa; Clash of the Titans, Warner Bros; In the Heart of the Sea, Twentieth Century Fox; Maleficent, Briar Rose Productions Ltd; One Day, Focus Films; Get Him to the Greek, Universal. Television credits include Game of Thrones (recurring character), HBO Films; Secret State (recurring character), Company Pictures North Ltd; The Guilty (recurring character); Hartswood Films Ltd. Stage credits include The Hook, Royal and Derngate & Liverpool Everyman; James III (in the title role) and James I, National Theatre of Scotland; The Pride, Edward II, Sheffield Crucible Theatre; Hedda Gabler, Almeida Theatre).
Mary Queen of Scots is played by Rona Morison (Orca, Southwark Playhouse; Julie, Northern Stage; The Crucible, Bristol Old Vic; Buckets, Orange Tree Theatre; Scuttlers, Manchester Royal Exchange; The James Plays, National Theatre of Scotland; Anhedonia, Royal Court; To Kill a Mockingbird, Regent’s Park; Illusions, Crave, Actors Touring Company)
The ladies in waiting are played by Christina Gordon (The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Oil, Witness for the Prosecution, Midsummer, The Witches, all Dundee Rep Theatre), Christie Gowans (White Christmas, Pitlochry Theatre; Conflict in Court, Silence in Court, both LR Stageworks), Kirsty Eila McIntyre (Mountain Language, Black Dingo; Inelsewhere, The Gaiety Theatre), Hannah Jarrett-Scott (Trust Me, Red Productions; Once This Is All Over We Still Have To Clear Up, Yellow Magpies/Edinburgh Festival Theatre; Europe, Edinburgh International Book Festival; Janis Joplin: Full Tilt, Theatre Royal Stratford East), Shannon Swan (Glasgow Girls, National Theatre of Scotland; Cabaret, Merrily We Roll Along, Notes to Self, Return to the Forbidden Planet, all Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), and Fiona Wood (The Winter’s Tale, The Lyceum; The James Plays, National Theatre of Scotland and International Tour; Sleeping Beauty, NLP; Flo White, Ya Beauty and the Beast, both Tron Theatre).
Linda McLean, playwright of Glory on Earth says: “I can honestly say there isn’t a commission that’s made me happier in a very long time. Delving into the lives of John Knox and Mary, Queen of Scots leaves me at turns warmly compassionate and fiercely outraged. It’s an astonishing story”.
ENDS
For further media information, please contact Harriet Mould on
0131 2484 822 / 0745 481 6116
Full Listings information
Glory on Earth
By Linda McLean
Directed by David Greig
Set and costume designed by Karen Tennent
Lighting designed by Simon Wilkinson
Composed by Michael John McCarthy
Movement by Janice Parker
Address: Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Grindlay Street, EH3 9AX
Box Office: 0131 248 4848
Website: lyceum.org.uk
Performance Dates: 20 May – 10 June 2017
Opening performance: Tuesday 23 May 2017
Previews: Sat 20, Mon 22 May 2017
Times: evenings,7:30pm, matinees,2pm
Prices: £30.50 - £10.00
Audio Described: Thursday 1 June, 7:30pm (touch tour – 6:15pm), Saturday 3 June, 2pm (touch tour – 12:45pm)
BSL Interpreted: Wednesday 21May, 7:30pm
Captioned: Saturday 3 June, 2pm
Notes to Editor
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Company is a crucible of Scottish talent, developing Scotland’s considerable indigenous artists and presenting the best of international drama from its home in a magnificent, intimate Victorian building in Edinburgh’s West End.
Internationally celebrated playwright David Greig became the 8th Artistic Director of The Lyceum in 2016, following Mark Thomson’s superb 13 year reign. As part of his premiere 2016/17 season, the company is producing ten full productions, making it one of the biggest producing companies in the United Kingdom.
In recent years, The Lyceum has staged co-productions with Actors Touring Company, Told By An Idiot, Edinburgh International Festival, Theatre Royal, Bath; The Bush Theatre, London; Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company; National Theatre of Scotland; Citizens Theatre; Dundee Rep; Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse; Chichester Festival Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith.
In addition, The Lyceum also runs an award-winning, ambitious and acclaimed Creative Learning programme which engages with over 16,000 young people across Scotland annually.
For more information, please visit lyceum.org.uk
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh is a registered charity. Our charity number is SC010509.
David Greig is an acclaimed and multi award-winning playwright who became the Artistic Director of The Lyceum in 2016, and his first season included critically acclaimed works The Suppliant Women, adapted by David, which went on to The Royal Exchange, and will be at the Young Vic in November. David’s most notable plays include The Events (Traverse, Scotland and Young Vic), The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (Tron, National Theatre of Scotland), Midsummer (Traverse, Soho and Tricycle), Dunsinane (RSC at Hampstead and National Theatre of Scotland), Damascus (Traverse, Scotland and Tricycle), Outlying Islands (Traverse and Royal Court), The American Pilot (RSC), Pyrenees (Paines Plough), The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman he Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (Donmar Warehouse and Paines Plough), The Architect, and Europe (Traverse).
Adaptations include Creditors (Donmar Warehouse), The Bacchae (Edinburgh International Festival and National Theatre of Scotland), Tintin in Tibet (Barbican, Playhouse and UK tour), When the Bulbul Stopped Singing (Traverse Theatre, - Amnesty International Award; TapWater Award and Herald Angel), Caligula (Donmar Warehouse) and Peter Pan (National Theatre of Scotland, Traverse and Barbican). David wrote the book for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opened in the West End in 2013 and recently transferred to Broadway. Lanark opened at the Edinburgh International Festival in Summer 2015 and his adaptation of Dr Seuss’ The Lorax opened at The Old Vic for Christmas 2015.
David is currently working on Cover My Tracks (Old Vic), for which he wrote the book, with Noah and the Whale’s Charlie Fink, along with an exciting Lyceum project, to be announced later in the year.
Linda McLeanis a multi-award winning playwright fromScotland.
Her plays includeAny Given Day(Lessa Rossy Playwrighting Award);Strangers, Babies(Susan Smith Blackburn prize finalist);Shimmer(Herald Angel);One Good Beating(Best One Act Play);Riddance(Fringe First, Herald Angel);What Love Is;This Is Water;Uncertainty Files; Cold Cuts; Doch An Doris; Word For Word; Sex & God;Love and Fascism, a co-written play for Galata Perfrom, Istanbul 2014 and 2015; andEvery Five Minutes, winner of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Original Play, 2014-15.
Strangers, Babies(Fractures);Any Given Day(Un Jour Ou 'Autre);The Uncertainty Files(Dossiers Incertidudes);Cold Cuts(Tranche Froide);What Love Is(Ce qu'aimer veut dire);Sex & God(Sex & God);andEvery Five Minutes(Toutes les cinq minutes)have been translated into French. Other translations include Spanish, Turkish, Polish, Macedonian and Greek. Linda adaptedLike Water for Chocolate, from the novel by Laura Esquivel, which was translated into Spanish;Olgafrom the Finnish play by Laura Ruohonen; andLe Problem, from the French play by Francois Begadeau.
Linda has written plays for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Scotland, includingZombie Rule Number 9in 2013.
She has worked for the British Council inMexico City, Teluca andBogota. In 2009, she delivered the keynote speech to the Playwrights' Guild of Canada.
Linda was the Creative Fellow atEdinburghUniversity'sInstituteofAdvanced Studiesin Humanities in 2011, where she and the late Professor Susan Manning published theirConversation: Gathering Uncertainties.
She has also served on the Artistic Board of Magic Theatre Company, San Francisco.
Recently, Linda has been writing a comedy for Magic, a new play calledThingumy Bobfor Lung Ha, and a Breakfast Play for the Traverse Theatre's Festival programme.