Encomia

Two powerful Anglo-Saxon queens – Emma, wife to Kings Ethelred and Cnut; and Edith, wife to her son Edward the Confessor - dictate their ‘memoirs’ to the same long suffering scribe.

Emma’s agenda is one of enhancing her personal reputation (which has taken a few knocks after her second marriage to the Danish invader, Cnut) with the help of careful omissions and downright twisting of the truth.

Edith’s initial claim is to be honest, but her narrative is interrupted first by the death of Edward the Confessor and then by the Norman Conquest. Both events lead her to a radical ‘re-visiting’ of the truth.

First performed in Westminster Cathedral Hall in 2012.

"Fentiman has produced yet another thought-provoking and entertaining play...lively and engrossing from the start."

BRENDAN MCLAUGHLIN

OREMUS MAGAZINE, MARCH 2012

Cast:

Rachel Voldman - Queen Emma

Philippa Tatham - Queen Edith

Lee White - Brother Bovo

Bragi Arnasson - Grimbold, a scop

"The theatre, unless blandly dogmatic, leaves it open to the audience to interpret what is depicted. Ambivalence and ambiguity are central to art. In this sense the stage is like the past: how you see it depends on where you are sitting. Like good conversation, a good play leaves one feeling a little more intelligent. In a cleverly chosen historical scenario, Sharon Jennings has done this for us again."

BRENDAN MCLAUGHLIN

OREMUS MAGAZINE, MARCH 2012