Medieval Queens, The Dramas
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About this ebook
The middle ages come to life in this beautiful collection consisting of the stage versions of "Empress Wu Zetian," "Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, the Warrior Princess of Deheubarth," and "Empress Matilda of England."
Begin your journey exploring medieval China as Chancellor Wu Shihuo's unwanted daughter Wu Zhao defies expectations to become China's first and only female emperor.
Then journey to medieval Wales to meet King Gruffydd ap Cynan's heroic daughter Gwenllian, the first foreign sovereign to be executed by the English.
Finally meet Empress Matilda, the first woman to claim the English throne in her own right.
Three medieval queens. One powerful period drama collection to entertain, enlighten, and inspire audiences of all ages. Perfect for educational and community theatre productions.
Laurel A. Rockefeller
Born, raised, and educated in Lincoln, Nebraska USA Laurel A. Rockefeller’s passion for animals comes through in everything she writes. First self-published in 2012 as social science fiction author (the Peers of Beinan series), Laurel has expanded her work into the animal care/guide, history, historical fiction, and biography genres.Find Laurel’s books in digital, paperback, and hardcover in your choice of up to ten languages, including Welsh, Chinese, and Dutch. Audio editions are published in all four available languages for audible: English, French, Spanish, and German.Besides advocating for animals and related environmental causes, Laurel A. Rockefeller is a passionate educator dedicated to improving history literacy worldwide, especially as it relates to women’s accomplishments. In her spare time, Laurel enjoys spending time with her cockatiels, travelling to historic places, and watching classic motion pictures and classic television series.
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Medieval Queens, The Dramas - Laurel A. Rockefeller
EMPRESS WU ZETIAN, A PLAY IN THREE ACTS
Pinyin Romanization is used exclusively in the text of this play. When applicable names using other Romanization systems such as Wade-Giles were converted into pinyin for consistency and accurate pronunciation of Chinese words.
PROLOGUE
1861 Beijing—The British Legation. Upstage we see clusters of centuries old Chinese style buildings, the signs changed over from Chinese to English. A gated fence runs across centre stage from centre left to centre right. On the gate is a sign reading No Chinese or dogs allowed.
HUA-LIN ENTERS DOWNSTAGE LEFT and approaches the gate. SECOND LEFTENENT ENTERS running from CENTER RIGHT.
SECOND LEFTENENT
(opening gate and grabbing Hua-Lin gruffly)
Miss? Miss, where do you think you are going?
HUA-LIN
(resisting angrily)
Hands off me, barbarian! I am no coolie, no slave! Who do you think you are grabbing me as if I were some animal?
(BRITISH SOLDIERS ENTER running CENTER RIGHT, quickly surrounded Hua-Lin and subduing her, pinning her arms behind her back.)
SECOND LEFTENENT
(strutting proudly)
Barbarian? You are the barbarian! But you might make some nice sport.
(kisses Hua-Lin menacing before beginning to unbutton her dress)
No one is going to stop me. You are only Chinese after all. What is your life worth?
HUA-LIN
May the ravens and falcons of Abka Hehe devour your heart!
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
(ENTERING DOWNSTAGE RIGHT in front of the fence)
Why you pathetic excuse for a soldier! You dare call yourself Englishmen! Be gone with you and confine yourself to barracks until further notice!
SECOND LEFTENENT/BRITISH SOLDIERS
(saluting hastily)
Sir! Yes sir!
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
(barking angrily)
Dismissed!
(turning to Hua-Lin and re-buttoning her gown chivalrously)
I beg your pardon and forgiveness my lady!
HUA-LIN
You know who or at least what I am?
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
Only a relative of the emperor is allowed to wear that shade of yellow.
HUA-LIN
My grandmother was a daughter of the Qianlong Emperor.
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
What is your name, if I may ask?
HUA-LIN
Hua-Lin. It means flowering forest in your language. I know it is not a proper Manchu name; my father was Chinese. He respected Manchu culture, of course, but his spiritual path was Buddhist; the old ways of my mother’s people were unknown to him. I was born here in Beijing, but raised in a village in protected tribal lands. There I learned the culture and traditions of the Manchu people. My father was rarely home; he worked for the government before the Arrow War took his life.
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
What a beautiful story, Hua-Lin – if I may address you as such?
HUA-LIN
After preserving my honour – yes you may. Do you have a name as well, Captain?
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
Mann, Richard James Mann. If your ladyship prefers, Richard is acceptable – though not to those blokes.
HUA-LIN
Where are you from?
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
Colchester; it’s an ancient town off in the southeast of England. Perhaps not unlike Beijing itself. About eighteen hundred years ago, a great queen waged a war of independence against the forces of the Roman empire who – I suppose much like my own British Empire has in both India and now China – sought to colonize and conquer our island of Britannia.
HUA-LIN
What happened? Was she successful? Did she free your people?
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
No – no, she failed. She was lured into a trap by the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus; rather than become a trophy of war she and her daughters committed suicide. To protect them, her people cremated their remains to deny the Romans complete victory.
HUA-LIN
So she failed.
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
Some may say. But her legend was never forgotten. Today we remember her as a great heroine.
HUA-LIN
Not unlike Wu Zetian.
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
Who?
HUA-LIN
Empress Wu Zetian, the only woman to ever rule in her own right over the Chinese. She declared her own dynasty – the Zhou dynasty – which of course did not work out. But in her lifetime learning flourished, the arts flourished, and Han Chinese women regained many of their civil liberties.
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
(laughing playfully)
Sounds like quite a woman – like present company. I would really like to hear more.
HUA-LIN
(pointing)
My home is over there.
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
On the other side of the British Legation?
HUA-LIN
Legation! British officers now sleep in the same room where I was born!
CAPTAIN RICHARD JAMES MANN
I am only a captain, my lady. I cannot return your home to your family. I do not have that kind of power. But I can take you to my humble home – if you will trust me – and from there, to your current home if you like.
(offering her his arm)
I actually was about ready to head for home for tea. Will you join me and tell me about this Empress Wu Zetian?
HUA-LIN
(taking his arm politely)
With pleasure.
(LIGHTS FADE OUT)
(END OF SCENE)
ACT I:
ACT I, SCENE I
637 CE. Summer. Sitting room in the home of Chancellor Wu Shi-Huo. Centre stage thirteen-year-old WU ZHAO sits at a desk in a comfortable chair. Across from her at centre left sits LAOSHI who reads a book. An unlit fireplace stands slightly upstage, dividing Wu Zhao from her teacher visually. Wu Zhao practices writing the character lǐ
礼 meaning propriety.
WU ZHAO
(dipping her pen into the ink and rolling it to a sharp tip)
Laoshi, why is propriety important for women?
LAOSHI
Propriety in speech protects the family’s honour, especially when it comes to women. Your father Chancellor Wu Shihuo wants you to fully understand all four virtues of women under the teachings of Confucius before he finds you an honourable match.
WU ZHAO
An honourable match? Why all this focus on marriage and housekeeping skills? I would much rather read than spin, weave, or sew!
LAOSHI
(closing his book loudly)
Your father indulges you far more than is proper! You think even the daughters of the emperor are given such an education? Education is for men, not women!
WU ZHAO
And yet you accepted my father’s commission to teach me. Interesting is it not?
LAOSHI
Wealthy men like your father can afford eccentricities like this. He pays me well."
WU ZHAO
Ah! But will he still pay you upon learning you are too prejudiced to do your duty?
LAOSHI
(rising and crossing over to her angrily)
Duty? It is your duty to write li
until I tell you to stop. How many times have you written it just now?
WU ZHAO
(counting)
Yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qiu, ba, jiu. Nine!
LAOSHI
Keep writing until you have written it thirty times.
WU ZHAO
(resumes writing)
Shi, laoshi!
(END OF SCENE)
ACT I, SCENE II
638 CE. Winter. Sitting room in the home of Chancellor Wu Shi-Huo. CHANCELLOR WU sits near a lit fireplace at centre stage. WU ZHAO ENTERS STAGE RIGHT and crosses to sit at the feet of Chancellor Wu.
WU ZHAO
You asked to see me, Baba?
CHANCELLOR WU
(laying his hands on his daughter’s head)
Yes, baobei.
WU ZHAO
What is it, Father?
CHANCELLOR WU
I have both good news and bad news for you at the same time. Come spring, you will be leaving here for Chang An.
WU ZHAO
The imperial capital city?
CHANCELLOR WU
Yes.
WU ZHAO
Why?
CHANCELLOR WU
You know why I think. Of all my sons and daughters, you are the brightest, the most learned. Your sisters are more than happy to sit with a needle; you are ever restless if any dares put needle, spindle, or loom anywhere near you!
WU ZHAO
You’ve made a match for me, haven’t you?
CHANCELLOR WU
I have.
WU ZHAO
Who?
CHANCELLOR WU
Emperor Taizong. You are to be one of his cai ren, a low-ranking concubine. Forgive me, it was the best I could do. When my peers learned of your … peculiar habits, I am afraid none of them wanted you for their sons.
WU ZHAO
(proudly)
Any man who cannot handle a woman of intelligence and education is not worth my time – let alone my body!
CHANCELLOR WU
My daughter, do you know how disrespectful that sounds?
WU ZHAO
Disrespectful to whom? A long dead politician whose only interest was power? Why do we care about these books, these Analects anyway? It’s pure propaganda! Sexist propaganda no less! We call the peoples north of the Great Wall savages, but how can this be so? They have women leading them – secular and religious women – and pray to goddesses and gods both! Maybe we Han are the savages and the northern peoples are the civilized ones!
CHANCELLOR WU
That is treason, Zhao!
WU ZHAO
And impropriety because I am a young woman!"
CHANCELLOR WU
Yes. Which is why it is best you serve the emperor as cai ren. Surely you cannot make any trouble among the multitudes of women belonging to him.
WU ZHAO
(smirking)
Don’t bet on it!
CHANCELLOR WU
(rising and offering his hand to Wu Zhao to help her rise as well)
Well at least as cai ren you are unlikely to ever see the emperor or come to his bed. That should limit your mischief.
(CHANCELLOR WU EXITS STAGE RIGHT)
WU ZHAO
We shall see!
(BLACKOUT)
(END OF SCENE)
ACT I, SCENE III
638 CE. Spring. Women’s Quarters in the Imperial City, ChangAn. Lights come up to a FOUR-BED DORMITORY STYLE BEDROOM with three of the beds clearly belonging to imperial concubines. Centre stage stands the empty bed. EUNUCHES ENTER STAGE LEFT with trunks they slide under the empty bed.
SENIOR EUNUCH (O.S.)
This way, my lady!
(SENIOR EUNUCH and WU ZHAO ENTER STAGE LEFT and stop at the empty bed)
This is your home now.
WU ZHAO
When do I appear before the Son of Heaven?
SENIOR EUNUCH
You do not.
WU ZHAO
I do not understand. How can I be his concubine and yet not meet him?
SENIOR EUNUCH
You are only cai ren, his consort-in-ordinary. You are not worthy of his divine and holy presence!
WU ZHAO
Then what am I worthy of?"
SENIOR EUNUCH
Doing what you are told!
WU ZHAO
By whom? Who is my master if not the Son of Heaven?
SENIOR EUNUCH
Empress Zhangsun, of course! She is mistress of all that is here! After her, you shall obey Consorts Xu Hui, Yang, Yin, Yan, and Wei as they command.
WU ZHAO
And what shall I call you?
SENIOR EUNUCH
I am a eunuch. I have no name. Your belongings are here. Take your time to acquaint yourself with where you are and those living with you. Expect no help from anyone. Come when you are called.
(SENIOR EUNUCH bows then EXITS STAGE LEFT. Wu Zhao pulls out one of the trunks stored beneath her bed and opens it carefully. From among the clothes and other items she digs out a large, heavy book with Chinese writing on it called Explaining and Analysing Characters.
Wu Zhao clutches the precious book to her heart, closes he trunk, restores the trunk to its place, and then sits upon her bed to read.)
(END OF SCENE)
ACT I, SCENE IV
639 CE. Spring. Women’s Quarters in the Imperial City, ChangAn. GARDENS. WU ZHAO sits on a comfortable cushion. A lap desk sits over her while she writes with a brush pen. SENIOR EUNUCH ENTERS STAGE RIGHT.
SENIOR EUNUCH
(stopping next to Wu Zhao and looming over her menacingly)
Wu Zhao! Wu Zhao!
WU ZHAO
(ignoring him at first before eventually looking up at him)
Yes?
SENIOR EUNUCH
(barking)
The Son of Heaven calls you into court.
WU ZHAO
(Puts down her pen)
Did he say why?
SENIOR EUNUCH
One does not question the Son of Heaven.
WU ZHAO
Since you are not his majesty, my question still stands.
SENIOR EUNUCH
I do not know why; my job is to obey.
WU ZHAO
(rising)
Very well. Take me to him.
(END OF SCENE)
ACT I, SCENE V
639 CE. Spring. Emperor’s private apartment. DOWNSTAGE CENTER TAIZONG sits at a desk. His massive outer coat is imperial yellow and heavily embroidered with blue Chinese dragons. SENIOR EUNUCH and WU ZHAO ENTER UPSTAGE LEFT and approach Taizong. DOWNSTAGE LEFT they stop and kowtow respectfully to the emperor with their foreheads on the floor.
TAIZONG
(rising from his chair)
You may sit.
(Wu Zhao and Senior Eunuch sit up. Taizong turns to Senior Eunuch.)
Thank you for bringing her; you may go!
(Senior Eunuch touches his head to the floor before rising and EXIT DOWNSTAGE LEFT. Taizong turns to Wu Zhao.)
You are Chancellor Wu Shihuo’s daughter?
WU ZHAO
I am.
TAIZONG
You are well educated I am told.
WU ZHAO
Yes, Your Majesty.
TAIZONG
Stories have reached me that you are wholly unsuitable to be my cai ren. Have you heard them?
WU ZHAO
Yes.
TAIZONG
What say you about them? Speak plainly.
WU ZHAO
I say that it is for the Son of Heaven to best decide how I may best serve him. If it is his will to quicken me with his son, then so be it. But if I may serve in another way, I am pleased to offer my life and my skills to him.
TAIZONG
I heard a story that you read the dictionary every day. Is that true?
WU ZHAO
One never knows when one may need to know how to write a certain word precisely. I study that I may serve you."
TAIZONG
Then serve me.
WU ZHAO
How, Your Majesty?
TAIZONG
My court is filled with politicians I do not trust, most of them after power or wealth. I cannot trust them to render my rulings accurately. I need an aide, someone I can trust to write my words as I speak them – not as they would twist them for selfish motives. Will you serve me in this way?