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THE LIONESS
Rebecca Lenkiewicz
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Characters
ELIZABETH I, from age twenty-five to sixty-eight
JOHN KNOX, forty-five, Scottish
ESSEX, twenty-eight to thirty-four, English
NEUZER, a male doctor, from age thirty to seventy-one
And COURTIERS
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Scene One
London, 1560. ELIZABETH, twenty-five, sits with a huge skirt on, under which her legs are parted very wide. She is concentrated as she is in slight pain but we would not be aware of this as she covers it with her thoughts – although her breathing might hint at it.
ELIZABETH. I am almost born. My mother screams. My father hunts. He stands stock-still amongst the corn. Waiting. For quail. And for word of a son. Tournaments have been planned. A sound of feathers beating out of a bush. A messenger approaches. I am upon my mother’s stomach, umbilically attached, abundant colours. I am smooth. Viscous. Bloodied. And blank between the legs. A grey storm cloud envelopes the yellow fields. Pa listens, nods slowly. The parties are cancelled.
Now there is movement under her skirt, somebody. ELIZABETH closes her eyes for a few moments while the movement continues, now she winces with pain.
No more.
DOCTOR NEUZER, thirty, climbs out hurriedly from under ELIZABETH’s skirts.
You have delved sufficiently into Gloriana, sir.
NEUZER. Majesty. I hope I did not pain you?
ELIZABETH. It is no matter.
NEUZER. I tried to be gentle. It is inevitably sensitive being such… virgin territory.
ELIZABETH. It is England’s velvet. I shall be paraded around presently like a prize heifer. Ripe for market. For some Spanish steer. What do you want for in life, doctor?
NEUZER. I?
ELIZABETH. Wealth? The discovery of a new cure? What do you suppose I desire most? For my twenty-sixth birthday. What should I wish for?
NEUZER. Majesty… peace with the Catholics? Or a respite to the unrest in Ireland?
ELIZABETH. Quite. Thank you, doctor.
NEUZER. I noticed, Majesty, that there was inflammation around the area of the kidneys. Have you had any pain?
ELIZABETH. Possibly. If a person were to have such pain, what should they do about it?
NEUZER. They must calm the nerves. You should take long progresses in the summer. Walk gently. Meditate a little but do nothing strenuous.
ELIZABETH. I have had no pain. Thank you.
NEUZER bows and leaves. ELIZABETH puts her hands to her stomach, she has a jab of pain from the internal examination she has undergone and an ache in her kidneys.
My mother conceives again when I am a few months old. But she flushes and screams out an almost-boy who is more blood than body long before her term. At age one I am displayed naked to the French Ambassadors. Negotiations begin for an alliance and by the time I am two I have acquired a French suitor. My mother miscarries a second time. Careless of her, no? I am not yet three when my father kills my mother. No crime of passion. He plans the event and pays good money for it. He is in bed with sweet, pliant Jane as my mother’s body enters rigor mortis and stiffens. Jane’s nipples are rosebud pink against ivory skin. My mother’s are purple hard berries against the palest of blue breasts. The blood has pooled internally around her knees and ankles. As though she wore maroon stockings. He accused my mother of having five lovers at court. Five, mark you, not four nor three but five. One for each of his short, fat, fingers. And one of them her brother. My, how men fantasise.
Scene Two
London, 1560. ELIZABETH stands before her Privy Council, angry.
ELIZABETH. I asked about Ireland. And you do not answer me.
Silence. ELIZABETH stares at her ministers.
England is strong in itself. I refuse to be pandered to some foreign prince. I am your anointed Queen. Not a royal whore. You would do well to remember that.
No. No. No. Do I tell you who to bed? Or demand you to sire a child? I tell you I will never be constrained to do anything. And I am endowed with such qualities that if I were turned out of this realm in my petti...
