Mary Stuart

Friedrich Schiller, Peter Oswald

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781840025798
• eBook ISBN: 9781786820266
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Schiller's play of 1800 pits Mary Queen of Scots against her rival Elizabeth of England. The meeting never happened, but Goethe claimed 'It will be good to see those whores alongside each other.'
Schiller's Mary redeems her youthful crimes through an ordeal that lifts her into the realms of spiritual serenity, while Elizabeth descends deeper into rage, revenge and deception. Peter Oswald's version, mixing poetry and prose, opened at the Donmar Warehouse in London's West End in July 2005.

ACT FOUR

1

Ante-chamber. LEICESTER, AUBESPINE. BURLEIGH in conversation with DAVISON.

BURLEIGH: The execution order must be drafted
At once, and given to her Majesty
For her to sign. No time to lose. Get going.

DAVISON: Yes sir, of course.

Exit.

AUBESPINE: (To BURLEIGH.) My Lord, I am rejoicing
With the whole island, thanking gracious heaven
For stepping in between this madman and
Her Majesty!

BURLEIGH: Praise God, who has frustrated
The malice of our enemies.

AUBESPINE:

Whoever

Did this is damned.

BURLEIGH:

So is whoever sent him.

AUBESPINE: My Lord, will you please take me to the Queen, So I can bless her with my king’s good wishes.

BURLEIGH: No need to strain yourself, Count Aubespine.

AUBESPINE: (Officiously.)
I know my duty, I should think, Lord Burleigh.

BURLEIGH: Do you? Your duty is to quit this country As fast as you can run.

AUBESPINE: (Steps back with surprise.) What are you saying?

BURLEIGH: Count, your immunity expires tommorrow.

AUBESPINE: Why? For what crime?

BURLEIGH:

One that cannot be pardoned

Once it has been named.

AUBESPINE:

Lord, the privilege

Of a state envoy –

BURLEIGH:

Does not save a traitor

Against the state!

LEICESTER: What did you say?

AUBESPINE:

My Lord,

Think –

BURLEIGH: In the pocket of the Queen’s attacker
There was a passport in your handwriting.

LEICESTER: God!

AUBESPINE:

I distribute countless documents,

I cannot read minds!

BURLEIGH:

The attacker said

Confession at your house.

AUBESPINE:

My house is open.

BURLEIGH: To anyone who wants to piss on England! AUBESPINE: I demand an enquiry!

BURLEIGH:

You should fear one!

AUBESPINE: It is my king you strike, attacking me.
He will tear up the treaty!

BURLEIGH:

It has been

Torn up already by the Queen. This kingdom
Will not kiss France. My Lord of Kent, your orders
Are to escort this person to the sea.
The howling mob that stormed his house discovered
An entire arsenal of weaponry.
He will be torn to shreds if he is seen.
Hide him, until the streets are safe again.
You are responsible for him.

AUBESPINE:

I leave

Gladly a country where the law of nations
Means nothing, and diplomacy is a cockfight.
And so I go but in good time my king
Will answer this!

BURLEIGH:

We will be waiting for him.

Exit AUBESPINE.

LEICESTER: So you yourself demolish the alliance you built so officiously, on your own authority. And what has England gained? You might as well have spared yourself the trouble.

BURLEIGH: It was a good policy. God was against it. Glad I can accuse myself of nothing worse than that.

LEICESTER: Oh we can tell when Burleigh is onto something. This is the bit you love, isn’t it; something terrible has happened. Who is behind it? Now we will have a court of inquiry. Every word, every look will be weighed in the scales. Passing thoughts will be stood in the dock. And Burleigh is in charge of it all, the Atlas of State, all England on his shoulders!

BURLEIGH: I have to spend more time studying your speeches, Lord, because your eloquence has won something mine could never have done.

LEICESTER: What might that be, my Lord?

BURLEIGH: Wasn’t it you who lured the Queen to
Fotheringhay behind my back?

LEICESTER: Behind your back? When have I ever needed to hide anything from you?

BURLEIGH: I do not know if you lured a queen to
Fotheringhay or if a queen lured you to Fotheringhay!

LEICESTER: Explain.

BURLEIGH: What a glittering triumph you engineered for our innocently trusting queen! Shamelessly mocked! Heartlessly betrayed! Now at last I fully understand how weak this Stuart is, as you explained in council, in your sudden fit of mercy – no more dangerous an enemy than the common cold, certainly not worth the trouble of executing! A good plan! A sharp plan! Too sharp! The point broke off!

LEICESTER: You will go with me now and make this accusation to the Queen!

BURLEIGH: I will be there. And when I am, you had better shine my Lord, you had better shine like the sun.

Exit.

MORTIMER: (Enters with great nervousness, looks around with apprehension.) Lord Leicester! Is it you? Are we alone?

LEICESTER: Get out of here!

MORTIMER: Will you just listen to me?

LEICESTER: Get your claws out of me! I have never seen you in my life, I have nothing to do with killers!

MORTIMER: Listen! I have come to warn you! You have been caught out!

LEICESTER: What?

MORTIMER: Burleigh swooped on Fotheringhay straight after the attack. The Queen’s rooms were searched, and they found a letter t...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Characters in the play
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three
• Act Four
• Act Five