Catherine Curzon's Blog, page 5
October 19, 2021
A Cheeky Monkey
Beware wig-stealing monkeys when out for a stroll! “Sleight of hand by a monkey, or the lady’s head unloaded”, 1776, via the Lewis Walpole Library.
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October 12, 2021
Tight Lacing
A canny lady’s maid employs a poker to help dress her fashionable mistress! Tight Lacing, 1777, via Yale Center for British Art.
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August 26, 2021
Being Mr Wickham: UK Tour
Being Mr Wickham
Written off as a rake and reviled as a rogue, join George Wickham on his sixtieth birthday to discover his version of some very famous literary events. From childhood games at Pemberley to a run-in with Lord Byron, via marriage to Lydia and the battlefields of Europe, Mr Wickham is ready to set the record straight.This brand new production by Catherine Curzon sees Adrian Lukis return to his celebrated role as George Wickham, Jane Austen's most quintessential trouble-maker.
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August 24, 2021
A Photorealistic Portrait
This remarkably realistic Portrait of an Old Woman by Christian Seybold dates from 1749. It could almost be a photograph - everything about this image just feels so incredibly real, as it she might be about to speak.
Via Harvard Art Museums.
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August 8, 2021
Being Mr Wickham: Offie Nomination
Adrian and I were chuffed to learn that our play, Being Mr Wickham, has been nominated by the Offies in its new online show category. The performance is currently being streamed by Original Theatre, prior to a UK tour in the autumn.
“ The OnComm is the Offies Commendation for online shows – it aims to recognise the excellence of shows from independent, alternative and fringe theatres that are being presented online. This award was introduced in May 2020 in the light of the lockdown arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. ” Read more here
August 3, 2021
The Regent's Bomb
The Georgians loved to rib the Prince Regent as often and as cheekily as possible! “A view of the R-g-t's bomb" by Charles Williams, 1816, is more concerned with the Prince’s was enormous bum than the mortar he received from the Spanish after the Peninsular War.
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July 7, 2021
The Mistresses of George I & II
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that my new book, The Mistresses of George I & II: A Maypole and a Peevish Beast, is available now! It was such a privilege to tell the remarkable stories of Melusine von der Schulenberg and Henrietta Howard, two women in a position that wasn’t always enviable.
Click here to buy from Pen & Sword.
When George I arrived in England he found a kingdom in turmoil. Mistrustful of the new monarch from Hanover, his subjects met his coronation with riots. At George’s side was his mistress, Melusine von der Schulenberg, whilst his ex-wife languished in prison. Known as the Maypole thanks to her eye-catching figure, Melusine was the king’s confidante for decades. She was a mother to his children and a queen without a crown.
George II never forgave his father for tearing him from his mother's arms and he was determined to marry for love, not duty. Though his wife, Caroline of Ansbach, proved to be a politically gifted queen, George II turned to another for affection. She was Henrietta Howard, the impoverished Countess of Suffolk, and she was desperate to escape her brutish husband. As the years passed, the royal affair became a powerplay between king and queen and the woman who was mistress to one and servant to another.
Melusine and Henrietta's privileged position made them the envy of every courtier. It also made them a target of jealousy, plotting and ambition. In the tumultuous Georgian court, the bedroom and the throne room weren't so far apart.
June 23, 2021
The Devil Visits Wales
A MONITORY NOTICE,
On a Stone, placed in the Church-yard of Llanfair, in Wales.
Who Ever hear on son day
Will practise playing At Ball.
it May Be be Fore munday
The devil Will Have you All.
June 16, 2021
The Imprisoned Princess: eBook
The Imprisoned Princess is out today in ebook, and it tells the tragic tale of one of the messiest marriages in Hanover!
In the austere court of Hanover, the vibrant young princess found herself ignored and unwanted. Bewildered by dusty protocol and regarded as a necessary evil by her husband, Sophia Dorothea grew lonely as he gallivanted with his mistress under her nose.
When Sophia Dorothea plunged headlong into a passionate and dangerous affair with Count Phillip Christoph von Königsmarck, the stage was set for disaster. This dashing soldier was as celebrated for his looks as his bravery, and when he and Sophia Dorothea fell in love, they were dicing with death. Watched by a scheming and manipulative countess who had ambitions of her own, it was only a matter of time before scandal gripped the House of Hanover and tore the marriage of the heir to the British throne and his unhappy wife apart.
Divorced and disgraced, Sophia Dorothea was locked away in a gilded cage for 30 years, whilst her lover faced an even darker fate.
June 8, 2021
A Candid Portrait
I love how you can almost see Mrs Mortlock trying not to laugh as her son refuses to look suitably sombre... Elizabeth Mortlock (b.1756) and her son John Mortlock the Younger, by John Downman, 1779.See more #gloriousGeorgians on Twitter!
