Written on the Heart

by David Edgar

Across an 80-year divide, two men translate the word of God into the English tongue. For one, it means death at the stake. For the other, it could mean an archbishop’s mitre. David Edgar's historical drama explores biblical translation, religious ideals, and the price of social peace.

Genres: Plays, Drama

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

David Edgar is an English playwright. He was born in Birmingham into a family with longstanding links to the theatre. His father and mother both acted at the Birmingham Rep before moving into broadcasting, and by the age of five Edgar had written his first play and performed it in a 12 seat theatre his father built for him in his back garden.

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ed...

Reviews

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am really, really baffled by how you would stage this effectively. It’s talky as all hell but also kind requires a shit ton of special effects and set pieces. I mean, I know it was commissioned for the RSC and I’m sure they did something very cool with it because if anyone could it would be one of the big prestigious British theatre companies, but it feels like the kind of thing that could easily become empty spectacle or could just be very “big budget for a kinda boring play”.

Also it’s really Protestant in a way that I, a medievalist who often finds myself cursing Protestant iconoclasts for making my research hard, found slightly difficult to deal with and reductive (even as a portrayal of a given iconoclastic period)

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written but also incredibly dense with information - I imagine it would be quite difficult for an audience to parse, especially a non-British audience who aren’t familiar with the religious history.

Another British history play with 14+ actors!

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful play brilliantly introducing the political, doctrinal and personal arguments that lay behind the translation of the King James Bible. A concluding historical essay by the playwright explains the background with evident fairness and sympathy for the opposing factions.

In retrospect I wonder if Lancelot Andrewes, the central character, stands in for Edgar himself, caught between the democratic levelling of the English translators and their appeal to individual conscience and imagination on the one hand (Edgar as writer) , and the catholic reverence for spectacle, visual, and sensual (Edgar as creator of a play: something to be performed).

[R.J. Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because I had seen the RSC's Stratford production. I thought it was wonderful on stage and wanted to read the play to reinforce the experience, and I'm glad I did. I'd have said I knew quite a lot about the subject matter but David Edgar knows more and he brings it to life in a really impressive way. One of the best new plays I've seen or read in the last ten years.