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The Lunatic Queen
At the turn of the sixteenth century the two most powerful people on the planet, Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon are making plans to expand their empire. They are plundering the riches of the New World, removing all Jews and Moors from their territories and waging war on the infidels in the East. At home they seek to assert the dominance of Spain by marrying their daughters to various princes of Europe. One such daughter is Juana, a young woman full of religion and passion. Why, however, is she mad?
Though set during the Golden Age of Spain, The Lunatic Queen is both a contemporary satire and classical revenge tragedy, as it tells the story of Juana's two servants who seek vengeance on a system which has victimised them.
Though set during the Golden Age of Spain, The Lunatic Queen is both a contemporary satire and classical revenge tragedy, as it tells the story of Juana's two servants who seek vengeance on a system which has victimised them.
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
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June 3, 2013
This is a play and clearly it should be seen in performance rather than read. The Daily Telegraph gave the play a good review so clearly their drama critic is either a subversive, or did not understand that the play attacks capitalism, colonialism, slavery and the subjugation of women. The play may not be historically accurate in its detail, but its range, scope and content is such that basically I do not care to worry about such pettifogging detail.
In order to understand what is going on it will help to have some historical knowledge of the background. Juana, Queen of Castile, known as "the Mad" was the daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, who united Spain, conquered the Emirate of Granada and sent Columbus on a voyage out into the Atlantic to discover a new trade route to the Indies. (He did not do so, but arrived in the West Indies and thought that it was the Indies, hence the name). Anyway, Juana was married to Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy, which included Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and bits of northern France. Juana may not have been mad at all. She objected to her husband having mistresses and is supposed to have physically injured one of them with a knife. She was imprisoned in the castle of Tordesillas, and kept there as a lunatic throughout the reign of her husband and then her son, the Emperor Charles V. Juana was also the sister of Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. That is all the history that you need to know for the play.
The play is a rumbustious, ironic, lacerating attack on the emergence of the modern European nation-state empires, seen through the eyes of two slaves, members of the Spanish royal family, an hallucination, a murderer, a doctor, an artist, a gaoler and Christopher Columbus. It is a joy to read, and probably an even greater joy to see performed.
In order to understand what is going on it will help to have some historical knowledge of the background. Juana, Queen of Castile, known as "the Mad" was the daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, who united Spain, conquered the Emirate of Granada and sent Columbus on a voyage out into the Atlantic to discover a new trade route to the Indies. (He did not do so, but arrived in the West Indies and thought that it was the Indies, hence the name). Anyway, Juana was married to Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy, which included Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and bits of northern France. Juana may not have been mad at all. She objected to her husband having mistresses and is supposed to have physically injured one of them with a knife. She was imprisoned in the castle of Tordesillas, and kept there as a lunatic throughout the reign of her husband and then her son, the Emperor Charles V. Juana was also the sister of Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. That is all the history that you need to know for the play.
The play is a rumbustious, ironic, lacerating attack on the emergence of the modern European nation-state empires, seen through the eyes of two slaves, members of the Spanish royal family, an hallucination, a murderer, a doctor, an artist, a gaoler and Christopher Columbus. It is a joy to read, and probably an even greater joy to see performed.
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