THE historic home of Shakespearean theatre, the Globe, is to tour one of its plays in Scotland for the first time.
Anne Boleyn, a play by Howard Brenton, which features a key role for James the VI and I, will be staged in Edinburgh in May, marking the first time a show from the Globe has toured north of the Border with a play for the stage.
Shakespeare's Globe, as it is now called, sits on the south bank of the Thames in London as a reconstructed version of the famous theatre where Shakespeare's plays were first performed.
The rebuilt theatre, 700ft from the original, was opened by the Queen in 1997.
Now its award-winning production of Anne Boleyn is to embark on a UK tour, bringing Shakespeare's Globe to a Scottish theatre for the first time when it plays at the Festival Theatre on May 8 and 9.
Productions by Shakespeare's Globe have come to Scotland before, but only at outdoor locations.
Brenton, whose previous plays include Brassneck, The Romans in Britain and Pravda, told The Herald he was happy to be bringing James I "back to Edinburgh".
James VI and I was born at Edinburgh Castle in 1566 and was King of Scotland as James VI from 1567 then also King of England as James I from 1603 until his death in 1625. He was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots.
In Anne Boleyn, he plays a key role as, hunting through an old chest, the newly crowned king finds documents relating to Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, before the play jumps back 70 years to the time in which she was a controversial figure in England and abroad.
The play goes on to show how "with the exiled William Tyndale, Anne plots to make England Protestant for ever."
Brenton said: "James is seen as a very dislikeable man, but I found something interesting about him – the way he survived in the very tough Scottish court of his day.
"It has been speculated that he may have had Tourette's Syndrome – he was a very garrulous man, he was very sharp, also scatalogical at times – he liked shock tactics.
"When he becomes King of England, the point in the play is that he tries to stop the religious fighting between the Puritans and the Anglican church from tearing the country apart.
"I don't think he was a particularly religious man. I think he was very political and trying to protect the throne."
Not only did James have issues with Catholicism and the state church, but on his arrival in London in 1603, the Puritan clergy presented him with the Millenary Petition requesting church reform.
Brenton added: "I think he learned politics in the Scottish court, which was a very dark time for him. He had to be political from a very young age."
Brenton said he believes that the commission of the King James Bible, completed in 1611, was his "brilliant" attempt to reconcile the Puritans with other parts of the church, although his religious policies in Scotland were less successful, where he tried to install an episcopal system and is described as leaving the Kirk in "crisis" by the time of his death.
In the play, which will be staged at the Festival Theatre, King James is played by James Garnon while Ann Boleyn is played by Jo Herbert.
The play was a sell-out when it opened at the Globe in 2010 and won the 2011 Whatsonstage Award for Best New Play. It broke box office expectations, selling out before opening and returning to the Globe in 2011.
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