When Will Shakespeare agreed to the marriage of his younger daughter, Judith, to Thomas Quiney in 1616, he could not have foreseen the scandal which would result.
The match between Judith Shakespeare and Thomas Quiney was arranged in the hope of providing the ailing poet with a grandson to inherit the estate on his death. However, Thomas’s servant, Margaret Wheeler, confessed to him that she was pregnant with his child. Attempts to lose the baby failed and Thomas decided to tell Judith so that she could call off the wedding. Judith, however, had no such intention. She was determined to marry, come what may.
Performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Other Place, 2004. A shortened version performed at the RSC’s Fringe Festival, 1997, and a winner in the 1999 West Midland Arts New Writing Festival:
The Soho Theatre reviewer:
‘incredibly absorbing and entertaining. Warm and unexpectedly moving. Wonderful play, credible characters and dialogue with a very emotional ending out of the blue.’
ISBN: 1-904232-01-9
Characters
Margaret Wheeler (18), Thomas’s maid-servant
Thomas Quiney (26), owner of Atwood's tavern
Doctor John Hall (40), a physician
Susanna Hall (32), his wife*
Judith Shakespeare (30), Susanna's sister
Richard Greene (42), the church court messenger
Ben Jonson (45), friend to William Shakespeare*
Rev John Rogers (38), vicar of Holy Trinity church*
Goody Turner (40), a mid-wife*
Elizabeth Wheeler (40), Margaret's mother
* Parts may be doubled
Reg Mitchell’s award-winning play
‘A highly accomplished work ... virtually faultless ... provides three substantial roles for women, much more challenging than are found in modern stage drama.’
