Christina, The Girl King

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Synopsis
Michel Marc Bouchard's latest play tells the story of Queen Christina of Sweden, who wreaked havoc throughout northern Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century. An enigmatic monarch, a flamboyant and unpredictable intellectual, a woman eager for knowledge, and a feminist before her time, Christina reigned over an empire she hoped to make the most sophisticated in all of Europe.In 1649, Christina summoned René Descartes to her court in Uppsala to share with her the radical new ideas emerging from science and philosophy at the time - ideas that contradicted long-held, faith-based views about the world. Astronomer Johannes Kepler had recently proposed the elliptical trajectory of planets - including Earth - around the sun, and Descartes himself contended, despite condemnation from the Church, that individuals, not God, determined their own destiny.Descartes's ideas about free will and reason appealed to Christina, who was struggling to reconcile tensions between her rational, thinking self and emotions she dared not name - including her love for a woman. Rather than bow to pressure to conform to the expectations of a nation that demanded she give it an heir, the twenty-six-year-old queen abdicate her throne to convert to Catholicism - rendering her ineligible to rule, according to Swedish law. Was this an act of madness? Or a bold gesture of autonomy by a modern woman born out of her time - one whom the seventeenth century simply could not contain?Christina, the Girl King premieres at the 2014 Stratford Festival.Cast of 4 women and 6 men.
Copyright:
2012

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780889228993
Related ISBNs:
9780889228986
Publisher:
Talonbooks, Limited
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Michel Marc Bouchard Translation
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Literature and Fiction, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender, Social Studies, Drama, Plays and Theater, Politics and Government
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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