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The Queen and the Welshman

The Barn Theatre, Southwick Community Centre

February 4, 5 & 6 1965

The Queen and the Welshman

by Rosemary Anne Sisson

Directed by
Bess Blagden


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“Remarkable achievement”
– Brighton & Hove Gazette –

Cast

Ray Hopper – Minstrel

Paul Carpenter – John

Fay Sturt – Margaret

Jean Porter – Queen Katherine

Ian Elliott – Sir Owen Tudor

Robert Del Quiaro – Rainault

Ralph Dawes – Villiers

Peter Elson – Hall

Peter Power – John, Duke of Bedford

John Perrett – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester

David Goodger – Henry Beaufort

Ray Hopper – Gaoler

 

Production Crew

Stage ManagerFrances Thorne

LightingFrank Hurrell

WardrobeMorfydd Bowen

PropertiesMargaret Perrett

Sound EffectsDorothy Burnside

Musical DirectorPat Johnson

Fight Arrangement – R. C. H. Allen

Additional CostumesNicky Le Roy

Set DesignJohn Perrett

Set ExecutionW. H. Blagden & Crew

Front of House ManagerBarrie Bowen

 

Programme Note: The Queen and the Welshman

BB wrote “Eight years before the action of the play begins, King Henry V died leaving his son Henry VI King at the age of eight months.

During the infancy of the new King, England and the lands held by her in France were ruled by Henry V’s two younger brothers, John Duke of Bedford and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Also prominent in the councils of the realm was the brothers’ uncle, Bishop Beaufort, later Cardinal of Winchester.

It is hoped rather than known that Katherine married Owen Tudor, no documentary evidence exists, and historians are cautious on the subject. It is known however, that they had four children, and that their eldest son Edmund married the heiress Margaret Beaufort, a direct descendant of Edward III. It was the son of this marriage, Katherine and Owen’s grandson – who comes back into history in 1485 as the victorious Henry Vll, founder of the House of Tudor, at the end of the dynastic struggle known as the War of the Roses.
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We hope that you will like the play, which is rather a change from what we usually do. It has certainly made me read more history than I have for years. I would like to thank Patrick Johnson, especially, for writing the music for the production, and Mr. R.A.C. Allen pf the Southwick Fencing Club for his arrangement of the fighting. Also, thanks to all the cast and stage staff and others of the Company who have helped with all the chores which a production like this entails.”