THE TRAGEDY OF MARIAM
by Elizabeth Cary
A Month of Marium: every Thursday in October 2022
7:00 - 8:30pm
Choose one or all sessions, only $5 each!
(Each session needs to be sign up for individually.)
Week 1: 10/6/22 - The World of The Play!
(Act 1 to Act 2)
Week 2: 10/13/22 - Shakespeare and Cary and Tudor Style Playwriting
(Act 2 to Act 3 Scene 1)
Week 3: 10/20/22 - Femininity and Freedom and other themes.
(Act 3, scene 2 to Act 4, scene 7)
Week 4: 10/27/22 - Judaism and Tudor England with Guest lecturer Melissa McGinley
(Act 4, scene 8 to the End of Play)
We continue the tradition of performing a Shakespare contemporary in the fall with the much rescheduled Tragedy of Mariam written by Elizabeth Cary is the first British play published by a woman. Cary wrote this play as a chamber play, and we honor her intention by blurring the line between actors and audience. With the support of professional actors, participants will have their own chance to deliver part of the story, as we would have done 400 years ago as an evening amusement to pass the time. Harnessing the intimacy of Zoom, led by Bethany Mayo, you'll read the play and discuss its major themes over four weeks. Pop in for one, or stay for all four, the choice is yours!
Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam, tells the story of Mariam, the second wife of the Biblical King Herod. Cary’s play is a deft and thoughtful consideration of the place of women in a patriarchy. Mariam is the earliest example of an English-language play penned and published by a woman, as well as the only surviving woman-written play from the Jacobean era.