About

The Queen and Her Ghosts is a new play centered around the life and death of Lady Jane Grey. This play explores female autonomy through political and personal situations, all through the eyes of a woman who once held one of the most powerful positions in the world, all while having no power over her own life. Movement set to original music also help tell this story.

The story follows the life of Lady Jane Grey starting from her early teen years, up to her death. The play opens with a movement piece introducing us to Jane, and flows right into the action of Act 1. In the first act, we see Jane go from Lady Jane Grey, to Lady Jane Dudley, to Queen Jane. Following history, Jane is usurped as Queen at the end of Act 1 and is thrown in a prison cell in the Tower of London. Act 2 also opens with a movement piece, giving us a look into the history of the tower, and who has been held there. Jane confides in the spirits of those who were held in the tower before her to help her prepare for her fate.

Why now? This story follows an ill prepared woman having to step into a position she does not want, and shows the strength she must find within herself to subvert the people using her as a political pawn. In the second act, Jane also reckons with legacy, examining her acts on earth and how they will be remembered. My goal is for the audience to see the parallels of those being used for politics currently, and examine how their own actions affect others.