Edward the Second is a tragedy built upon the politics of sexual rejection and magnetism, of naked ambition, of sadism, of willful selfishness, and of miscalculation which ultimately leads to civil chaos.  Edward’s obsession with his male lover Gaveston, which he attempts to preserve at all costs, clearly accounts for his failure as a king and culminates in his gruesome murder, making him finally a martyr to his passion.

It is the collision of sex and politics.

Ensemble

Graham Brown (Director, Playwright, Edward)

Gabriel D’Amore (Gaveston)  

Jamie Forehand (Kent)

Jeni Henaghan (Isabella)

C.J. Tucker (Mortimer)

Billy Atwell (Score/Sound Design)

David Gillam (Costume Designer)

Sexual Politics

Edward the Second is considered one of the most difficult and elaborate plays to produce, but director Graham Brown will transform Christopher Marlowe's tragedy into and hour and 15 minute one-act play with a cast of five.  Originally a five-act play with 23 characters, this stylized version is essentially about Edward's obsession with his male lover Gaveston.  When Edward I dies, Edward II becomes king and recalls his lover who was sent by his disapproving father to France.  The public doesn't like the fact that their king's lover is French, and they urge him to stop seeing Gaveston, but it seems that the more people tell him no, the more he wants Gaveston.  The obsession marks the downfall of his kingdom, leads to Gaveston's murder, and eventually his own.
 
                               --Heather Calovese, BLADE