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Our Next Show
Autumn 2024
Blackadder (2 Episodes)
The Queen Of Spain’s Beard
Witchsmeller Pursuivant
Audition
Tuesday 3 September 2024 - 7-9 pm
Hartpury Village Hall
Shows (3 nights)
Thursday 28th November 2024
Friday 29th November 2024
Saturday 30th November 2024
Rehearsals from Tuesday 10th September 2024
Twice weekly rehearsals: Tuesday/Thursday evenings 7-9 pm at Hartpury Village Hall
Please ensure you can commit fully to rehearsals. Lack of attendance affects the rest of the Group.
Membership
Actors who wish to be in a production are required to be members of HDG.
The yearly membership fee is just £10.
For more information about membership, please email: hartpurydramagroup1973@gmail.com
"The Queen of Spain's Beard"
"The Queen of Spain's Beard" is the fourth episode of season one in The Black Adder, a historical comedy franchise.
Set in England, during a fictional historical era of the late 15th century, the episode parodies the practice of intermarriage between the royal houses of European powers - which was a genuine and significant characteristic of European politics at that time.
Its bawdy humour also deals with taboos surrounding premarital sex, gay stereotypes and the practice of child marriage.
Cast
Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh
King Richard IV
The Queen
Harry, Prince of Wales
Percy
Baldrick
Infanta Maria Escalosa of Spain
Don Speekingleesh, an interpreter
Tully Applebottom
Rev. Lloyd
Mr. Applebottom
Lord Chiswick
1st Messenger
2nd Messenger
3rd and 4th Messengers
Archbishop
Princess Leia of Hungary
Lady on Ramparts
Plot
The year is 1492 and Europe is in disarray as nations go to war and kingdoms rise and fall. In England, Richard IV's court throbs with activity as he and his noblemen plan for war. The King must secure Spain's allegiance in a war with France, and commands his son, Harry, Prince of Wales, to marry the Spanish Infanta. Harry reveals that he is already engaged to a long list of European princesses (and one prince), and so the duty falls to Richard's forgotten son, Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh.
Edmund, meanwhile, has been trying unsuccessfully to woo the ladies of the court. After a woman pushes him off the castle ramparts in revulsion because she was expecting Harry, Edmund renounces women. His resolve is weakened when he learns that his father has arranged his marriage to the Infanta Maria Escalosa of Spain and he grows excited when he imagines her as a beautiful princess. The Infanta arrives at court and Edmund is horrified to discover that she is ugly, morbidly obese, and sexually voracious. Facilitated by her ever-present interpreter, Don Speekingleesh, she declares undying love for Edmund. Terrified, Edmund retreats to work out a way of getting out of the marriage, which is to take place the following day.
"Witchsmeller Pursuivant"
"Witchsmeller Pursuivant" is the fifth episode of the first series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder (The Black Adder).
It is set in England in the late 15th century and centres on the fictitious Prince Edmund, who finds himself falsely accused of witchcraft by a travelling witch-hunter known as the Witchsmeller Pursuivant. The story satirises mediaeval superstition and religious belief.
Cast
The Great Grumbledook
The Witchsmeller Pursuivant
The Witch Queen
Percy, A Witch
Baldrick, a Witch
Ross, A Lord
Angus, A Lord
Fife, A Lord
Soft, A Guard
Anon, A Guard
Daft Red, A Peasant
Dim Cain, A Peasant
Dumb Abel, A Peasant
Dopey Jack, A Peasant
Officer, An Officer
Jane Firkettle
Princess Leia
Piers, A Yeoman
Mrs. Field, A Goodwife
Mrs. Tyler, A Goodwife
Richard IV, A King
Stuntman
Narrator (voice)
Harry, Prince of Wales
Devil
Plot
In 1495, Europe is being ravaged by the Black Death, with England being no exception. Even King Richard IV has fallen ill with it, rendering him even more deranged and violent than usual; Prince Edmund goes to visit him and is nearly run through by the plague-addled king, who hallucinates him as a Turk. With the king unable to rule, Harry, Prince of Wales summons the Privy Council to manage the crisis. The noblemen exchange tales of evil omens from around the kingdom, and before long mass hysteria sets in and they declare that the realm is in the grip of witchcraft. Ignoring Prince Edmund's objections, they resolve to summon the Witchsmeller Pursuivant. Prince Edmund, accompanied by Percy and Baldrick, goes to find out more about the Witchsmeller from the local village but discovers the remains of a woman who has already been burned at the stake for witchcraft, along with her cat. Unbeknown to Edmund, the Witchsmeller lurks among the villagers, watching him as he boasts about his plans to give the Witchsmeller "a boot up the backside".
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