PAWN TO KING'S BISHOP
a play by Lee Shackleford
Index / About this script / Read a sample / Get the script / Performance rights
The astounding true story of Anne Askew, a street preacher imprisoned by the Church of England during the days of Henry VIII. The formal charge against her was "heresy" -- punishable by death -- but her actual "crime" was in being a woman who wanted to serve God as any man could.
From STAGE DIRECTIONS Magazine, August 1998:
"In Pawn to King's Bishop, Elizabeth Tudor -- not yet queen -- is imprisoned in the Tower of London on suspicion of being a heretic. There she learns the true story of how her foster mother, Catherine Parr, risked her life for Anne Askew, under a death sentence for heresy. All the intrigue of mid-16th-century England is made palpable: despotic men trying to enforce their will; repentent men trying to atone; women fighting (sometimes naively) for their rights and religious freedom; and many who find themselves fighting for their lives in desperate situations. Playwright Lee Shackleford has created a thoughtful play that blends history, religious fervor, and proto-feminism in unusual ways."
Production calls for five men and five women plus non-speaking guards, and a unit set. Several excellent roles for young women, including the teenager who will one day be Queen Elizabeth I.
