THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407150202
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET TALEV, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
QUEEN ELIZABETH is well-known over the centuries as the illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII and the 16th-century English monarch who sent Sir Walter Raleigh's delegates out to explore the New World not far from where the Pioneer Theater now stands.
She's famed - among other things - for the auburn wig and extravagant dress.
So who's the character at the Pioneer each Wednesday with the short red hair, shiny green bloomers and suede hip boots? Peter Pan?
Surely it's not the virgin queen in all her splendor.
``Not what you expected, is it?'' is her opening line.
And from start to finish, ``Elizabeth R.,'' a gripping 45-minute, one-act, one-woman play starring Barbara Hird, contradicts much of what other plays teach about Queen Elizabeth, cutting away at the pomp and circumstance and the royal mannerisms with which the queen enshrouded herself.
What remains is somebody Elizabeth hid from subjects and advisers: a keen strategist, an independent woman, a natural politician who would disguise herself as a man to gain information she could not as queen.
From an abandoned alcove in Richmond Hall - Elizabeth's private retreat - she struggles with the foreign and domestic policy situations confronting her in August 1588. Also she confides to the audience her views on religion, relationships with family members, marriage proposals, love, how she cultivated her queenliness and why she had to use that image to retain power.
Queen Elizabeth's hand props and the set decorations - as historically accurate as possible - were selected by Olivia Isil, a scholar of 16th-century Roanoke Island.
Lebame Houston, local and Elizabethan scholar, directs and produces the play, which she wrote based upon extensive original research.
Since she began studying Elizabethan history at age 14, Houston said she has made 40 research trips to England. She read most of the primary source materials on Elizabeth, and filed most of her research on a computer.
To write the 25-page script in three days, ``I simply drew from my life's work and drew a running outline from Elizabeth's birth,'' Houston said.
``It was important not to pick too many characters. I chose things that would be important in understanding Elizabeth's involvement in the Roanoke Island colonies.
``I wrote the play for Barbara Hird and no one else will ever play it,'' Houston said.
Hird draws in the audience with face and body, using eye contact, hand gestures and lip movement to create a multidimensional queen with strengths and weaknesses.
``I've always been interested in Queen Elizabeth,'' she said. A native of Yorkshire, England, she thought she was well-schooled in history ``until I met Lebame, and then I realized I didn't know anything.''
Hird is no stranger to the queen - she has played her for nine seasons in ``The Lost Colony.'' But Houston's Elizabeth is different, she said: ``In `The Lost Colony,' you see very much that icon queen. You see the dress, the public person.
``And this, of course, delves into the private person.''
She recommends seeing both: ``I think you should see this, and then `The Lost Colony.'
``Elizabeth was such a woman before her time,'' Hird said. ``Now we think we live in a man's world, but 400 years ago - that was a man's world.
``All her problems are problems that assault us today,'' said Hird of the financial, political and personal conflicts the queen describes in her monologue.
Hird said the script's clear transitions made it easy for her to memorize. Nevertheless, she does a full rehearsal each Tuesday. Hird has done other one-woman plays, film and television as well as stage acting.
After a recent show, members of the audience were impressed by Hird's performance. ``She was great,'' said Annice Brown of Washington, D.C. ``One-woman shows intrigue me, because they're so hard to do.''
Vacationer Kyle Hicks, 16, came to see the play for the second consecutive showing. An aspiring actress and a student at Yorktown High School in Virginia, Kyle was most impressed by Hird's ability to shift in and out of the mannerisms of many figures in Elizabeth's life as the queen discussed each one.
``The images she exuded were really clear,'' Kyle said. ``You could almost see her governess.''
To Hird, the play is ``kind of a walking history lesson, but it doesn't seem like you're sitting in a classroom.'' she said.
``If history were presented like this in the school system - oh Lord, wouldn't that be great.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Barbara Hird, who portrays Elizabeth I in the Lebame Houston play
``Elizabeth R,'' tosses away marriage proposals.
WHERE & WHEN
What: ``Elizabeth R.'' starring Barbara Hird
When: Wednesdays, 2:30 p.m.
Where: The Pioneer Theatre, 113 Budleigh Street, Manteo
Tickets: $3 at the ticket window (Admission is free for redheads
or anyone named Elizabeth who presents ID.)
Accommodations: Handicapped accessible
For more information: Call the Pioneer Theatre at (919) 473-2216
``Elizabeth R.'' is in its second season, which runs through the
end of summer. In the fall, Hird will do a 10-city tour, including
several North Carolina cities, Washington, D.C., and London.
by CNB