Good Sometimes Queen

The title of the production is a quote from Shakespeare’s Richard II, when the King addresses Mary Stuart (who ruled Scotland for only 6 years): ‘Good sometime queen, prepare thee hence for France:/ Think I am dead and that even here thou takest,/ As from my death-bed, thy last living leave.’ 

Librettist Matthew Jocelyn writes: ‘The core of this 5-song cycle are 3 letters dating from Marie’s [or Mary’s] return to Scotland, age 19, to take up her role as queen in 1561...; her plea to Elizabeth, 5 years later, to disregard the fallacious claims of the Scottish rebel forces trying to disempower her...; and, in 1582, her cry of despair after more than 14 years of imprisonment in England. To these have been added, at the beginning of this song cycle, a succession of introductory salutations from Marie’s letters to Elizabeth over a 27-year period (Madame ma bonne sœur, 1559-1586) and, at the end, elements from her final will and testament, written in the wee hours preceding her above-mentioned execution. Not a life portrait, nor a full depiction of Marie’s complex and oft-changing relationship with Elizabeth I, but a small window onto the words she crafted, at various moments, to give shape to her quests. Words now begging to be sung.’