On April 6 and 7 2008, the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania held the first production of the revived Performance Committee, Christopher Marlowe’s acclaimed play, “Edward II,” in Houston Hall’s Hall of Flags.
STARRING
Ramon Miyar as King Edward II
Christopher Hillard as Mortimer
Rebecca Cook as Queen Isabella Valois
Andrew Kincaid as Gaveston
Brian Gelletly as the Earl of Kent
Lauren Frazier as Warwick
Sharon Li as Lancaster
Megan Edelmann as Spencer
Matthew Walsh as Gurney
David Marcou as Matrevis
André Gregori as The Archbishop of Canterbury
Becky Lu as Arundel
Brooke Palmieri as Lightborn
Alec Webley as Prince Edward
Synopsis
Written in the early 1590s, Edward the Second was one of Marlowe’s last major works. It is set in the early 14th Century, when England was threatened by war in Scotland, France and Ireland. It begins with the return of King Edward’s “favorite,” Piers Gaveston, to England, who was exiled by Edward I because of his “bad influence” upon his son. Henceforth, the plot revolves around the intensely homoerotic relationship between Gaveston and the King. The court, led by the Earls of Mortimer and Lancaster, is incensed by the return of Gaveston, whom the King showers with titles, land, and wealth incommensurate with his social status. And for these nobles, confronted with Edward’s incompetent management of the State, and his disregard for their advice and demands, this is the last straw. They demand that the King return Gaveston to exile, or face open rebellion, at which insolence, the King naturally balks. The nobles respond by taking matters into their own hands, murdering Gaveston, and offering Edward peace, sending him on a bloodthirsty quest for vengeance upon the murderers of his lover.
