If like me, you have developed an obsession with the Showtime TV series The Tudors, the upcoming few days are the anniversaries of several interesting dates. After most episodes the librarian in me wants me to begin checking authoritative sources to see how accurately history has been portrayed. But the truth is, even historians disagree on many facts. However, hopefully they are correct about the dates of some events. Anne Boleyn and her brother George were put on trail for adultery and incest 473 years ago today, May 15, 1536. We all know the outcome of that proceeding! Now, you think Mary Queen of Scots would have learned that annoying a Tudor monarch was not a good way to keep your head attached to your body. On the same day some 31 years later she married her third husband James Hepburn who many thought to be the murderer of her second husband which fueled the negative fires already surrounding her reign in Scotland. You get the idea. And, whom should see seek asylum from but her cousin Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth promptly had her put in custody for 19 years while she pondered the thorny issue of the threat of another living and conniving possible candidate for her job. An axe was prominent in this case as well.
So, while you wait for new each new episode of The Tudors and reign in your disappointment that next season will be the last, check out the Westport Public Library’s many films about this period. They feature performances by acclaimed actresses. Start with a double helping by borrowing a DVD featuring both Anne of the Thousand Days with Genevieve Bujold and Richard Burton as the monarchs and Mary Queen of Scots with Bette Davis. Miss Davis stars in The Virgin Queen as well as The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Glenda Jackson is featured as Elizabeth in the BBC production Elizabeth R. More recently, Helen Mirren starred as Elizabeth I in a critically acclaimed mini-series.
By the way, if you want a wonderful live theatrical experience, I highly recommend Mary Stuart at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway. (My best Mother’s Day gift ever!) British theatre royalty Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter rose to the occasion of portraying monarchs.
