The second installment of the Mrs. Hawking story, Vivat Regina, is now available here on the site for viewing! Click here to read it in the Scripts section.
The official synopsis:
Mary Stone is doing her best learn the trade of her mistress’s work as a covert agent for women victimized by Victorian society. Mrs. Hawking’s nephew Nathaniel, too, struggles to find what contribution he can make to his aunt’s work, and neither one seems to be serving to their mentor’s satisfaction. But when a mysterious lady under a false name comes to them with a next-to-impossible mission, Mrs. Hawking and her assistants must bring together all their varied strengths in order to see that justice is done.
A few notes on it before you read:
The original draft of Vivat Regina was written over the course of 2013, with the bulk completed in December. The revisions and most of the Clara subplot were worked in over the course of January and February 2014.
Significant input on the plot was provided by Bernie Gabin to my gratitude. I also owe a great deal to Gabrielle Geller, Ben Federlin, Aaron Fischer, Ryan Kacani, Stephanie Karol, Frances Kimpel, Samantha LeVangie, Charlotte Oswald, Eboracum Richter-Dahl, and Lenny Somervell for their reading and feedback on this script. Their input was crucial to the editing process.
It is written for seven speaking roles, four women and three men, plus a small nonspeaking ensemble. As written, it is possible to double-cast Clara and Mrs. Braun. It is possible to swap the gender of Herr Gerhard, in which case it could be doubled with Mrs. Braun but not Clara.
It takes place about nine months or so after the events of Mrs. Hawking, in the summer of 1881.
All related posts on the topic of Vivat Regina can be found in this category.
I hope you enjoy it. All comments, questions, and responses to the piece are very welcome.
Read the new script Vivat Regina here.
