Cultural depictions of Anne, Queen of Great Britain

Anne, Queen of Great Britain, has been depicted in novels, film and television.

Literature edit

Anne is a character in the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo, the 1912 novel The White Gauntlet, by Percy James Brebner,.[1] The 2016 novel What if the Queen Should Die, by John-Paul Flintoff, is about the last days of her life. Anne is also the protagonist of the short story "The Emancipation of Mrs. Morley" (1935) by Clemence Dane.[2]

Theatre edit

Anne is a character in the play Le Verre d'eau (1840), by Eugène Scribe.[3] The titular play Queen Anne, written by the playwright Helen Edmundson, dramatizes the relationship between Anne and Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, as well as the court politics and succession issues of Anne's court. It was first produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between November, 2015 and January, 2016, before opening at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London, where it ran between June and September 2017.[4][5]

Television edit

Anne is played by Margaret Tyzack in the 1969 BBC television serial The First Churchills.[6] Elizabeth Spriggs portrayed her in the 2004 BBC drama documentary Wren: The Man Who Built Britain.

Film edit

Anne was portrayed on screen by Anna Kallina in the 1921 Austrian silent adaptation The Grinning Face of Hugo's novel, and by Josephine Crowell in the 1928 silent adaptation. She is also a character in the play Le Verre d'eau by Eugène Scribe; Gunnel Lindblom portrayed her in the 1960 Swedish TV adaptation of Scribe's play Ett Glas vatten; Liselotte Pulver in the 1960 West German film adaptation Das Glas Wasser, Judit Halász in the 1977 Hungarian TV adaptation Sakk-matt, and Natalya Belokhvostikova in the 1979 Soviet film adaptation Stakan vody (Стакан воды). In the 1984 comedy Yellowbeard she was played by Peter Bull (in his last film role) as a fat, senile woman, dominated by Sarah Churchill.

Anne was portrayed by Olivia Colman in the 2018 film The Favourite, which centres on the competition for the Queen's affection between Sarah Churchill and Abigail Masham.[7] For her portrayal of the monarch, Colman won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actress.

References edit

  1. ^ Baker, Ernest A., A Guide to Historical Fiction. London : G. Routledge and Sons, 1914.(pgs. 144, 281)
  2. ^ Michael Cox and Jack Adrian, The Oxford Book of Historical Stories. Oxford;Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 9780192142191 (p.436).
  3. ^ Arvin, Neil Cole. Eugène Scribe and the French Theatre, 1815-1860. Harvard University Press, 1924 (pg. 147)
  4. ^ "Queen Anne | Royal Shakespeare Company | Theatre". Rsc.org.uk. 5 May 2015. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Queen Anne | Royal Shakespeare Company". www.rsc.org.uk.
  6. ^ "The First Churchills (1971)". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  7. ^ Kohn, Eric (3 September 2018). "Yorgos Lanthimos on the Lesbian Love Triangle of 'The Favourite': 'I Didn't Want This to Become an Issue'". IndieWire. Retrieved 3 September 2018.