The Lady's Not For Burning
A cynical soldier, exhausted by the festering corruption of the world, stumbles into a town in the middle of a frenzied witch-hunt. Despite his world-weariness, he tries (in his own strange way) to save the condemned woman by marching into the mayor’s home and demanding to be hanged himself. When the mayor refuses, the soldier goes to greater and greater lengths to be difficult – after all, how ridiculous to refuse to hang a man who wants to be hanged, only to kill a guiltless woman who doesn’t want to die. Ironic, absurd, and deeply heartfelt, Christopher Fry’s curious rom-com is set “more or less” in 1400s England, and asks the question: in the maelstrom of an unjust world beset by righteous mobs, power-hungry leaders, and terrible violence, what can a single person do? A play of splendid poetry, wit, and sheer high spirits.
