Equivocation: From the Director

London, November 5^th, 1605, midnight. The King’s guards, acting on a mysterious tip-off, have just discovered Guy Fawkes skulking in a chamber below the Houses of Parliament. Next to him stand thirty-six barrels of gunpowder. In a few hours’ time, King James I of England (formerly James VI of Scotland), his Queen, their oldest son, the cream of the English nobility and the leaders of the Anglican Church are due to gather there for the annual Opening of Parliament.

When the story breaks and the enormous implications of the miraculously-avoided catastrophe become apparent, the whole of London is feverish with speculation about who’s behind it. For a wily politician like Robert Cecil, still struggling to find a way to stabilize the country after putting James on the throne, the chaos presents a perfect opportunity. But he needs the right narrative.

As the thirteen Catholic plotters are hastily rounded up, among their possessions Cecil’s men find a book by Jesuit priest Henry Garnet, titled A Treatise of Equivocation. In it, Garnet explains how devout Catholics can avoid telling the truth even when questioned under oath and still keep a clear conscience.For Cecil, its promotion of deliberate deception can easily be interpreted as threatening the nation’s entire social contract. And if the plotters can be framed as pawns in a game played by the Catholic Church, Cecil has the story he’s been looking for. Now he just needs to convince England’s most popular playwright to tell it.

Over at the Globe Theatre, Master Shagspeare is busy wrestling with his new ‘experimental drama’ King Lear. Much to the consternation of his theatre company, he’s trying to write the truth of what it really means to be human. Can he put that aside and write a blatant piece of propaganda about what happens to those who plot and deceive to kill a king - especially when it becomes clear that the government story includes some decidedly ‘alternate’ facts? 

As fiction, truth and other people’s perceptions of it increasingly blur together, Equivocation explores the personal cost of perpetuating what we know to be a lie - and our deep moral investment in telling the real truth, especially in difficult times.

Jenny Hollingworth, Director

Equivocation: A Video From the Playwright

Equivocation played at the Marin Theatre Company in 2010 and this clip from Father Bill Cain discussing his script is just lovely. 

"Some people have said Equivocation is a play about religion. Religion is certainly involved as part of the plot. But for me the act of DOING a play is the religious act. It's the gathering of a community around a story. And the story that we face is the almost invariably a story of holiness, it's a story of a journey to become the person that you are called to be. So I think theatre is religious by nature. Religion is part of the fabric of this play, but so is theatre, so is politics, so is family. It's a big play in that way."

Three Days of Rain: The Family Trees

Because I think it's a little bit helpful in this story that unwinds in reverse, here's a look at the players in Three Days of Rain

Ned/Walker is played by Tasi Alabastro; Lina/Nan is played by Katie O'Bryon Champlin; Theo/Pip is played by Robert Sean Campbell. And that's all I'm going to say to avoid some spoilers. Enjoy the show!

Three Days of Rain: A Word from the Director

Three Days of Rain has been on my bucket list for many years now and due to rights restrictions or other conflicts, it’s only now coming to life on the Dragon stage as my last show in my last year as the Artistic Director of Dragon. This makes it that much more special for me to be able to tell this story with three wonderfully talented and lovely actors and to present it to you, the Dragon audience. This is a beautiful story about familial disconnectedness (with which many of us are familiar), and the loneliness of intimacy. The legacy that these two young architects have created and passed down to their children – whether they wanted that burden or not – plays out in the relationships that the characters have with each other and those around them. This story allows us to understand more of our own assumptions or misunderstandings about our own parents, whether we are close with them or they were taken from us too early. It’s also so special to me as a director and for the actors because in the Act II the same performers play the parents of their Act I characters. If you know my work you’ll know I love stories that give actors the terrific challenge of playing multiple characters. Thank you for sharing this heart-warming and sometimes heart-breaking tale with me.

I give special thanks to my wonderful cast (Tasi, Robert, and Katie), my wonderful production team (Rachel, Kat, Nate, Karl, John, Jess, and Jacqueline), and the amazing support staff behind the scenes of Dragon (Kim, Taylor, Max, Alika, Josiah, Nancy, and Karen). I wouldn’t have wanted to go on this roller-coaster ride with anyone else. 

Thank you!

Meredith Hagedorn
Founding Artistic Director of Dragon Productions Theatre