GISMONDE OF SALERNE IN LOVE

by The Gentlemen of the Inner Temple

BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE, 1994

Written

(Click on images to enlarge)

in 1567 and performed privately for Queen Elizabeth I, Gismonde of Salerne in Love received its first showing in 400 years, directed by Alasdair Middleton, and designed by Jane Wildgoose, in 1994 at Battersea Arts Centre.

It is the story of a father (played by John Quentin) and his obsessive love for his daughter (Julia Righton), and of her love for a man which brings destruction on herself and all around her.

Gismonde of Salerne in Love was written in five acts by five different noted writers of the time: Roderick Stafford, George Almont, Henry Noel, Christopher Hatton and Robert Wilmot, who were all eminent lawyers of the day.

Gismonde's dress with 30-metre train (made from the same red fabric as the set): designed for a scene in which Gismonde's tragic fate is sealed as she leaves her lover to meet her father - and learns that he has been watching them as they make love.

"Lo I, in shape that seem unto your sight a naked boy, not clothed but with wing, am that great god of love that with my might do rule the world, and every living thing."