Queen Christina was written in 1975.  The play is not a documentary, thus characters have been concertinaed, and some events changed.  All plays are metaphors, and the dilemma of the real Christina, reared and educated as a man for the Swedish throne, and then asked to marry and breed for the succession, is perhaps not irrelevant today.

                                                                                                                                   Pam Gems

First performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon (1977). The cast was as follows:

QUEEN CHRISTINA Sheila Allen

CHRISTINA, as a child Erin Tyler

CHANCELLOR AXEL OXENSTIERNA Bernard Brown

KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS Barrie Rutter

GERMAN PRINCE Iain Mitchell

GERMAN AMBASSADOR John Burgess

LADY EBBA SPARRE Charlotte Cornwell

QUEEN MOTHER Valerie Lush

DESCARTES John Burgess

MAGNUS DE LA GUARDIE Nigel Terry

PRINCE KARL Ian McNeice

GIRL Fleur Chandler

CHANUT Barrie Rutter

SECRETARY Iain Mitchell

COPLEMAN Nigel Terry

DUKE Iain Mitchell

BISHOP John Burgess

MARQUISE Valerie Lush

MARIANNE Fleur Chandler

CATHERINE DE ROHANT Charlotte Cornwell

COUNT OF BREVAYE Iain Mitchell

POPE Bernard Brown

MONALDESCHO Nigel Terry

CARDINAL AZZOLINO Ian McNeice

CAPTAIN John Burgess

SOLDIER Barrie Rutter

LUCIA Valerie Lush

ANGELICA, as a child Erin Tyler

ANGELICA Fleur Chandler

RUFFINO Iain Mitchell

ROMANO Barrie Rutter

SALVATORE Nigel Terry

MUSICIAN Robin Weatherall

Directed by Penny Cherns

Designed by Di Seymour

Music by Guy Woolfenden

Lighting by Leo Leibovici

Choreography by Gillian Lynne

Fight directed by Nick Stringer

Company voice work by Cicely Berry

Director of The Other Place Ron Daniels