From Birmingham
A Play in One Act with a Prologue and an Epilogue, by EVELYN HERBERT
Foreword: Mystery surrounds the death of Amy Robsart , wife of the Earl of Leicester, the brilliant favourite of Queen' Elizabeth. It is thought that, prompted by ambitious hopes of an alliance with the Queen, he and a servant, Varney, conspired against Amy's life. In 1560 she was found dead in Cumnor Hall, near Oxford, and though no direct evidence could be proved against him, it was the common opinion that Leicester had murdered his wife by means of a trap-door placed for her destruction. Amy's death, however, brought Leicester and his fellow conspirator nothing but misery, and from that time onwards misfortune followed him, and in 1588 he himself met his death by poison.
Characters in Prologue and Epilogue :
Characters in Play :
The action of the play takes place in two different centuries-the twentieth and sixteenth. The Prologue and Epilogue are representative of the twentieth century, while the play is in the sixteenth century. The scene all through is laid in a sparsely-furnished room in Cumnor Hall. A table and a few chairs comprise the contents of the room. A thick black curtain divides the room from an outer hall.