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Dateline: 4th August, 2005
Page Brings Eleanor to Jermyn Street Veteran actress Eileen Page is to bring her one-woman performance Eleanor of Aquitaine: Mother of the Pride, a play by Catherine Muschamp, to the Jermyn Street Theatre for twenty performances only, from 30th August to 17th September. A woman of extraordinary courage, beauty and iron will - uniquely Queen of France, then Queen of England, and mother of two English kings - Eleanor of Aquitaine's name was legendary even before her death. Having inherited the wealthy Duchy of Aquitaine at the age of fifteen, her first marriage to King Louis VII of France ended in divorce when she failed to produce a male heir. Two months later Eleanor stunned Europe by marrying the future King Henry II of England who was eleven years her junior, thus creating the formidable Plantagenet dynasty. Two of their eight children became Kings of England - Richard the Lionheart and King John - but their marriage was tempestuous; she spent fourteen years under house arrest for conspiring against her husband with her ambitious sons. On Henry's death, Eleanor again moved to the centre of the turbulent political stage; eventually she ended her days among the nuns of Fontrevault Abbey, dying in 1204 at the age of 82, having outlived all but two of her children. Eleanor of Aquitaine brings to life this formidable woman, far ahead of her time, who witnessed and influenced some of the Middle Ages' most dramatic events, including the murder of Thomas Becket and her own rivalry with Henry II's mistress, 'fair Rosamund' Clifford. Eileen Page's sixty-year career encompasses Shakespeare, contemporary writers, musical theatre, film and television. Her long association with the RSC includes Peter Brook's production of Love's Labour's Lost, Henry V with Paul Scofield, Mother Courage, Richard II, The Winter's Tale, and Waste with Judi Dench, which transferred to the West End. Other West End appearances include Heidi Schiller in Stephen Sondheim's Follies (Shaftesbury, a role she later reprised for a BBC gala performance); Me and My Girl (Adelphi); The Boyfriend (Duchess Theatre); and Nine (Royal Festival Hall). Among many leading roles in repertory seasons across the country, one of her favourites was Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter at Liverpool Playhouse. Eileen's television appearances include Maigret with Michael Gambon, Absolute Hell with Judi Dench and Bill Nighy, Doctors, Fingersmith, September Song and Midsomer Murders. She first performed the play at the 1999 Edinburgh Festival, since when she has toured nationally and internationally to great acclaim.
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