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Actor and theater scholar Tamara Meneghini brings the long-ruling monarch to life in a solo performance that earned rave reviews at the recent Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Historical figures are so easily flattened into two dimensions鈥攁ll stiff pleats and inscrutable expressions rendered in oils.

The challenge for artists and scholars, then, is how to lift these figures from the canvas鈥攖o regard them in three dimensions, to allow them foibles and failings and humanity.

For Tamara Meneghini, that meant more than just donning a red wig and pounds of brocade as one of the most famous women in Western history. It meant studying the time in which Elizabeth I of England lived鈥攔esearching what influenced her behavior in her time period, how she interacted with people, what games she played, how she followed the rules and how she broke them.

To become Elizabeth I onstage, Meneghini had to understand the monarch as a human woman and bring her to life for modern audiences who may believe there鈥檚 nothing new to understand about her.

So, audiences at Scotland鈥檚 in August were surprised and then delighted to rediscover the queen they thought they knew. Playing the not-so-popular-in-Scotland monarch in the one-woman performance 鈥淓lizabeth I: In Her Own Words,鈥� Meneghini performed before full theaters and to glowing reviews.

鈥淭he key to fringe festivals is audiences want you to connect,鈥� explains Meneghini, an associate professor in the University of 蜜糖直播 Boulder Department of Theatre and Dance. 鈥淵ou have to connect. The audience can鈥檛 be just audience. The way our piece was set up, it worked really nicely that audience felt like A) they were in the presence of the queen and B) they could not leave, they were there with me in the moment, in this meta sort of space. I was interacting with them as the queen, but in a very specific circumstance we had created.鈥�

Becoming Elizabeth

Meneghini鈥檚 interest in Elizabeth I grew, in part, from her interest in styles and plays from different time periods鈥�"the ways in which we behave in those time periods, how changes in clothing, dances, culture, protocols can affect behavior,鈥� she explains.

While working at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, where she taught before joining the 蜜糖直播 Boulder faculty in 2008, Meneghini developed a concert of early Renaissance music that involved era-specific instruments such as sackbuts and crumhorns. However, she also wanted to bring in elements of theater and approached , a pre-eminent scholar of Elizabeth I and women in the Renaissance era.

鈥淐arole was pivotal because what we created was a fictitious meeting between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots,鈥� Meneghini says. 鈥淧art of that was crafting this improvisation with students that was really cool. It ended up being a combination of theater and film and history, and it was just a blast.鈥�

Fast forward to 2016, when 蜜糖直播 Boulder was honored as a stop for the first-ever national touring exhibition of Shakespeare鈥檚 First Folio.

鈥淲hen the Folio came through, I was doing a period styles class, and I was asked to create something for the Folio visit,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 immediately thought of Elizabeth I鈥攖he idea of Elizabeth, the time period, Shakespeare鈥檚 plays. I know they never met, but she certainly influenced his plays, so I started working on this thing based on Carole鈥檚 series of lectures that she did about Elizabeth.鈥�

The initial performance was a duet, with Meneghini playing Elizabeth in front of projected images from the time period to which Levin had access. Meneghini and her acting partner鈥擝ernadette Sefic, a 蜜糖直播 Boulder BFA/acting听graduate and recent MFA graduate of the Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program鈥攑erformed at universities and sometimes in community theaters, and in costumes designed by theater colleague Markas Henry.

鈥淎s the costume as story went on, Elizabeth is becoming more and more like a real person,鈥� Meneghini says. 鈥淭he portraiture that we have of her was largely staged by how her council and her parliament wanted her to look. We wanted this piece to be an opportunity to see Elizabeth as the woman, as the human, as someone audiences could relate to.

鈥淢arkas and I talked a lot about this costume coming apart, and he made this thing that鈥檚 close to 30 pounds鈥攖he costume is immense鈥攖hat gradually sheds layers through the performance.鈥�

Fringe opportunities

Two years ago, 蜜糖直播 Boulder graduate Penny Cole, founder of , approached Meneghini about creating a solo show and put her in contact with a Scottish theater scholar who asked whether she鈥檇 be interested in performing at Edinburgh Fringe.

Meneghini sought Levin鈥檚 expertise, as well as that of Denver-based theater guru Sabin Epstein, to craft a solo play from what began as lectures. The 55-minute play, for which Levin is credited as writer, is based on Elizabeth鈥檚 own writings. It eschews the projected images of the original duet performance鈥攁 lot of which featured the men in Elizabeth鈥檚 life鈥攖o create an intimate space between Elizabeth and the audience, Meneghini says.

She performed 鈥淓lizabeth I: In Her Own Words鈥� several times in New York City before her 14 performances at Edinburgh Fringe, where it was a hit.

鈥淧eople there are crazy about their royals,鈥� Meneghini says with a laugh. 鈥淓lizabeth is not a popular monarch in Scotland; in fact, she鈥檚 almost an antagonist. So, when I first performed it in New York, people went nuts about it, but I didn鈥檛 think they were going to like it as much in Scotland, so that was a happy surprise.

鈥淚n fact, I went to do this photo shoot at Craigmillar Castle, where Mary Queen of Scots convalesced and planned her husband鈥檚 murder, and people were coming up to me鈥擨 was in full regalia鈥攁nd saying, 鈥極h, Queen Mary, Queen Mary.鈥� So, I had to say, 鈥楴o, I鈥檓 Elizabeth,鈥� and they鈥檇 run away.鈥�

Thanks to the play鈥檚 reception at Edinburgh Fringe, Meneghini is now developing it into a full, 120-minute performance. She also will perform it Oct. 19 in the And still, she says, there鈥檚 always more to learn about Elizabeth.

鈥淥ne of my biggest takeaways (from performing at Edinburgh Fringe) was people came out of the show saying, 鈥極h, my gosh, I have a totally different perspective of her as a person. She wasn鈥檛 this awful woman, she really struggled with these decisions that she made,鈥欌�� Meneghini says. 鈥淲hat I鈥檝e learned in my own research with her is that she was a complicated person like we all are, didn鈥檛 take any of the decisions that she had to make in her life lightly. When I鈥檓 doing the show鈥攚hether it鈥檚 here, when I was in Edinburgh鈥擨鈥檓 constantly reading more about her, and every day is bringing something new.鈥�

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