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Darwin & Fitzroy by long-time actress and occasional playwright Juliet Aykroyd, a play based on the complicated relationship of Charles Darwin (I really shouldn't have to link you to Wikipedia for him, no matter how poorly you might have been educated regarding evolution) and Robert FitzRoy (
Wikipedia), Captain of the
HMS Beagle. This has been performed in theatres and here's a
post from the British Society for Literature and Science's blog about it.
DARWIN & FITZROY is the first published play in nearly 150 years that authentically portrays Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy, two iconic figures in English history, and captures their turbulent, complex and competitive 35-year relationship that started with the voyage of the Beagle in 1831 and ended with FitzRoy’s suicide in 1865.
In life, what began with fledgling 23-year-old naturalist Charles Darwin being accepted by Commander Robert FitzRoy of the HMS Beagle to join his five-year voyage of exploration of South America and the world for the British Admiralty ended 35 years later with FitzRoy dying impoverished, buried in an unconsecrated grave in the lonely yard of the All Saints Church in Upper Norwood, while Darwin was interred near the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey as a scientific genius for the ages.
And it was during the voyage of the Beagle that FitzRoy’s religious orthodoxy came face-to-face with Darwin’s early theories of evolution. From discussions in FitzRoy’s cabin in the 1830s off the coast of South America to the heated debates of today, the clash of these two geniuses has been felt for centuries as people try to explain the world through the prism of creationism vs. evolution.
Playwright Juliet Aykroyd was originally approached by Julian Hunt, Lord Hunt of Chesterton, CB, FRS, who graciously wrote the Foreword to this publication, when he was the Chief Executive of the UK Meteorological Office after he had seen her play about the architect John Vanbrugh. Lord Hunt was the ninth Director of the Meteorological Office, Admiral Robert FitzRoy being the first, and he was interested in bringing FitzRoy’s contributions during the first half of the 19th century to light; contributions that included his commanding of the Beagle and the invention of the daily weather report. Drawing on her personal history as a professional actor and as an award-winning playwright, it was Juliet Aykroyd’s idea that the play should be about the stormy relationship between Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy.
The first performances of the play were at the University of Reading and the Bloomsbury Theatre in London when Lord Hunt was retiring his post in 1997 and subsequent performances included one at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 2009.
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The Forbidden Ride: An Icelandic Love Story by Gerald & Loretta Hausman (
Wikipedia), the former of whom is a folkloric storyteller with a number of literary awards and quite a few trad-publications to his credit. This is some kind of newly-written historical literary coming-of-age magical realism-sounding adventure drama set in 10th century Iceland, and I have this inordinate fondness for cultures which produce dragon boats and Iceland is my 2nd favourite country, and thus I'm posting this.
THE FORBIDDEN RIDE is the story of 15-year-old Freyja and the love of her life Jarn who is 17. Set in 10th century Iceland, a time of harsh laws and cruel men, Freyja falls in love with Jarn, a handsome young man from the next settlement, only to have him ripped from her by her father Sigurd as he enforces a merciless, ancient Icelandic law against Jarn for the crime of riding Sigurd's spirit horse Faxi without permission.
Surrounded by customs and rules that make little sense to her, Freyja must overcome her lack of status as a young woman in a man’s world of brutal justice and blood in order to save her family from banishment and shame, and with the help of the magical shaman-horse Faxi, to regain her freedom to be with Jarn.