INTERVIEW: Dryden Ensemble explores Queen Christina’s ties to Rome
Photo: The Dryden Ensemble will perform their new show, Queen Christina Goes to Rome, with Roberta Maxwell in the title role. Photo courtesy of the Dryden Ensemble / Provided by Dan Bauer PR with permission.
Queen Christina of Sweden was a patron of the arts in the 17th century, but her reign did not last long. She abdicated at 28 years old and instead chose a life of art and culture in Rome.
To remember this figure from hundreds of years ago, the Dryden Ensemble will present a special presentation of their new dramatic piece, Queen Christina Goes to Rome, Saturday, Jan. 19 and Sunday, Jan. 20. Starring as the title character will be Roberta Maxwell, who has appeared on Broadway in Equus, Othello, Henry V and The Merchant of Venice, among other shows off-Broadway and at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey.
Paul Hecht will serve as the narrator for the performances, while ensemble will play a variety of unique instruments, including oboe, violin, viola da gamba, lute and harpsichord, all set to the styles that mimic the countries Queen Christina visited on her way from Sweden to Rome. The ensemble consists of Vita Wallace, Dongmyung Ahn, Jane McKinley, Lisa Terry, Daniel Swenberg and Webb Wiggins.
Saturday’s show will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury, Pennsylvania. Sunday’s show is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Miller Chapel, part of Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Maxwell about her upcoming performances. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to take on the role of Queen Christina?
She was a rock star, and the opportunity to work with Ms. McKinley [on oboe] and the wonderful Dryden Ensemble and my longtime pal Paul Hecht.
Did you have to conduct research about her life and the times she lived?
I began my classical acting training at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival In Stratford [Ontario] Canada and played many roles there and here in Connecticut at the Stratford Shakespeare Theater. I have been well versed in the European political and personal histories of that period, and the tortuous experience of wearing whale bone corsets under my costumes.
What’s it like working with the Dryden Ensemble and Paul Hecht?
A pleasure. Wonderful fun.
Does your love of acting go back to when you were a child?
At the age of 5 in the kindergarten festival Christmas story I stepped on the stage as Third Blackbird to welcome the Christ Child, and I knew I had found my calling in life — as an actress not a blackbird.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Queen Christina Goes to Rome will be presented Jan. 19-20 by the Dryden Ensemble. Roberta Maxwell and Paul Hecht star in the dramatic performance. Click here for more information and tickets.
