Fire on Earth by Patrick Gabridge Patrick Gabridge 19 Netherlands Road, #1 Brookline, MA 02445 (617) 959-1437
[email protected] www.gabridge.com copyright Patrick Gabridge 2010 Fire on Earth Time: 1523 - 1532 Place: England, Germany, Antwerp (Belgium) Set: A bare stage, with portable set pieces brought on as necessary (these would include a desk on wheels, a wheelbarrow, and a stake). Character Descriptions: (minimum required: 5 men) John Tewkesbury, 30s, a smuggler and cloth merchant. He's not well educated, but plenty savvy. William Tyndale--in his late 30s, early 40s. Obsessed with the scripture and bringing it to the common man. A linguistic genius (spoke 7 languages fluently) and man of deep faith. Even his enemies admired him. Driven. John Frith, 20s, a young writer and reformer and a close friend of Tyndale. Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall, 40s-60s, is a scholar caught in a difficult political time. Bishop John Stokesley, 40s-50s, replaces Tunstall as Bishop of London and is eager to stamp out heresy in England, perfectly willing to use torture to do so. Soldier and Gravedigger can be played by the same actors as the Bishops. Notes: I have a strong interest in multi-racial, color-blind casting. Despite the fact that historically the men in this play were all European, the characters listed above can be played by actors of any hue. The Greek is a phonetic rendering--if you speak ancient Greek, I can provide the actual text. 2-27-15--d9 I am come to send fire on earth: and what is my desire but that it were already kindled? Notwithstanding, I must be baptised with a baptism: and how am I pained until it be ended? Suppose ye that I am come to send peace on earth? I tell you, nay, but rather debate.