VIVAT! VIVAT REGINA!
by ROBERT BOLT
To insist on seeing "the new Neil Simon" or nothing is to enlist in New York's legion of the theatrically self-deprived. In reality, Broadway is a pageant with something to beguile every eye. The latest treat is Vivat! Vivat Regina!, a vivid tapestry of passion, blood, majesty and death.
The play centers on the fierce duel of wiles and wills between Elizabeth I (Eileen Atkins) and Mary Stuart (Claire Bloom). The two never meet, yet each haunts the mind of the other. Robert Bolt writes a number of what might be called "blackboard scenes" to fill in...