The Theater: Star-Crossed Haters

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...

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