A re-working of
Grimm's story of Patient Griselda, who had vowed to obey her husband and
was tested by him. Having borne him a child, he took the babe from her,
which she meekly submitted to; two more babies and then - sixteen years
later, he told her he was about to marry another woman!
How she reacted to this testing, and the parallel tale of devotion as
evinced by the Swan Princess and the weaving of the nettle shirts under
a vow of silence, form the play. There are two dances and a song, as
well as opportunities for physical theatre sections. The play allows us
to look at the effect of these vows on women that we wonder at from our
modern post-feminist angle.
How could they have suffered so much and so silently?
