Interview: Tammy Meneghini, Elizabeth I In Her Own Words

27 Jun

Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Tammy Meneghini about their piece, Elizabeth I In Her Own Words.

Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far.

I am a professional actor and director, based in the United States in the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado. I have lived and worked extensively in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles before landing back in Colorado where I frequently act, direct, and teach classes.

What is your show about?

Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words, is about Elizabeth I - her life, loves, trials, triumphs, regrets, and relationships - told through "her words", from documented letters, speeches, passages from her own hand as well as letters sent to her from Mary Queen of Scots and the Spanish Ambassador and intertwined with speeches from the plays of the most famous writer of her time period to today, William Shakespeare.

**What was the inspiration for Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?**

I was approached to create something to accompany a visiting exhibit of Shakespeare's First Folio to the campus of the University of Colorado Boulder. She reached out to renowned Elizabeth I writer/scholar, Carole Levin, PhD, with an idea of combining the politics, power, and people of Shakespeare's time. Together we began exploring different passages of Elizabeth's life which paralleled with characters and given circumstances in the play - thus, creating a piece that combines fact with fiction in an intimate and poetic way.

**What made you want to take Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words to the Fringe?**

Most obviously, our attention to Elizabeth's relationship to Mary Stuart, is deep and spans close to two decades of her life. While she never visited Scotland, she was inextricably intertwined with this place and its people. Edinburgh seems like a natural landing for us to finally allow her Majesty to share her story with you.

Why should people book Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words.

Intrigue, Manipulation, Danger, Revenge, Love, and Passion - are all alive today as they were in 1601! It is a period play that reveals the woman behind the monarch and moments in history that may surprise you, intrigue you and just perhaps alter your perceptions of this famous (and infamous) queen.