The Herbal Bed
From 4 November 2002
To 9 November 2002
by Peter Whelan
Description
The Herbal Bed is based on actual events which occurred in Stratford-upon-Avon in the Summer of 1613, when William Shakespeare's daughter Susanna was publicly accused of having a sexual relationship with a married neighbour and family friend. Susanna sues for slander in the court of Worcester Cathedral and she is supported by her husband, who is desperate to clear her name in order to save his doctor's practice.
Set in a time of political divisions within the church and when a family's reputation rested upon the honour and honesty of its women, taking the 'right' course of action for the play's characters involves risky choices and alliances. While the play opens as a 'period drama', as the audience become involved in the loves and dilemma of its protagonists, it evolves into an emotional thriller, whose outcome is anything but certain.
This play is beautifully written by Peter Whelan, who has created work for both stage and screen. Premiered by the RSC, nominated for an Olivier award, the play was toured nationally to great acclaim and is presented by the Nonentities in its first year of release for performance by amateurs.
Director’s Notes
WHAT WE KNOW
We know that William Shakespeare’s elder daughter Susanna married John
Hall, a successful physician. They set up home in what is now called Hall’s
Croft, in Stratford-on-Avon. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, an only child.
Five years later, when Susanna was thirty, she was publicly slandered by a young
gentleman, John Lane, (or Jack, as I call him), second son of the well-heeled
family of Alveston Manor. We know that Susanna brought a charge of defamation
against him in the diocesan court at Worcester Cathedral, which is how we have
the exact wording of the slander, from the court archive. Jack Lane claimed
that Susanna Hall ‘had the runinge of reynes and had been naught with Rafe
Smith at John Palmer’.
We know that Rafe Smith was a haberdasher and hatter of Sheep Street, Stratford. John Palmer was a cousin of Smith with a house in Stratford. Jack Lane was twenty-three when he defamed Susanna. We know that he also later libelled the vicar of Holy Trinity and was sued for riot and charged with drunkenness by the churchwardens.
We know that Vicar-General Goche presided over the court in Worcester Cathedral and is thought to have been a puritan. Bishop Parry we know to have been a man celebrated for his sermons at James’s Court, not a supporter of the puritanical tendency. Doctor Hall certainly was of that tendency. He is on record as calling for firm church discipline, but he was no bigot.
As for Susanna’s character, what little else we know is from the epitaph
on her tomb, close to Shakespeare’s. We have a goldmine of information
on Hall as a doctor since he left behind a unique casebook. As you will find,
I have raided it frequently. But in the end the play was never intended as historical
documentary. It was the pain of moral dilemma detectable behind this small handful
of facts that drew me to write it.
Peter Whelan