Unsung Heroine:
the imagined history of troubadour Countess Beatriz de Dia.
This intimate piece of “concert-theatre” takes you back to the heady atmosphere of Provence in the 12th century. The evening combines the plaintive music and poetry of the troubadours, foot-stomping medieval dances and a monologue for actress Patience Tomlinson as the redoubtable Beatriz.
The story imagines how Beatriz came to write her impassioned song A Chantar, the only example of a troubadour song by a woman, where both the poetry and melody have survived. Beatriz’s poetry is grounded in the rules of courtly love. She lives in a world where emotions are sacrificed to the strait-jacket of ritual: her only recourse is to channel her pain, love and desire for revenge into this passionate song.
"a serenely satisfying evening" Karen Dugdale, The Argus
(December 2009)
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Unsung Heroine
Unsung Heroine:
the imagined history of troubadour Countess Beatriz de Dia.
This intimate piece of “concert-theatre” takes you back to the heady atmosphere of Provence in the 12th century. The evening combines the plaintive music and poetry of the troubadours, foot-stomping medieval dances and a monologue for actress Patience Tomlinson as the redoubtable Beatriz.
The story imagines how Beatriz came to write her impassioned song A Chantar, the only example of a troubadour song by a woman, where both the poetry and melody have survived. Beatriz’s poetry is grounded in the rules of courtly love. She lives in a world where emotions are sacrificed to the strait-jacket of ritual: her only recourse is to channel her pain, love and desire for revenge into this passionate song.