James III at Festival Theatre

When The James Plays premiered in Autumn 2014, the critical and public impact was extraordinary, selling out their run at the Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Great Britain in London, causing a storm of attention, and thrilling audiences. Now returning for a high-profile UK and international tour, these plays represent theatre-making at its very best.

Exhilarating and vividly imagined, The James Plays bring to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland from 1406 -1488.

Like James III himself, the final instalment of Rona Munro’s extraordinary trilogy is colourful, brash and unpredictable. It turns its eye on the women of the royal court, both lowly and high born, who prove to be its beating heart.

James III of Scotland. He knows what he sees in his mirror. A man who's irresistible, charismatic, a man of fashion and culture. A man with big dreams ...and no budget to realise any of them. But he's convinced a true king should never allow minor details like available cash to deprive his people of the magnificent European style court they deserve.

Obsessed with grandiose schemes that his nation can ill-afford and his restless nobles will no longer tolerate, James is loved and loathed in dangerously unstable proportions. But Scotland's future will be decided by the woman who loves him best of all, his resourceful and resilient wife, Queen Margaret of Denmark.

As dreams battle brutal realities and the nation thunders dangerously close to regicide and civil war, her true love and clear vision offer the only protection that can save a fragile monarchy and rescue a struggling people. But the cost for Margaret herself may be too high...