Playwright M. Kilburg Reedy talks upcoming show ‘The Daughter of Time’: “I have drilled down into the parallels between the Tudors and current examples of orchestrated disinformation”

London’s Charing Cross Theatre adds another world premiere to its roster with the stage adaptation of Josephine Tey’s historical murder mystery novel — running from the middle of the month until the end of summer. Guillermo Nazara chats with the show’s author — to learn more about her process along with her partners in crime and how audiences will be blown away by it.

How did the idea for the show come about?

I first came across the book in the early 2000s, when a colleague had left a copy lying around the office and said to me, “You should read this book, it’s really good, you’d like it.” Reading it, I was immediately gripped by a sense of injustice in the way Richard III has been dealt with by history, and also the question of how a historical record can be distorted for political purposes, including recent events within everyone’s living memory.  And that seemed like a story worth telling.

What enticed you to adapt Josephine Tey’s mystery classic?

THE DAUGHTER OF TIME is unique because it’s sort of a courtroom drama, but it’s set in a hospital room.  All of the events under investigation take place outside the room, and occurred hundreds of years in the past.  It took me quite a while to work out how to adapt the novel for the stage, because if you’re going to write a play that makes the case for Richard’s innocence of the crimes of which he’s accused, first you have to make sure everyone understands who he is and what he’s accused of having done.  My first breakthrough occurred when I hit upon the idea of using Shakespeare’s play to make the prosecution case against Richard, and the historical research of Tey and others to make the defense case.  From there, I continued to develop more ways of making the investigation feel compelling and important.

How faithful will this version be to the original novel?

In writing my play, I tried conscientiously to preserve the DNA of Tey’s book, and I was very much inspired by her fearlessness in questioning reported history. All but one of my 7 characters are original to Tey’s novel, the arc of the story is the same, and much of Tey’s thoughts, ideas, and dialogue are present.  That said, my play draws some historical conclusions different to Tey’s, and I hope audiences will be open to considering my interpretation of events.  New research and information has emerged since Tey was writing in the 1950s, so I read other historians, both favorable and unfavorable to Richard, as well as some of the primary sources like Sir Thomas More’s HISTORY OF RICHARD III and the Bills of Attainder against Richard and George, Duke of Clarence, in forming my own “theory of the case.”  In my early 30s, I practiced law as a criminal appeals attorney for the public defender’s office in New York, and what has filtered into my play from all of that is the defense case I would make for Richard, if I were his counsel. I can’t claim to have made any “new discoveries,” but I can say that I have tried to put the information together in a unique, interesting, and entertaining way.

As a writer, has the play given you the opportunity to deepen into any particular themes or characters?

For themes, I have definitely drilled down into the parallels between the Tudors’ extreme and very specific efforts to alter recently recorded history, to serve their own political agenda, in a way that calls to mind current examples of orchestrated disinformation and the repetition of false narratives for the purpose of corrupting individual and collective memories.  Memory isn’t like a tape you can play back with absolute fidelity — memories can change or be changed over time, which is why it’s so important to be impeccable in our words and records, insofar as humanly possible.

Several mystery classics (especially, Hitchcock films) have adopted a more farcical tone when brought to the stage. How would you describe the tone of your adaptation?

We are definitely not the groundbreaking “39 STEPS” or even Emma Rice’s new and delightful “NORTH BY NORTHWEST,” which I just saw last night at Ally Pally —  both stage mysteries that have a playful and irreverent style throughout. But in THE DAUGHTER OF TIME, we do have scenes with humour, farce, and physical comedy, along with some very touching moments and our earnest defence of Richard III.  I would say that my version of THE DAUGHTER OF TIME blends MUCH ADO with “Lucy Worseley Investigates,” in the style of Noël Coward — romantic comedy, misdirection, and style, with an historical mystery interwoven throughout.

How will the show stand out in comparison to other mysteries, both serious and comical?

I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer that, but I hope we’ll be seen as a unique and engaging evening at the theatre.  We don’t have any jump scares, so don’t come looking for those.  But we do have some funny, quirky characters, a love story, and a brain teaser of a mystery that will maybe leave you feeling a little smarter.  One of my friends came to see an early staged reading of the play, and afterwards, he said to me, jokingly, “Can I get college credit for seeing this?”

Have you found any particular creative challenges in the development of the script?

I would say the major challenge in bringing to the stage Tey’s brilliant book full of ideas and historical information was making Inspector Grant’s investigation feel immediate and urgent.  The longer I worked on the play, the more it became clear that I needed to give Grant some emotional and practical stakes in the outcome of his inquiry that would carry the energy and the audience’s interest all the way through to the end. And I came up with a number of story threads and interlocking subplots that were partly sparked by the novel to give each of the characters a journey and a way of making a contribution to solving the mystery.

What are the prospects for the show after its original run at the Charing Cross?

Our production at Charing Cross Theatre is a world premiere tryout production. So, of course, we’re hoping that it will be enthusiastically received and will generate momentum for a continued commercial life past our closing date of 13 September.  I’m finding that in the UK there is a high degree of familiarity with and even deep love for the novel that I just haven’t seen in the U.S., so if the play is successful at Charing Cross Theatre it would be wonderful to take it on tour throughout the UK or find another venue in London that would allow us to extend our presence in the capital city.

Are there any highlights in the show that you’d like to flag?

First of all, we have a fantastically talented cast who are going to be funny and touching and riveting.  We have a wonderful director, Jenny Eastop, who is a very smart and skilled theatrical storyteller, we have a terrific design team, and we’ve got a brilliant composer who is writing compelling original music to tie it all together.  The Charing Cross Theatre is a perfect venue for our show because it combines intimacy (only 265 seats) with an architecturally interesting and unique space, located as it is under the arches of Charing Cross Station.  It really has a feeling of history because it started life as a Victorian music hall and it’s located within the footprint of medieval London, near where the events of our medieval mystery take place.

Why come see ‘The Daughter of Time’?

I would say that, when we held auditions in April and May to find our incredible cast, the word we heard most often to describe the script, coming from the actors we auditioned,  was “page-turner.”  Now, you’ll say perhaps that’s because they all wanted a job, and you’d be right, they did.  But it was a consistent and unvaried compliment about the script.  So, I would say that, if we all do our jobs right, me and Jenny and the cast and the rest of the team, we have reason to hope we’ll be able to deliver a theatrical equivalent of a “page-turner.”

All rehearsal images credit to Tom Bowles.

The Daughter of Time will play at London’s Charing Cross Theatre from 18 July to 13 September. Tickets are available on the following link.

By Guillermo Nazara