The James Plays (NHB Modern Plays)

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The individual plays stand alone well enough, with the possible exception of James II, which occasionally feels schematic and forced. They benefit hugely from being seen within the trilogy: a collective study of power, hubris and self-determination, with a recurring act of God – the plague – to level the playing field once in a while. I am currently in rehearsal with the most extraordinary company of actors in the longest, most challenging, most terrifying and most exhilarating rehearsal process I have ever experienced. Shades of soap opera surface, but the play's tragic ambit resonates – it's almost as if Prince Hal had spent his youth playing around with Hotspur instead of Falstaff. If you signed up within an Apple iOS or Apple TV app, follow the steps here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202039 Each play stands alone as a unique vision of a country tussling with its past and future; viewed together the trilogy creates an intricate and compelling narrative on Scottish culture and nationhood, full of playful wit and boisterous theatricality.

Charismatic, cultured, and obsessed with grandiose schemes that his nation can ill afford, James III is by turns loved and loathed. Scotland thunders dangerously close to civil war, but its future may be decided by James' resourceful and resilient wife, Queen Margaret of Denmark. Her love and clear vision can save a fragile monarchy and rescue a struggling people. But the independence and power of young adulthood brings James into an even more threatening world.

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It's not a sentimental view of Scotland, and it's not perfect. I have the first edition text, and I know that Munro made changes to James II in particular. James I is the most traditional history play, battles and speeches and so on. James II is the nightmare play that never quite settles on whether it's about a childhood spent in waiting for the throne or the inevitability of the loss of innocence as the king, and James III is basically Much Ado About Nothing. Queen Margaret is fabulous. If you signed up within a Google Play or Android app, follow the steps here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7018481 Rona Munro’s vividly imagined trilogy brings to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland in the tumultuous fifteenth century. In 2014, it seemed the height of ambition when The James Plays appeared as an all-day marathon in a mighty three-way collaboration between the National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) and the Edinburgh international festival. But Munro’s sights were set higher still. Even then, she had in mind a sequence of box-set proportions.

But the sensitive James, whom Munro makes a proto-nationalist, finds his inner steel and gradually learns to govern, even if it means killing his relatives to protect his family and his place on the throne. He is Scotland, he believes, and his major speech– “The greatest jewel that England had is ours now”– could be him channelling Alex Salmond. This segment is impassioned, emotional and utterly enthralling.Crowned King at aged six, James II is a puppet in a vicious game between Scotland's most powerful families. As he approaches adulthood, James must fight for his crown while the nightmares of his childhood torment him. With Mary, James’s Queen (Stephanie Hyam) and the king’s sister Arabella (Rona Morison) supportive, things seem set for more peaceful times, but James puts distance between himself and William to exert his kingship and William sees his ambitions thwarted and refuses to extract himself from alliance with some other nobles. Their friendship ends in savage violence.