Mad Madge
and her Blazing World
Adapted by Annie Loui
Based on the novel by Danielle Dutton, Margaret the First
University of California, Irvine
xMPL THEATRE
Director: Annie Loui
Scenic and Projection Designer: Hannah Tran
Lighting Designer: Jake Brinkman
Costume Designer: Jojo Siu
Sound Designer: Mark Caspary and Benjamin Elliot
Stage Manager: Jessica Keasberry-Vnuk
“I am as ambitious as ever any of my sex was, is, or can be: though I cannot be Henry the 5th or Charles the 2nd, I endeavor to be Margaret the 1st.”
A devised theater production about the first female science fiction writer and infamous Restoration celebrity, Margaret Cavendish -- known for her scientific theories and fantasies, and her scandalous fashion statements.
Margaret’s book, The Blazing World. challenged contemporary ideas about science and women. Favorite of the king, and the first woman to visit the Royal Society, she wore patches of stars on her face and a topless gown to the theater, bringing a contemporary reporter to write, “The whole story of this lady is a romance.”
