About the Performance
'Alas this day! Alas this woeful tide When I began to quarrel with my gods!' Cresseid
In a bleak midwinter, a wise man stops to recount the haunting story of a woman's battle with her own destiny. A lyrical lament on what might have been and a cautionary tale on longing, love and loss and the dangers of reasoning with the divine.
Robert Henryson was a distinctive Scottish voice in northern renaissance literature at a time when society was on the cusp between medieval and renaissance sensibilities. His 1590 Testament of Cresseid sets out to complete the story of Cresseid left unfinished in Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.
Scottish film and theatre star Jimmy Yuill takes to the stage in the world premiere of the first staged production of this epic work commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival.
A poignant and starkly beautiful experience.