The Core Theatre presents
THE KING’S FACE
A full-length drama in one act
By Steven Young
Winner of FutureFest and South West Playwriting Competitions.
The King’s Face is loosely based on the true story of a wounded warrior. It is 1403, a time of war and terrorism. At the battle of Shrewsbury, King Henry IV finally secures his crown, only late in the battle to have his son and heir to the throne, Prince Harry of Monmouth, struck down by an arrow to the face.
The impact of the arrow is no glancing blow. Hurtling at full thrust, the projectile shears the Prince’s left cheek mutilating flesh, gristle and bone, before coming to rest at the base of his skull. While the shaft is easily removed, the arrowhead is embedded in bone and the confines of the wound’s travel-path makes extraction by conventional means impossible. The wound festers and the life of the future monarch is in jeopardy.
The Prince, chiefly raised from boyhood by his Uncle, Richard II, is estranged from his father, and following the battle is virtually given up for dead by the King. Dozens of healers, touting far ranging remedies (including pouring scorched fat into the gash to enlarge the wound), try and fail to save the Prince.
Haunted by ghosts of familial savagery, assassination, and burdened with guilt over any part he may have played in the death of his Uncle, the Prince is rendered unable to pray. Alone in a chamber of Kenilworth Castle, certain he has been abandon by both family and God, the Prince faces his mortality alone.
As a last resort, London Surgeon and counterfeiter, Jonathon Bradmore, is released from prison and ordered to examine the young man. Bradmore, of modest standing and reputation, holds the life of the future monarch in his hands and is nearly overwhelmed by the task before him. Fighting the constraints of archaic medical practices and having to pierce the defensive shell built by the terrified youth, the two, over the course of several days, develop a father and son relationship, examining questions of sex, religion, terrorism, war, patriotism and what it means to lead a nation. The play culminates in Bradmore saving the Prince, and the severity of the injury revealing the true nature of the future King Henry V.
