Abstract:

Christmas, 1541 or ’42: Alexander Nowell paces up and down backstage, biting his lip. The boys have been rehearsing Terence’s Eunuch for weeks; Phaedria and his clever slave Parmeno are already in costume, nervous with tension. Quid igitur faciam? the opening lines of the play echo in Nowell’s mind: ‘What am I to do?’