[FICATHON] Broken Music, for assimbya

[lareinenoire]

Title: Broken Music
Author: lareinenoire
Play: Henry VI and Richard III
Recipient: assimbya
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Margaret of Anjou and Lady Anne Neville
Rating: PG13
Warnings: None
Summary: Edward had requested--he had not begged; her son would never beg, not if she could help it--that she be kind to his bride. And so Margaret would. For his sake. And, perhaps, in

Comments

[lareinenoire]

Thank you! There are several women who really ought to be in 3HVI but aren't, presumably for valid casting reasons at the time...

[assimbya]

I saved this story to read last, and I'm so glad I did. It was everything I could possibly have wanted when I made the request, and every sentence of it was fascinating. I love Margaret's transformation from Queen in the height of her power to the ghost we see in Richard III (and, on that note, Margaret lurking in Richard and Anne's chambers was wonderfully frightening), and how her perspective on Anne shifts and deepens with that change. I love Anne's reticence and calm - it's a very refreshing change from the hysterical Annes one often sees in productions of Richard III - and the way that we can see that being influenced by her father and her childhood. And, of course, I love the pragmatism that links the two women, and the way that eventually allows them to understand one another.

Thank you, thank you so much!

[lareinenoire]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for a wonderful prompt! Anne has such an odd relationship to Margaret, in that they're constantly associated with one another, but are never seen together, at least not in the text. They don't interact at all, and Margaret doesn't even mention her later in the play, during the lamentation scene.

I must admit that I've always preferred the less hysterical Annes -- Zoë Wanamaker in the BBC version, Kristin Scott Thomas in McKellen/Loncraine, and Hannah Barrie in the recent Michael Boyd production. But what nobody really seems to pay much attention to is the relationship Anne must have had with her father, who is such a key figure in the plays, and how that affected her dealings with both Margaret and Richard. I had a great time playing around with that.

[elviaprose]

Oh, wonderful! I think what I like most is that this story really thwarted my expectations, undermining Margaret's "prophetess" status in Richard III. Also, your characterization of Anne is absolutely fascinating. Brilliant job!

[lareinenoire]

Thank you! I've always liked the idea that Margaret in Richard III is actually a ghost, a literal remnant of the events from the previous plays, though I've only seen one production that really emphasised that reading.

[lareinenoire]

Thank you! It's difficult for me to see Anne as anything other than calculating, if only because she's Warwick's daughter!

[angevin2]

I know I've told you I love this, but I might as well say it in public! It is really well-done -- I love both your Anne and your Margaret, and your Edward is very convincing, his relationship with Margaret somewhere between cute and really creepy (nothing they actually say is squicky, but the fact that it's Margaret makes it all unsettling).

[lareinenoire]

Hee, yes. Margaret being an overprotective mother is always creepy!