2. UNDER FIRE
Laurence Housman (1865-1959), younger brother of the renowned poet A.E. Housman, is a prolific English playwright, writer and illustrator who won acclaim with a series of mildly satirical plays about the Victorian era. His first play, Bethlehem, was privately produced in 1902. Many of his subsequent plays were initially subjected to theatrical censorship as they depicted biblical characters and living members of the royalty, and were likely to become controversial. Housman became widely known with the publication of the first of the three collections entitled Little Plays of St. Francis in 1922. Victoria Regina (1934), which was performed on Broadway, is the most successful of his plays. His other dramatic works include Prunella (1906, with Harley Granville-Barker), Pains and Penalties (1911), Angels and Ministers: Four Plays of Victorian Shade & Character (1921), Dethronements (1922), and Palace Plays (1930).
'Under Fire', one of the best of Laurence Housman's one-act-plays, portrays with a scrupulous adherence to historical facts a sensational episode in the life of Queen Victoria during the early period of her reign-one of the three assassination attempts made on the life of the Queen by Edward Oxford, a mad young man. It shows Her Majesty displaying amazing courage and composure in the face of a dire threat to her life.
The Queen is advised to cancel her customary ride in the park before cheering crowds of faithful and adoring subjects as the police suspect the possibility of an attempt on her life. She disregards the danger and goes for the ride in the company of her husband, Prince Albert, thereby giving the police a chance to catch the assassin, should he strike.
In order to protect her two ladies-in-waiting from the danger of being in the line of fire, she stops them from accompanying her to the park, which upsets them no end. The two women, unaware of the queen's thoughtful gesture, take pleasure in criticizing and running down the queen and her husband.
It is only towards the end of the play when the queen returns safe and sound, the attempt on her life thwarted, and the assassin apprehended that the two ladies-in-waiting understand the Queen's grand gesture of solicitude. Their initial irritation at being deprived of a ride in the Queen's carriage gives way to gratitude and admiration. As for Her Majesty, she takes the whole incident in her stride, as part of the business of being Queen!
The play mirrors different facets of the Queen's character. Despite being 'under fire', she shows no sign of panic in a moment of crisis. She is kind and considerate, and bears no ill-will even to the offender. She jealously adores her husband who stands by her as a tower of strength in her hour of need. The exultant behaviour of the crowd at the queen's narrow escape from the assassin's bullet reveals an interesting aspect of the 'royalty worship' of the British subjects. The safety of their monarch is of utmost importance to them, for they seem to identify the Queen's safety with that of their own.
by
Laurence Housman