Speaking Like Magpies

But I can hear them speaking like magpies,



And they mean to thieve his life,



The Lord's anointed servant,



They mean to kill God.

Speaking Like Magpies, specially commissioned by the RSC as part of the Gunpowder Season to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, brings to vibrant life the background to this notorious event in British history.



Frank McGuinness' play premiered at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in September 2005, its final performance marking the end of the RSC's Gunpowder Season on 5 November 2005.



Frank McGuinness was born in Buncrana, County Donegal, in 1953. He lives in Dublin and lectures in English at University College, Dublin. His many plays include The Factory Girls (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1982), Baglady (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1985), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Abbey Theatre, 1985; Hampstead Theatre, London, 1986, and winner of the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright), Innocence (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 1986), Carthaginians (Abbey Theatre, 1988; Hampstead Theatre, London 1989), Mary and Lizzie (RSC, 1989), The Bread Man (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 1991), Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (Hampstead, West End and Broadway, 1992), The Bird Sanctuary (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1992), Mutabilitie (Royal National Theatre, 1997) and Dolly West's Kitchen (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1999; Old Vic, 2000). His numerous translations include Chekhov's Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya, Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, Ibsen's Rosmersholm, Sophocles's Electra and Ostrovsky's The Storm. Faber publishes many of McGuinness's plays in its Contemporary Classics series, in Frank McGuinness Plays 1 and Plays 2.