The Maidenwar
by Robin Taylor Wright
"A house of deception divides itself."
- Valasca
This one is gonna be interesting as it's undergone some really dramatic changes. However, that's the whole point of this website: sure, it's here for promotional stuff, but really it's an archive of the creative process, including weird first drafts and dramatic changes. And oh Lordy, this one has a lot of them.
Robin did a major in Czech and Slovak studies. Why? Because he was required to have two degrees to graduate from the University of Toronto. He went in wanting to do Cognitive Science. Scanning down the list of available degrees, he didn't go far. He's never heard of a Czech studies program anywhere. He's not Czech, but he's always loved the culture from afar (one of their authors created the robot story!).
During his studies, he became aware of some of the legends that were so important to the culture of the Czechs, particularly the chronicles written by Cosmas of Prague, whose demi-magical warriors and royals rival that of the Greeks, at least in Robin's mind. One of these stories particularly intrigued him - Dívčí Válka, or the Maidens' War.
Simply put, the prophetess Princess Libuše has died. The women warrior's leader Vlasta has decided to go her own way and set up her own excluisve castle called Děvín. The men dismissed their efforts and laughed it off. Vlasta however, sent her most beautiful women to set traps - one famous story being Šárka and her seduction (aka the sneak slaughter) of army leader Ctirad. The whole damned affair ended with Vlasta's eventual defeat and burning of Děvín. The dudes won. Total bummer.
RTW visits Libuše at Vyšehrad, Prague (2014)
Vlasta kicking ass, painted by Adolf Liebscher.
(1903)
Toronto, 2014
Robin loved a lot of the material that was inspired by this fable,
particularly Smetana's opera and the animated stories by
Jiří Trnka. So naturally, he had the audacity to give his own spin on
the subject matter.
He started off with an adaptation that took all of the original plot
points (Libuše's death, Vlasta leading an uprising, Šárka's trap)
and added a couple of other characters to flesh out a world in hurt
and peril. The invention of two characters expecting a baby,
Chastava and Lubomir, would carry on throughout the development
of this story.
Connecting with his friend Grace Smith, who helped him out with
an early run of Home for Boys, they took a first draft to Theatre
Double Take in Toronto, and did a live reading at the now defunct
Imperial Pub near Dundas Square. A large cast gave some
excellent feedback, and it propelled him to do another draft,
read at the Victory Cafe featuring some of his usual team, like
Jane Alexys and Polly Phokeev, but also Dorcas Chiu, Liz Der,
Sarah McGaughey, Aarti Venugopal, Paul Kit, Tal Shulman, Andrew
Cromwell, Isaac Lloyd, Tyler J. Seguin, and Robbie Grant,
Fort Frances, 2025
Eleven years later, Robin decided to shake the dust off his old plays to see if they still had legs. First was Home for Boys, and this one was doing alright all things considered. Not one to really rest, he went down his list to see what was next. The Maiden War was something he really wanted to revisit because it was out of his comfort range; the story was poetic, epic, and juggled a crap ton of characters.
Continuing his connection with the Pink Parasol Team Room, who graciously hosted the very first Laughing Cactus reading of Home for Boys, Robin put together a team of talented locals to do a ressurected version of the Maiden War. This time, he tried to avoid some of the cliches he peppered the old script with; one particular moment of male sexual violence was unnecessary and cheap drama.
There were a few characters adapted from the original Czech source
that made it into this adaptation.
Vlasta (Brittany Hayes) was still the leader of the women's revolt.
Premysl (Duane Hicks) was the grieving Prince who pined for retirement but spinelessly stood by as the men consolidated their corrupt power.
His son Nezamysl (Ken Kellar), shortened to Neza, was a total liberty, with him leading the men's side after being heartbroken by his lover, Vlasta.
Bivoj (Darren Derendorf) was a 'what if', taking a hero of Castle Vysherad but turning him into a bitter has-been, still clamoring for one last taste of power.
Sarka (Ryann Scott) was developed into a mystical singing/dancing character - not unlike the dancer trope you see in RPGs.
Ctirad (Evan Miller) portrayed a more beefed up lust-driven ox in Ctirad, who still fell for Sarka's trap.
New characters included the medicine woman Radka (Heather Scott), Milena the archer (Joanna Empey), Hodka the huntress (Rosalie Dubuc), the pregnant warrior Chastava (Kate Stevens), her husband Lubomir (Inno Laur), Bivoj's son Jaro (Jaykob Ryll),
Libuse was an unseen force that carried the narrative. Since she lived as a prophet, so she continued in her death as one. As her body burns in the pyre, each character burns a branch of her favourite tree, the Linden, and give their prayers to the eternal Summerland; when these branches burn, a shift in time sees the horrific consequences of a war between the sexes. The time shifts from present to future in this manner.
London, 2026
Since he was planning a mini tour in 2026 to showcase Fireproof and Don't You Dare Run Away, he connected with some old friends in provincial London to see if he could pull off a wee gig and see how the show worked with some retooling. He managed to book the Honey Dip and cobbled together a team.
What changed? The title itself. Since he took so many liberties, he wanted to keep the same title but syntactically alter it to make it a bit strange. The play then became the Maidenwar and the character names also changed to be forgiving to the English tongue.
Excited to work with some faces familiar and the others fresh, Robin gathered everyone at the Honey Dip for a cold reading performance. And they did remarkably well.
Leading the pack is the slightly-changed name of Valasca, played by Sookie Mei. This name is just a more pronouncable version of Vlasta. Fun fact, there was a Valasca character in Xena Warrior Princess.
Prince Premysl became Rodimir (Dave Semple), Milena became Tomislava (Jenn Marino), Hodka became Milena - I know, confusing (Kerry Hishon), Sarka became Vesna (Lindsey Burns), Bivoj became Borislav (Darin J. Addington), Jaro became Alvik (David Bogaert), and Ctirad became Bashek
(Jared Brown).
Neza was now played by Zach Peebles and Radka by Blue Free Cooper.
Two lessons were learned: it's too god damned long, and it isn't RTW enough. He realized he kept trying to edit and finesse something that came from an inauthentic voice. He focused more on the legend and the poetry and lost the heart of it. The heart was easily found in two characters who he realized should be at the centre of the piece: Chastava (Dawn Redskye - as Mica fell sick for the performance) and Lubomir (Tyler Parr).
The evening was still a blast, but this play will be rewritten with more humour, heart, violence, and told from the perspectives of the women characters, who were easier to write than some of the dudes.