Mad Madge

and her Blazing World

Adapted by Annie Loui

Based on the novel by Danielle Dutton, Margaret the First

University of California, Irvine

xMPL THEATRE

Director: Annie Loui

Scenic and Projection Designer: Hannah Tran

Lighting Designer: Jake Brinkman

Costume Designer: Jojo Siu

Sound Designer: Mark Caspary and Benjamin Elliot

Stage Manager: Jessica Keasberry-Vnuk

“I am as ambitious as ever any of my sex was, is, or can be: though I cannot be Henry the 5th or Charles the 2nd, I endeavor to be Margaret the 1st.”

A devised theater production about the first female science fiction writer and infamous Restoration celebrity, Margaret Cavendish -- known for her scientific theories and fantasies, and her scandalous fashion statements.

Margaret’s book, The Blazing World. challenged contemporary ideas about science and women. Favorite of the king, and the first woman to visit the Royal Society, she wore patches of stars on her face and a topless gown to the theater, bringing a contemporary reporter to write, “The whole story of this lady is a romance.”