[Caistor, East Britain. The Palace of the Iceni, home of King Prasutagus and his wife, who will
later be known as Boudica. Late in AD 59.]
[The corpse of Prasutagus is upon a bier. BOUDICA and her daughters, MELORA and
BRANGIEN, along with a chorus of WOMEN CELEBRANTS, enter in a funeral dance.]
[The corpse, covered by a cloth, is set down and the funeral dance continues. It begins in a
solemn and formal manner, and then becomes very energetic. The dance builds and builds, and
becomes quite large, elaborate, developed and sustained.]
[During the ritual, BOUDICA, BRANGIEN and MELORA each dance a solo in which we they
demonstrate the love and loss that they feel for Prasutagus.]
[When the dance ends:]
BOUDICA:
My fellow Iceni, today we consign the body of our departed king, my husband. Prasutagus ruled
with dignity and resolve. In the face of dire invaders he kept our kingdom whole. He preserved
the integrity of the Iceni, and saved us as a nation. His life is gone, but what he rescued will
endure through his people, and his daughters.
[The chorus of WOMEN CELEBRANTS exit in dance. The covered corpse of Prasutagus
remains on the bier. BOUDICA is alone with her daughters, MELORA and BRANGIEN. The
three of them gather together; the remnants of a family.]
BOUDICA:
(to MELORA and BRANGIEN) Your father has left both of you with a magnificent
responsibility. You have been entrusted to rule our people for many decades. I will be here to
help you, as will our nobles, but it will be the daughters of Prasutagus who will hold the Iceni
nation. Over the body of your father I call upon each of you to vow---
[A disturbance is heard OS. It is the sound of ROMANS barging through BRITONS who are
trying to protect BOUDICA’S privacy.]
BOUDICA:
What is? . . . (aggravated) What blundering fool would cause a disturbance now, of all times?
This is a sacred---
[DECIANUS CATUS and his personal guard of ROMAN SOLDIERS enter.]
CATUS:
Are you the widow of Prasutagus?
BOUDICA:
I am King Prasutagus’s Queen.
[BOUDICA expects the ROMANS to be awed by her royal status and regal demeanor, but they
are simply annoyed at being delayed by an insolent barbarian.]
CATUS:
I am Decianus Catus, the Procurator of Roman Province of Britain
BOUDICA:
I know your name. I also know your real title. You are the Roman taxman who bleeds our
nation.
CATUS:
(smirks) I do a lot more than levy taxes. I run this province.
BOUDICA:
Oh? I thought Suetonius was your military governor.
[The ROMAN SOLDIERS all try hard to keep from smiling. CATUS is embarrassed to be
addressed in this was in front of his soldiers.]
CATUS:
Suetonius Paullinus commands the military. I rule the government in this province.
BOUDICA:
Not in the Iceni kingdom. We are autonomous.
CATUS:
Semi-autonomous. This has been a vassal state to the empire for years, as you well know. The
Emperor allowed Prasutagus to . . . administrate this portion of the province. Now that he is
dead, a proper Roman administrator shall be placed here.
BOUDICA:
King Prasutagus, sovereign of the Iceni, my husband, only bequeathed half the rule of the
kingdom to your Emperor. (indicates MELORA and BRANGIEN) Our daughters, Melora and
Brangien, were named as co-rulers, sharing sovereignty with Nero.
CATUS:
Those girls? We don’t allow vassal states to be run by girls. Even if they were mature women,
it would make no difference. This is a new age for Britain. It is an age of civilization and order,
which means an age of discipline. Women are incapable of discipline. Women are violent and
uncontrolled animals, and it is no good giving them the reigns of power and expecting them not
to run wild over the fences of cultivation.
BOUDICA:
We don’t need your kind of cultivation. Cultivation is just another word for encouragement. We
are already filled with courage. Cultivation is just another word for fostering. We are already
advanced to a proud state. Cultivation is just another word for nurturing. I know more about
nurturing than you ever will, Catus.
CATUS:
Enough of this cackling. The Emperor’s agreement of semi-autonomy was with Prasutagus; not
with you and certainly not with girls. This will become the post for the new local imperial
administrator. You and your girls must leave this shack for . . . for . . . for a smaller shack.
[The ROMAN SOLDIERS laugh.]
CATUS:
The Romans are moving in.
BOUDICA:
These are not girls. They are the rightful co-rulers of the Iceni. This is not a shack. This is the
royal palace of the Iceni. Now, you listen to me---
CATUS:
We should listen to a woman? From an inferior race? (laughs) An inferior sex from an inferior
race. We would not take orders from a civilized Roman woman, let alone a barbarian.
BOUDICA:
I am a queen!
CATUS:
You are conquered!
[BOUDICA strikes CATUS. He glares at her and is about to strike back when he sees her ready
herself for his attack. He knows that she is a much better fighter than he is, and she will
humiliate him in one on one skirmishing. She knows this, too, and smiles. He calls to his
SOLDIERS:]
CATUS:
Bind her.
[THE SOLDIERS rush at BOUDICA, thinking that they will easily overpower a woman, and a
melee breaks out. She attacks them like an animal. She bites and scratches, but also kicks,
punches and twists. MELORA and BRANGIEN join in, and THE SOLDIERS soon have their
hands full. They are too busy fending off attacks to draw their swords or daggers; that is how
frenzied the women’s fighting is.]
[MELORA attacks CATUS, too. She soon overwhelms him, and she is able to reach under his
tunic and grab hold of his testicles. Terror, as well as MELORA, grips him.]
MELORA:
(to THE SOLDIERS) Stop! Or I will destroy him.
[Because MELORA has switched her fighting from THE SOLDIERS to CATUS, BOUDICA and
BRANGIEN are now out numbered. When MELORA calls, this creates enough of a distraction
that one of THE SOLDIERS can draw his sword. He places the tip right below BOUDICA’S
heart and grabs hold of her cloak with his other hand. He can easily do what this type of sword
was designed to do: thrust right through the rib cage. Two other SOLDIERS grab BRANGIEN,
and a third draws his sword and places the point at the very bottom of her belly.]
SOLDIER:
And we will destroy them, peasant.
[MELORA releases her grip. CATUS straightens himself up. A SOLDIER holds MELORA at
sword point.]
CATUS:
Bind them.