The Player's Craft

The Borders, Scotland, 1601

Timony may have embraced his damsel in distress roles in Makaydees' theatre, but at the close of their autumn season, the strolling players are thrust into a fresh unforeseen drama. On the run from the law once more, they flee into the deadly Scottish borders, where reiver gangs and rumours of witches have stirred up suspicion in all who dwell there. Astray in a lonely valley under the shadow of Quarm Castle, the vagrant actors are drawn to the gentry within its walls, seeing a chance to raise their theatre out of the mud.

Flitting between the role of lad and lady, Timony sets about wooing the castle's inhabitants, determined to gain a writ of patronage for his company. But with his master, Makaydees angered by this reckless quest and his relationship with Rum fracturing due to a new fondness for Lavern, Timony risks becoming an outcast in his troupe, rather than their saviour. And that's just one of the perils surrounding him, as wise women and mercenary men recruit the young player into plots of their own. Can Timony weave a web of deception around all of them? Or will he become tied up in a tragedy he can't escape?

The Player's Craft propels the reader through the next turbulent chapter in the life of this wayward Elizabethan actor after the events of The Vagabond Stage. With an extra pinch of magic and mystery, our gender fluid thespian will take on their most daring performance yet.