A BROOCH given by Mary, Queen of Scots to one of her lady attendants has gone on display at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh for the first time.

Mary Seton was an assistant and friend of Mary, Queen of Scots and lived with her at the Palace from 1561–6.

She was one of the four attendants known as the ‘Four Marys’ who spent many years in France with the Queen.

Seton continued to accompany Mary, Queen of Scots during her subsequent captivity in England.

The brooch dates from c.1580 and is made from enamelled gold and studded with pearls and rubies.

It can be seen in the Outer Chamber of the Mary, Queen of Scots apartments at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Mary, Queen of Scots lived at the Palace following her return from exile in France in 1561.

A royal residence for more than 500 years, the Palace of Holyroodhouse was home to both Mary, Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Sally Goodsir, Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts, Royal Collection Trust, said: "Through new displays of the Royal Collection our visitors will be able to explore the Palace's close association with some of Scotland's best-known historic figures.

"We want everyone to gain a deeper understanding of Edinburgh's royal palace and of its continuing role as the official residence of the Sovereign in Scotland."

www.rct.uk

THE UK premiere of a newly translated play by Jon Fosse is to be staged by a new theatre company, Surrogate Productions, this coming spring.

The translation of the Norwegian play, by Louis Muinzer, will be on tour in April and May 2019.

The Guitar Man, written in 1997, concerns "a post-industrial society in crisis, where rootlessness and homelessness are the common experience."

Fosse's plays have been staged more than nine hundred times and translated into more than forty languages.

His work is rarely seen on a UK stage: in Scotland, his play The Girl on the Sofa was translated by award-winning Scottish playwright, David Harrower, in a joint production by the Edinburgh International Festival and the Schaubühne, Berlin in 2002.

Fosse’s various awards include the Scandinavian National Theatre Award (2002), the Arts Council Norway Honorary Prize (2003), the Swedish Academy’s Nordic Prize (2007), the International Ibsen Award (2010 and 2012) and the European Prize for Literature (2014).

Directed by actor and director, and artistic director of new touring company, Surrogate Productions, Nora Wardell, The Guitar Man opens at Platform in Easterhouse as part of its Outskirts festival on the 27 April before touring.

www.surrogate-productions.com

THE judges have been announced for the 2019 Orwell Prize.

The Scottish writer and musician Darren McGarvey, also known as Loki, won the award last year.

Tulip Siddiq MP will chair the judges’ panel for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing which from this year is only open to non-fiction.

She is joined by Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at Southbank Centre; Robbie Millen, Literary Editor of The Times; and Helen Pankhurst, the writer and international development and women’s rights activist.

Broadcaster and arts journalist Tom Sutcliffe, will chair the inaugural Orwell Prize for Political Fiction alongside the Literary Editor of The Spectator Sam Leith; award-winning novelist Preti Taneja; and Dr. Christine “Xine” Yao, Lecturer in American Literature at University College London.

www.orwellfoundation.com