ANNE: Do you want to see it? Who wants t...

ANNE: Do you want to see it? Who wants to see it? Do you? You? I’ll show then. Are you ready? No, I won’t. I won’t! I cannot see the advantage in it, and that was what I was taught by Margaret of Burgundy when I was thirteen. ‘Know the advantage of everything, Anne.’ And you won’t like me for showing you, you’ll say it’s boastful, overweening. And why should I want you to love me? Did anyone around me ever love me, but for the King? So, you can’t see. You can’t! Or would it be fun? Would it be a scandal? Better: would it make you laugh? Oh…that’s all right then, here…Ready? Look! It’s my Bible! Why? Don’t you realize? This killed me! This book! This put me in the Tower, this made the sword, the sword, the sword…they played a trick. As I was kneeling they made me look one way. And from the other way the sword…sang. In the air. For a second I heard it sing and…What you think I was going to show you? This? (Pulls out her severed head) This? This? Funny, a head’s smaller than you think. Heavy little cabbage, that’s all. Let me show you something. Eyes closed see? For a moment I saw my body lying in the straw. And I closed my eyes. And it was I, closing them. And now I’m with Jesus! I am! I’ll bring you all to Jesus!

Howard Brenton. Anne Boleyn. Nick Hern Books, 2010. p.1.