In a convent in Mexico, one of the brightest women of her generation strives to reconcile her love for God with her desire for learning and acclaim.
Her gift for writing plays and poetry is celebrated by the Court, but her success creates alarm and jealousy within the Church. Persecuted by a zealous archbishop and betrayed by those closest to her, Sister Juana's fragile world threatens to crumble around her as everything she holds dear is cruelly destroyed by dangerous ambition and illicit desires.
Inspired by the life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, writer of House of Desires, which was performed as part of the Spanish Golden Age season in 2004, The Heresy of Love is written by Helen Edmundson, whose other playwriting credits include Coram Boy for the National Theatre. She has also worked extensively for Shared Experience alongside Nancy Meckler, who directs The Heresy of Love following her production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre this summer.
The RSC Literary Department is generously supported by THE DRUE HEINZ TRUST.