Ruth Wolff's play, The Abdication, premiered at England's Bristol Old Vic Company in 1971 with
Gemma Jones as the Swedish queen. It was later picked up for productions in the U.S., Italy, the Netherlands and Montreal. Although in history, Christina was met by the pope on her arrival and showered with gifts, Wolff fictionalizes the past to have the pope send Azzolino to interview Christina to determine whether she's worthy of such a meeting. This allows the playwright to use their meetings to consider the relationship between women and power in a patriarchal world.
