In Chapter 1,5 of Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne trumps the Pringles by providing an understudy when Jen Pringle, lead actress fails to show up for the opening night of the play.

She had organized a High School Dramatic Club and directed it in a little play hurriedly gotten up to provide some funds for one of her pet schemes . . . buying some good engravings for the rooms. She had made herself ask Katherine Brooke to help her because Katherine always seemed so left out of everything. She could not help regretting it many times, for Katherine was even more brusk and sarcastic than usual. She seldom let a practice pass without some corrosive remark and she overworked her eyebrows. Worse still, it was Katherine who had insisted on having Jen Pringle take the part of Mary Queen of Scots.

“There’s no one else in the school who can play it,” she said impatiently. “No one who has the necessary personality.”

Anne was not so sure of this. She rather thought that Sophy Sinclair, who was tall and had hazel eyes and rich chestnut hair, would make a far better Queen Mary than Jen. But Sophy was not even a member of the club and had never taken part in a play.

This scene was adapted for the Sullivan production of Anne: The Sequel.

Mary, Queen of Scots: A Historical Play
by Thomas Franklin

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
MEN.
CECIL, LORD BURLEIGH
NORFOLK.
LEICESTER.
SOUTHAMPTON. .
WALSINGHAM.
HATTON.
GIFFORD, A PRIEST.
DAVISON.

WOMEN.
ELIZABETH.
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.
EMILY, ATTENDANT ON MARY.
WOMEN

ACT THE FIRST.
SCENE I.
CECIL, DAVISON.

CECIL.
No more, my friend ; it looks like flattery,
Which I abhor : in raising thee I have done
But what I ought ; thou hast deserved it all :
The queen has j udgment to discern thy merit,
And power thou know’st most amply to
Reward it.

DAVISON.
Yet I have heard, you’ll pardon me, my lord,
She is not over lavish of her bounties, but
Deals her favours with a scanty hand.

CECIL.
O blame her not for that, good Davison ;
A thrifty sov’reign makes a wealthy people :
She will not scatter all the nation’s strength
In idle splendour, but with prudence keep
The public treasure for the public need.

DAVISON.
Frugality indeed is now become
A necessary virtue, which we all
Should learn to practise.

CECIL.
Yet I blush to think
How many idle great ones, in this hour
Of common peril, wanton in the arms
Of heart enfeebling luxury, and waste,
In the gay round of fashionable follies,
The wealth that should support their falling country.
Elizabeth is prudent, wise, and good ;
In penetration, deep sagacity,
And persevering fortitude, she soars
Above her sex. /

DAVISON.
And yet there are who say,
She is no stranger to her sex’s weakness,
And condescends sometimes to be a woman.

CECIL.
There is a female frailty in her nature,
That sometimes takes the rein; but, thanks to heaven,
She has affections of a nobler kind,
To damp its fire ; her prudence and her pride
Have saved her oft; and when deluding love,
With wily softness, steals into her heart,
She calls the ruling passion to her aid,
And bids ambition check the bold intruder.

DAVISON.
Her conduct there, my lord, is much indebted,
Or I mistake, to Cecil’s kind advice ;
His honest zeal with caution watches o’er
Her every action.

CECIL.
Tis the statesman’s duty
To mark his sov’reign’s passions as they bend
Their rapid course, and guide the wand’ring stream
Of his affection towards his country’s welfare ;
To make his virtues useful, and direct
His faults, and failings to the public good :
Such, Davison, hath been thy friend’s ambition.
And be it thine ; already thou hast gain’d
The queen’s regard : be careful to preserve it,

DAVISON.
That is a lesson I must learn from you,
Who by persuasive gentle arts can soothe
The tranquil mind as with a silken cord,
May lead her on and mould her to his purpose :
But if with open violence you thwart
Her will, then all the blust’ring Harry’s rage *
Glows in her cheek and sparkles in her eye.
In truth, my lord, you have an arduous task ;
For if report say true, Elizabeth
Is wayward, proud, dissembling, and inconstant.

CECIL.
She has her faults, my friend, and follies too,
But I have veil’d them from the public eye,
And so bewitch’d opinion in her favour,
That, dazzled with the glories of her reign,
Eager to praise, posterity shall lift
Th’ admiring eye and wonder at her virtues.

DAVISON.
How much we owe to thy paternal care,
Thou art the great, the actuating spring
That moves the whole machine; on Cecil’s wisdom,
And Cecil’s counsels, hangs the fate of England.

CECIL.
Oppressive burthen : never envy him
Who holds the reins in this uncertain state ;
It is a sea for ever vex’d with storms :
If, by long labours and successful service,
We steer the ship entrusted to our care,
The master seizes on the golden freight,
And we are soon forgot : but if, perchance,
The hapless vessel split on rocks unseen,
When danger threats the crew tumultuous rise,
And dash the guiltless pilot from his helm
To sink unpity’d, — such may be my fate.

More of the play can be read online as part of Google Books.