Opening Gambit
Tell us about your character's background:
(A note about Florence’s background - Chess is a musical with a LOT of iterations, it is continually revised with each major staging as is obvious when comparing the backgrounds of the island’s Anatoly and Freddie. Florence is from the 2008 concert and will be consistent with Freddie’s version of events. That said, in order to flesh out her character some details that do not directly conflict with the 2008 version have been accepted into “head”canon. )
Florence never got to win, at least not completely. When she managed to flee her home in Budapest before the Russians invaded and absorbed Hungary into the USSR in 1956, her parent’s weren’t so lucky. She ended up in England, alone, at the mercy of distant relatives she’d never known. She studied the classics in college, meeting Freddie Trumper when she was around twenty-one. The attraction was for more than a good chess game and she was quickly swept up and became Freddie’s second and personal assistant. Perhaps not the ideal relationship, but for them it worked. She remained his lover until the match in Merano, Italy when she met Anatoly Sergievsky, which is where the musical opens.
Her relationship with Freddie already strained over his antics and his selfish grabs for attention, money and fame, she meets Anatoly at a mountain lodge where Freddie is supposed to be burying the hatchet after storming out of their match. Only Freddie doesn’t show because he’s making his own deal for more money. Hurt, angry and frustrated she still tries to cover for him, meeting with Anatoly. She already admired the quiet grace he had in his manner of playing and conducting his business, and the evening only confirms his gracious nature. Instead of an evil Soviet loyalist, she finds... a kindred spirit of sorts and admiration quickly develops into attraction. Nothing happens that night, for Freddie finally arrives, brash and arrogant flinging accusations towards her of treason and worse. The argument they have is the final nail in the coffin of their relationship and ultimately she turns to Anatoly for comfort and affection.
Hurt, Freddie concedes the match and Anatoly, at Florence’s urging and with her assistance, defects to the west. She leaves with him and they begin a relationship back in England. A year later, she is Anatoly’s second and lover and joining him in Thailand for the next world championship. She has some worries about the trip, the papers have rumored that the Soviets might bring Anatoly’s wife to Bangkok and Freddie now works for World Television and will be covering the match forcing both of them to confront things they’d rather not. It is from this point that she is sent to the island, just before international politics and her own heart tear her apart and leave her alone.
Your character's personality:
Florence is a romantic. She’s a woman of hopes, dreams and passions and while she tries to tell herself that she shouldn't, she should be rational, she loses herself in them easily. She has a need to be loved and to belong that stems from losing her family so completely that she can’t hardly remember them anymore. In her relationships, she tries to create an ideal, her happy ending. It keeps her with Freddie long after other women would have left and it allows her to be swept away in her passion for Anatoly. She loves them truly but she holds onto the dream so hard that reality never quite has a chance to live up to it. She’s also afraid to be alone, deep down she’s probably not even aware of it, but it’s there. The little girl who found herself practically alone in a country with nothing to her name is terrified of ending up that way again and wraps herself in dreams and ideals that will never quite be met.
She can be patient person, after all, she was with Freddie seven years before he drove her away completely and she has a head for business and managing the press and a genuine passion for chess. But she has no patience for politics, she thinks the game has been tainted by it, that Freddy bowed to it. Her romantic nature means she believes in a... goodness, a purity that’s beyond all that. It’s another reason she’s apprehensive about going to Bangkok, she knows she and Anatoly are wading right back into the political pit and she has no idea how bad it will be.
She’s slow to anger, but when pushed, she will fight back passionately. However, she’s also the first person to sue for peace when things have soured. She’s good at smoothing over disagreements, whether it’s charming the press after one of Freddie’s outbursts or with Freddie himself. She had an intense loyalty to Freddie right until the end and that’s typical, carrying on to Anatoly when she’s offered the chance to see her father again and she turns away from Walter, refusing to play his game. She may think she acts with her head, she may want to, but she will always follow her heart.
Your character's initial personal inventory:
1 dress, blue, sleeveless and modest, comfortable for traveling in
1 pair black heels
Undergarments - bra, panties, nylons, 1970’s style
1 black purse containing a wallet with British ID and passport, the equivalent of 200 pounds in Thai bahts, a wallet-sized photo of her and Anatoly, one credit card, a few mints, and some tissues.
1 key to a luxury suite at a Bangkok hotel.
(A note about Florence’s background - Chess is a musical with a LOT of iterations, it is continually revised with each major staging as is obvious when comparing the backgrounds of the island’s Anatoly and Freddie. Florence is from the 2008 concert and will be consistent with Freddie’s version of events. That said, in order to flesh out her character some details that do not directly conflict with the 2008 version have been accepted into “head”canon. )
Florence never got to win, at least not completely. When she managed to flee her home in Budapest before the Russians invaded and absorbed Hungary into the USSR in 1956, her parent’s weren’t so lucky. She ended up in England, alone, at the mercy of distant relatives she’d never known. She studied the classics in college, meeting Freddie Trumper when she was around twenty-one. The attraction was for more than a good chess game and she was quickly swept up and became Freddie’s second and personal assistant. Perhaps not the ideal relationship, but for them it worked. She remained his lover until the match in Merano, Italy when she met Anatoly Sergievsky, which is where the musical opens.
Her relationship with Freddie already strained over his antics and his selfish grabs for attention, money and fame, she meets Anatoly at a mountain lodge where Freddie is supposed to be burying the hatchet after storming out of their match. Only Freddie doesn’t show because he’s making his own deal for more money. Hurt, angry and frustrated she still tries to cover for him, meeting with Anatoly. She already admired the quiet grace he had in his manner of playing and conducting his business, and the evening only confirms his gracious nature. Instead of an evil Soviet loyalist, she finds... a kindred spirit of sorts and admiration quickly develops into attraction. Nothing happens that night, for Freddie finally arrives, brash and arrogant flinging accusations towards her of treason and worse. The argument they have is the final nail in the coffin of their relationship and ultimately she turns to Anatoly for comfort and affection.
Hurt, Freddie concedes the match and Anatoly, at Florence’s urging and with her assistance, defects to the west. She leaves with him and they begin a relationship back in England. A year later, she is Anatoly’s second and lover and joining him in Thailand for the next world championship. She has some worries about the trip, the papers have rumored that the Soviets might bring Anatoly’s wife to Bangkok and Freddie now works for World Television and will be covering the match forcing both of them to confront things they’d rather not. It is from this point that she is sent to the island, just before international politics and her own heart tear her apart and leave her alone.
Your character's personality:
Florence is a romantic. She’s a woman of hopes, dreams and passions and while she tries to tell herself that she shouldn't, she should be rational, she loses herself in them easily. She has a need to be loved and to belong that stems from losing her family so completely that she can’t hardly remember them anymore. In her relationships, she tries to create an ideal, her happy ending. It keeps her with Freddie long after other women would have left and it allows her to be swept away in her passion for Anatoly. She loves them truly but she holds onto the dream so hard that reality never quite has a chance to live up to it. She’s also afraid to be alone, deep down she’s probably not even aware of it, but it’s there. The little girl who found herself practically alone in a country with nothing to her name is terrified of ending up that way again and wraps herself in dreams and ideals that will never quite be met.
She can be patient person, after all, she was with Freddie seven years before he drove her away completely and she has a head for business and managing the press and a genuine passion for chess. But she has no patience for politics, she thinks the game has been tainted by it, that Freddy bowed to it. Her romantic nature means she believes in a... goodness, a purity that’s beyond all that. It’s another reason she’s apprehensive about going to Bangkok, she knows she and Anatoly are wading right back into the political pit and she has no idea how bad it will be.
She’s slow to anger, but when pushed, she will fight back passionately. However, she’s also the first person to sue for peace when things have soured. She’s good at smoothing over disagreements, whether it’s charming the press after one of Freddie’s outbursts or with Freddie himself. She had an intense loyalty to Freddie right until the end and that’s typical, carrying on to Anatoly when she’s offered the chance to see her father again and she turns away from Walter, refusing to play his game. She may think she acts with her head, she may want to, but she will always follow her heart.
Your character's initial personal inventory:
1 dress, blue, sleeveless and modest, comfortable for traveling in
1 pair black heels
Undergarments - bra, panties, nylons, 1970’s style
1 black purse containing a wallet with British ID and passport, the equivalent of 200 pounds in Thai bahts, a wallet-sized photo of her and Anatoly, one credit card, a few mints, and some tissues.
1 key to a luxury suite at a Bangkok hotel.