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Mary Stuart
by Friedrich Schiller in a new version by Peter Oswald James
Director Phyllida Lloyd
Designer Anthony Ward
Lighting Designer Hugh Vanstone
at Apollo Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1
Call +44 (0) 870 400 0805 Tickets £10 - £40
Mon – Sat 7.30pm; Wed & Sat Mats 2.30pm
Running time 2 hours 40 mins with intermission
Through 14 January
Queens’ Gambit
When playwrights chronicle great personal battles they are sometimes compelled to rewrite history and bring the two opponents together, because the drama demands it, and we love it. Jean Anouilh did it in Becket, bringing Henry II and Thomas Becket together, and the scene on the beach between Peter O’Toole’s Henry and Richard Burton’s Becket is etched into the memory.
Mary, Queen of Scotland and of France, the most powerful nation in Europe, claims a better title to the English throne than the reigning Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth was regarded by Catholic Europe as illegitimate and a usurper. When Mary presented herself on English soil, her fate was in the balance.
And we wait for the meeting between Janet McTeer’s Mary, Queen of Scots and Harriet Walter’s Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth must decide whether Mary should live or die.
In this version by Peter Oswald, Mary speaks in heroic phrases of monumental emotional colour. One such speech culminated in her standing Rocky-like, with arms high, as she trumpets ‘I am Your Queen’, in a voice any man would envy. Nevertheless, in her lust for life and for power Janet McTeer’s charismatic, inspiring Mary never lost her feminine appeal, driving suitor Mortimer (Schiller’s invention) to literally die for her. But she also suffered at the hands of the flatterer, a delightfully duplicitous Earl of Leicester, by Guy Henry.
Queen Elizabeth boasted of the strength of a man in order to stay in power, but in the hands of Harriet Walter she is no less feminine. Elizabeth ruled for over forty years, her court one of intrigue and double dealing. Managed by the ruthlessly efficient ‘enforcer’, Lord Burleigh of David Horovitch, the suits (modern ones, in a jarring but effective design choice) finally deliver Mary to her fate. A performance from Miss Walter, of thought, knowledge of her executive status, and of measured power.
The meeting, when it comes, is beautifully crafted. Soaking wet after revelling in the rain, Mary stands, humble in the presence of the monarch who is jostled by her minders, anxious to protect her with umbrellas. Finally it is apparent that Mary’s charm is not going to save her, and we await the inevitable. The scene is handled, as is the whole production, with mastery by director, Phyllida Lloyd, stars and ensemble.
Highly Recommended
Saul Reichlin
London correspondent
Chicago Stage Talk Radio Show
www.ChicagoCritic.com
9 November 2005
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