Mary Said What She Said

This is no conventional representation of the life of Mary Queen of Scots. It is more subtle and enticing than any straight forward historical drama. The brilliance of Robert Wilson’s direction, stage set and lighting is in its simplicity. 

Mary’s state of mind’s portrayed by Isabelle Huppert is emphasised by movement and lighting, together with the music composed by Ludovico Einaudi. This Mary Stuart is a woman conflicted and distraught, condemned by the circumstance of her birth, her royal connections, the power play between Protestant and Catholic and the manipulation of powerful men. She is imprisoned both physically and mentally.

Mary strides about within her confined space, repeating over and over the thoughts that torture her. It is a brilliant portrayal of a woman held in captivity, searching for some meaning to her life and eventually accepting that she is about to be executed. Her frenzied pacing, her rapid speech, the anger, the forced laugh, the reminiscing about the four Marys who were her ladies in waiting, her insistence that she was, still is, a Queen, firstly of France and then of Scotland, and that she is innocent, all comes forth in a text, often repeated, trying to find a way through the labyrinth.

We come closest to Mary Queen of Scots in the letter she wrote to HenryIII of France, her brother-in-law on the day before her execution. Here she refers to her son, James, with whom she has had no contact since he was a baby. She asks that her serving maids be looked after and receive monies due to them. She wishes to be buried in France, but this was not allowed her. Instead she rests in Wesminster Abbey, near the tomb of Elizabeth I, the woman Mary referred to as ‘the painted virgin who will leave no mark’.

A remarkable play which asks more questions than provides answers, characteristic of great drama.

Production by Théätre de la Ville-Paris

Festival Theatre, March 6 and 8

Image: Lucie Jansch