MARY STUART

 

Mary Stuart. Adapted by Kate Mulvany after Friedrich Schiller.

Directed by Luke Rogers. Designer Kathleen Kershaw. Sound composition: Rachel Dease. Sound design: Georgia Snudden. Sound editing and arrangement: Luke Rogers. Lighting design: Disa Swifte. Voice and text coach Sarah Chalmers. Chaika Theatre. ACT HUB. July 24 – August 4 2024. Bookings: Phone: 0402 809 762 Box Office

Cast: Steph Roberts, Cameron Thomas, James McMahon, Lily Welling, Richard Manning, Karen Vickery, Blue Hyslop, Jarrad West, Neil McLeod, Lachlan Herring.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Karen Vickery as Elizabeth lst. Steph Roberts as MaryStuart

 

 Chaika Theatre’s production of Mary Stuart is must see theatre at its best. This is not only because of playwright Kate Mulvany’s riveting adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s  nineteenth century play, Nor is is it just because of the remarkable performances of Steph Roberts and Karen Vickery in the roles of Mary Stuart and Elizabeth 1^st. Nor is it only because of Kathleen Kershaw’s imaginative design of a crucifix-stage in the intimate ACT HUB Theatre. Luke Rogers’ carefully orchestrated direction creates a seamless production that will have audiences on the edge of their seats, engrossed in the historical events of Mary Stuart’s incarceration and  the imagined meeting between two strong women.

Can=meron Thomas, Lily Welling, Steph Roberts and James McMahon

Mulvany tells of an experience in a supermarket when she noticed a magazine emblazoned with Royals in Turmoil. Kate versus Meaghan. Years before it had been Fergie versus Diana and even further back Elizabeth versus Margaret during the Peter Townshend scandal.  In the imagined meeting between Elizabeth l and Mary Stuart the battle rages , sister versus sister, woman versus woman, queen versus queen in a patriarchal society, where there is simply not enough room for one  woman of power, let alone two. Times have changed but we do not have to look far to see the injustice and the inequality meted out to women. There is an anger that ricochets through Mulvany’s adaptation. Mary voices it to her jailer Paulet ( a sympathetic and thoroughly convincing performance by Cameron Thomas). Elizabeth rages against her powerlessness before Lord Burleigh’s sinister wile. Richard Manning gives a chilling performance as Elizabeth’s manipulative and controlling Secretary of State. 

Karen Vickery as Elizabeth 1st.

Schiller’s play and Mulvany’s adaptation reflect the dominance of the patriarchal court. Whether that be Burleigh’s power as chief adviser or the sexual power of Elizabeth’s lover Robert Cecil (Jarrad West) or the wisdom of the aged Shrewsbury (Neil McLeod) it is the men to whom Elizabeth turns. Even in the opening scene she must consider marrying the French Duke of Anjou, whose emissary Aubespine (Blue Hyslop) awaits an answer.

And yet the real power of Mulvany’s adaptation  and the triumph of Chaika’s production lies in the scene between Elizabeth and Mary. Here they are equals, warriors and icons, cousins trapped in historical inevitability. Vickery and Roberts are brilliant as the powerful Gloriana and the imprisoned captive Queen of Scotland. During the nineteen years of captivity, Mary and Elizabeth never met. Schiller has imagined the meeting that they might have had and Mulvany uses their own words in the dialogue between them. Neither is a shrinking violet. They are equals - intellectual jousters, forces to be reckoned with, doomed by their time but uttering a cry for all women to understand: that there is enough room for two powerful women. Vickery runs the gamut from defiant survivor of an assassination attempt to sensual lover to conflicted monarch and tortured queen forced to choose, yet powerless to instruct her private secretary William Davison ( effectively played with awestruck nervousness by Lachlan Herring).To watch Vickery and Roberts play out the emotional rollercoaster of their characters is to witness two of Canberra’s finest actors. These are performances of high professional stature, ably supported by a fine cast under the perceptive direction of Luke Rogers.

Steph Roberts as Mary Stuart

Choice and consequence define the actions of Schiller’s characters. Mulvany’s powerfully resonant adaptation for our time is both an admonition and a cry for action and change. Ultimately that will rest as the play teaches us with the choices one makes and the consequences serve as a warning call to empowerment and emancipation

Although conceived in anger, Mulvany’s adaptation gives voice to all women. It asserts their power and recognizes their frailties. Mary’s final confession is as much a railing against injustice as it is an admission of the truths that give rise to the anger. Elizabeth’s outpouring of grief at the consequence of her prevarication is an assault on a society that still diminishes the power of the female population. This is especially timely as we witness the recent development in American politics.

Chaika’s production speaks profoundly to our time, four centuries after the historical events that inspired Schiller’s play and only a few years after Mulvany’s first female adaptation.  In ACT HUB’s intimate setting Chaika Theatre’s Mary Stuart is an explosive theatrical experience that will hold a mirror up to our age and provoke reflection on gender equality and the societal consequence of patriarchy. More than that, this production is a theatrical tour de force that will remain in your memory long after you have left the theatre. Don’t miss it.

Photos by Jane Duong