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 1st. 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 |
![]() |
Karen Vickery as Elizabeth 1st. |
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 |
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