Mary Stuart

Published Thursday 14 May 2009 at 13:30 by Victor Hallett

It may not be historically accurate, but as a melodrama of Tudor realpolitik Mary Stuart packs quite a punch in Terry Hands’ epic production of Mike Poulson’s fine new version.

The stage area reaches into the auditorium and Max Jones’ spectacularly effective set, combined with Hands’ own complex lighting, allows the actors large areas of movement yet also spaces they can occupy in isolation without being dwarfed.

As a tale of two queens, the casting of the royal ladies is crucial. Marina Hands is a Cesar-winning French actress who speaks perfect English yet with a French lilt, ideal for Mary. That she also conveys Mary’s complexity, naivety, romantic openness, royalty and incandescent religious belief, makes this a coruscating and electrifying performance.

Claire Price’s Elizabeth is a woman of total power who can act on an instant whim. There is lightness and humour in the portrait but there is also the danger of dealing with an absolute ruler. The queens’ meeting becomes a duel of temperaments, one in which insults are the weapons of choice.

Each of the large cast has at least one big moment and all take it to the full. Owen Teale’s Burghley is breathtakingly devious while Steffan Rhodri’s slippery Leicester, Lee Haven-Jones fanatical Mortimer and Guy Lewis’ helpless pawn Davison also stand out. So do John Cording, Joshua Richards and Gwyn Vaughn-Jones as three genuinely good men of varying persuasions.

This big, gripping, exciting, absorbing production is theatre for the eye, the ear and the mind.