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What can I say about Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart? The first thing that springs to mind is that it was way too long. The end threatened many times but too many times didn’t arrive. The thing is that a ‘verse play’ written in Germany in 1800 even when it is a new translation, could seriously do with a bit of red pen.
That’s not to say the performances weren’t great. They were. Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams were both mesmerising as the two Queens. It seems that they both alternate playing either role depending on the flip of a coin. We saw Juliet as Mary and Lia as Elizabeth. Both were very powerful. I thought Lia just pipped Juliet. I couldn’t take my eyes of her. She gave an incredibly powerful performance.
The play plays around with history in order to show the struggles that power can bring; the denial of responsibility so easily achieved when you wield absolute power. Oddly a lot of it sounded exactly like Brexit and the current arguments about sticking to a decision regardless of the consequences…or maybe that was just me.
I don’t feel I can avoid talking about the huge guy sitting next to me who felt it only right and proper he take up three times as much space as anyone else in the theatre. Or the chap who I overheard during the interval claimed that “The play would do Shakespeare proud!” which is a moronic thing to have said because…well, for so many reasons I’d have to go on for about as long as the play. Or the person with the extremely loud and annoying whistling nose sitting somewhere close behind us. At least he stopped in the second half. How, I don’t know. Maybe he just blew his nose after his wife clouted him across the head.
Taking a few steps back though…during the day, there were no queens or beheadings as I planted up a whole load of hyacinths in a section of the yet to be created woodland walk.
They immediately added a bit of almost-spring colour. Speaking of which, two freesias have suddenly appeared in the front garden. That’s not to say we didn’t know they were going to appear because either Gardener Dave or I planted them. It’s just that one day they weren’t there, the next they were. They are about the same colour as the strange sexy fish car I spotted in London before meeting Mirinda in Salieri’s for dinner.
What?
Of course, Salieri’s was excellent as usual and just a short stroll from the Duke of York theatre for the play. Actually, tonight was the first time I realised that the bar/kitchen/till area at Salieri’s has a ‘cocktail bar’ sign above it.
And so to the play. Which, as I said, was incredibly long. Which meant I didn’t get home until half past midnight and two very excited puppies. Still, it was well worth seeing and losing a bit of sleep is a small price to pay to see some brilliant performances by two wonderful actors.
