Review of Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off at Dundee Rep

Oct 25 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

PLAYWRIGHT and Makar Liz Lochhead composed a masterpiece in the mid-1980s when she encapsulated the colourful life and death of Mary Queen of Scots in her entertaining and educational drama, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off.

Now two major players on the Scottish stage – the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh and Dundee Rep – have combined their considerable forces to re-invent Lochhead’s work in an energetic and pacey production.

‘Mary ...’ is currently being staged at Dundee Rep after a run at the Lyceum, so it is well bedded-in.

The result is a top-drawer evening’s entertainment performed with panache by the talented cast.

The role of the tragic Queen Mary is superbly played by Shauna Macdonald who manages to capture both Mary’s regal bearing and the fragility of a woman whose life from day one was certainly far from ordinary!

This production directed by Tony Cownie is aflutter with poetic flair, much of it delivered in magnificent style by the omnipresent Corbie (Ann Louise Ross). Corbie is no bird-brained character – the crow’s perceptive wit comes thick and fast as feathers fly in the turmoil of Mary’s times, each line and nuance wonderfully delivered by Ann Louise Ross.

The other cast members work their gaiters off, taking on different influential roles at breakneck speed. Emily Winter convinces both as Queen Elizabeth and Mary’s maid, and Liam Brennan’s John Knox sends chills down the spine as the religious bigot and raging misogynist.

Among other characters whose unsavoury attributes are given the Liz Lochhead treatment is the murderous and womanising Lord Bothwell (Stephen McCole), while the ill-fated (weren’t they all!) Lord Darnley (Lewis Hunt) is portrayed here in a manner which attracts pity from his audience – perhaps not what historical fact would suggest.

All this 16th century royal angst, religious fire and brimstone, and murderous spilling of blood is acted out on a modern set by Neil Murray with numerous interesting symbols which have relevance to both Mary’s times and 21st century society. And it is indeed it in our age where the play comes to an abruptly end, dramatically illustrating that time has done little to soften man’s inhumanity to man.

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off continues at Dundee Rep until November 5.

Alison Anderson