Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I never actually met — but this hasn’t prevented Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart (premiered in 1800), which imagines just such an encounter, from becoming a classic. 

Its collision of expediency and morality makes it a political thriller for our own time, and a new translation for the Globe by Dunedin’s Keith Scott keeps Schiller’s essentials, while tightening up the plot and just slightly changing the ending. [More] 

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In our times of terrorism and Trump, Mary Stuart – a play about the entwined fortunes of two global powerhouses – could hardly be more relevant.  

Author and historian Keith Scott has adapted and refreshed Schiller’s original play for a modern audience. Characters include a dangerously radicalized young man, a political schemer who’d put House of Cards’ Francis Underwood to shame, and a leader making a desperate trade-off between personal safety, basic humanity and public opinion.

Terry MacTavish is mesmerising as Elizabeth Tudor, a queen in an impossible position who rules an army of sycophants but has no one to trust. MacTavish commands the stage as she spirals from confident coquette to disordered destroyer. Helen Fearnley is a powerful presence as Mary Stuart, a woman who still burns with ambition after twenty long years in captivity.

Fifteen cast members play their victims and co-conspirators, and there are some fine actors among them – notably Emer Lyons (Lady-in-waiting), Thomas Makinson (Count Aubespine), Nigel Ensor (George Talbot) and Cain Sleep (William Davison).

Costume creators Tamsin Braisher, Barbara Bishop and Kura Carpenter, led by Charmain Smith, have gone to town creating opulent period costumes for the ladies – topped off with Brian McCormack’s fabulous feathered fans.

The theatre itself was once the living room of a grand home. It was extended into an auditorium in 1961, and today provides entertainment for up to 80 people at a time. In this intimate setting the fates of the two queens have added immediacy.

Like all good plays, Mary Stuart leaves us with questions. When public opinion can turn on a dime, what weight should it have, and on what matters? Is integrity worth more than personal safety? And why is it sometimes so hard to do the right thing? 

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