The Broadway Ferret

Image from www.applause-tickets.com

Rating: 3 out of 5 masks

Where to begin…

Mary Stuart tells the story of Mary Queen of Scots who was imprisoned by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, for 17 years, fearing that Mary would attempt to take her crown.  For those not familiar with the backstory, Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, broke away from the Catholic Church in order to marry Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother.  For most in England at the time, Mary, a Catholic, was considered the rightful heir to the English throne.  Because of this, Elizabeth had her imprisoned for years rather than put to death immediately or worse, sent back to Scotland alive and able to make a play for the throne.

While I understand some of the dramatic license taken in the play, like the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth (they never met face to face), I found the modern costumes and some of the language distracting.  If they had kept with the period language, costume and historical facts, it would be fine just like if they went the modern, not entirely historical route.  To mix it up was distracting in that I had trouble keeping up with the play.

Image from www.applause-tickets.com

The bare set allows you to imagine the Mary’s prison and the royal courtyard.  It’s sort of minimalist in a way.  The lighting helps with figuring out where each scene takes place and used quite well for dramatic purposes.  I liked Mary’s and Elizabeth’s costumes the best, probably because they were the only ones that had any color.  While I understand that the men were wearing suits, I wished there was a way to distinguish them based on class.

 

Overall, I thought this play was ok.  Maybe I got caught up in the accuracy of the material presented, but I did manage to follow the story.  What I liked most about it was that it presented another way of viewing this particular story.  I would recommend this for all audiences, from teens and up.  While I don’t remember any foul language and it does have some historical context, it does have scenes that young children shouldn’t be exposed to.

Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes w/intermission