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Post by Latecomer on Aug 13, 2022 15:44:46 GMT
New play by Rona Munro. Political thriller about Mary, Queen of Scots, Oct 21st onwards. Article in the Radio Times says Douglas Henshall is in this! I already really wanted to see anything by her (loved her history plays at the National!) …..but it was a little close to my Autumn limit (I prefer to travel to theatre in nice weather and am put off by winter….I know, lightweight!). Now of course I definitely have to go….. www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2022/mary/ |
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 29, 2022 17:43:01 GMT
Loved this today…interesting play, great production and great acting. Had to sort of sit down for a bit at the end to recover! Front row seats were perfect! The sort of play where you wander out after the matinee and you feel like you have been transported to another world! Rona Munro is a very clever writer.
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Post by showgirl on Oct 30, 2022 4:43:16 GMT
Sounds really promising, Latecomer; I was waiting for some views and a running time before booking as for some time I've found the programming Downstairs at Hampstead a lot more reliable than that of the main house. Could you please give an approximate running time? It's still not on the theatre's own website though they usually say they'll post it after the dress rehearsal. I suspect however that it'll be another long play which therefore requires a matinee slot. |
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Post by alessia on Oct 30, 2022 6:49:22 GMT
Sounds really promising, Latecomer ; I was waiting for some views and a running time before booking as for some time I've found the programming Downstairs at Hampstead a lot more reliable than that of the main house. Could you please give an approximate running time? It's still not on the theatre's own website though they usually say they'll post it after the dress rehearsal. I suspect however that it'll be another long play which therefore requires a matinee slot. Actually quite short, I went last night and I was out at 9.10, it's about 1 hour and a half without an interval. I thought the writing very good and the acting excellent, loved Douglas Henshall in particular. I didn't feel completely engrossed in the events, that is probably because I don't know anything about the history. For this reason, I was a bit bored for the first 45 minutes or so. Got more into it later on, and the final bit is powerful. Definitely worth seeing but do read the programme before seeing. |
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 30, 2022 7:53:22 GMT
I didn’t read the programme (I never buy them and save money for tickets) and didn’t know anything about the period in history but quite enjoyed piecing it together from the dialogue…..and then going to Wikipedia afterwards!  |
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Post by showgirl on Oct 30, 2022 10:02:22 GMT
Thank you alessia; sounds as though I could risk an evening performance, then. Like Latecomer, I never buy programmes (except Downstairs at Hampstead, where they're included with your ticket cost) so would hope never to need to do so in order to follow any production. I don't recall being that impressed or engaged by the writer's James trilogy at the NT but a single, shorter play sounds less challenging. |
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Post by alessia on Oct 30, 2022 10:55:09 GMT
Ah- fair enough if neither of you buy the programmes, I didn't use to but in the past year I've started collecting them, I really like to have a visual memory of all the shows I've seen. I keep them all on display. A few times I've regretted spending the money on the programme when I didn't like the show (see Boy with two hearts- should have waited til the interval!) When only the play text is available, I wait til the end to buy in case I didn't like the show enough to warrant spending more on it.
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 30, 2022 13:02:24 GMT
Ah- fair enough if neither of you buy the programmes, I didn't use to but in the past year I've started collecting them, I really like to have a visual memory of all the shows I've seen. I keep them all on display. A few times I've regretted spending the money on the programme when I didn't like the show (see Boy with two hearts- should have waited til the interval!) When only the play text is available, I wait til the end to buy in case I didn't like the show enough to warrant spending more on it. I used to collect flyers, that all got pinned up on two huge cork boards, or failing that I’d put up the paper ticket if I liked the play enough and had no flyer….I am now a bit stuck, as neither seems to exist any more in theatres! BRING BACK FLYERS please….of course the “save the planet” part of me does approve of the change! |
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Post by theatrefan572 on Oct 30, 2022 15:36:07 GMT
Can't wait for this. Did anyone else see Rona Munro's 'James Plays' trilogy about James I, II and III of Scotland? They were superb. She's recently written a 4th (James IV: Queen of the Fight) which is currently touring Scotland. I went to see it in Edinburgh and it was equally super. Interesting to see that 'Mary' is a smaller scale production compared to the others, especially when Munro considers this part of the same 'cycle' as the James plays. It says in the programme for 'James IV' that the forthcoming 'James V' play is envisaged as a smaller scale production too so perhaps this will be an indication as to the direction Munro is going with her history plays.
Anyway, can't wait to see it!
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 30, 2022 15:48:39 GMT
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Post by petrichor on Oct 30, 2022 16:23:26 GMT
Can't wait to see this in a few weeks! Really liked Rona Morison in the original James trilogy.
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 30, 2022 16:41:52 GMT
Welcome to the Board, petrichor. Please post a review afterwards. |
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 30, 2022 20:58:27 GMT
Can't wait for this. Did anyone else see Rona Munro's 'James Plays' trilogy about James I, II and III of Scotland? They were superb. She's recently written a 4th (James IV: Queen of the Fight) which is currently touring Scotland. I went to see it in Edinburgh and it was equally super. Interesting to see that 'Mary' is a smaller scale production compared to the others, especially when Munro considers this part of the same 'cycle' as the James plays. It says in the programme for 'James IV' that the forthcoming 'James V' play is envisaged as a smaller scale production too so perhaps this will be an indication as to the direction Munro is going with her history plays. Anyway, can't wait to see it! Yes, did the 3 in a day special from the front row at the National. Splendid. Was spectacular that they managed it with rep company and that the plays all felt very different in tone and staging. Plus knew nothing about the history but she explains context and characters so well. I think she always approaches a play with a “how would I feel in this situation” …so she very clearly gave the experience of someone going to Scotland and being rather shocked at how it was….and she really makes you feel the passion for Scotland and the politics of the place. She makes the characters very human and when we put ourselves in their shoes their motivations become easier to understand. Can’t wait for IV and V…. |
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Post by cavocado on Nov 1, 2022 14:14:46 GMT
Disappointing reviews for this: 2 stars from the Standard, WOS, Telegraph; 3 stars from Time Out, Guardian, TheatreCat. I think only Reviews Hub gave it 4.
I'm still looking forward to seeing it as I've liked Rona Munro's other plays and it's good to see some positive comments on here. Hampstead is long overdue a really good main house production - too many substandard new plays and oddly chosen revivals.
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Post by alessia on Nov 2, 2022 11:19:17 GMT
I reckon 3 stars is about right, 2 a bit harsh.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 2, 2022 11:56:07 GMT
Hampstead lost their literary manager quite abruptly, I’m not sure if they’ve hired a new one yet.
Edit - looks like they’ve combined the literary department and participation department into one role.
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Post by lynette on Nov 2, 2022 14:40:09 GMT
I’m the only living being that hated the James plays. Sub mock Bard and tedious; one dramatic scene with the bath.
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Post by Dave B on Nov 3, 2022 12:03:40 GMT
I didn't feel completely engrossed in the events, that is probably because I don't know anything about the history I think this really sums up a lot about the play. I liked the staging, I thought the cast were great (intense and claustrophobic) but without a knowledge of the history - I felt lost at more than one point. I'd have rather a free sheet with a brief history or something to give me a basis. Hell, I'd have taken a scene setting piece of exposition at the start. A shame as otherwise I think this would be so much better. Three stars from us with the notable effort from the cast helping with that. |
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 3, 2022 18:13:00 GMT
I didn't feel completely engrossed in the events, that is probably because I don't know anything about the history I think this really sums up a lot about the play. I liked the staging, I thought the cast were great (intense and claustrophobic) but without a knowledge of the history - I felt lost at more than one point. I'd have rather a free sheet with a brief history or something to give me a basis. Hell, I'd have taken a scene setting piece of exposition at the start. A shame as otherwise I think this would be so much better. Three stars from us with the notable effort from the cast helping with that. I thought this was a little bit the point…that in cases like these things are not clear, hence it was all about viewpoint and things become a little clearer through the play. Made it feel like it wasn’t about *history* but about how we *see* things as a public and how things are reported and the difficulties women in particular have about being believed. You need the confusion and the doubt about what is going on…. So, it’s not really a history play at all. |
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Post by Dave B on Nov 4, 2022 16:19:43 GMT
Oh yes in terms of Mary and what happened or didn't happen to her for sure, but there was a lot of scene setting missing. So many references to her being Catholic and it being an issue, I've no context for that. The relationship with the English queen mentioned, again no context for that. Entirely agree about the confusion and to make up your own mind on events depicted but the background to those I felt very missing.
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Post by cavocado on Nov 6, 2022 11:02:55 GMT
This was good, and not disappointing as a follow up to the James Plays. I didn't feel it needed much background knowledge, but I skimmed Wikipedia on Mary Queen of Scots beforehand. Basic knowledge of the Reformation also helps. Three good performances, nice sense of oppressive menace, and lots to say about power, trust, loyalty, misogyny and patriotism. It needed a lot of concentration. Four stars from me.
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Post by n1david on Nov 7, 2022 23:55:50 GMT
Felt mostly good about this tonight, although as a Scotsman of a certain age I learned about Mary and Darnley and Bothwell and Rizzio at school, and that education runs deep... So i thought this was an interesting play, did require focus which is a bit unusual for a lot of today's theatre, but I felt it really repaid the effort. As cavocado says there was a lot going on and interestingly I came out of the show with a rather different perspective on what the play was "about" and what it said about Mary than my husband (who is Welsh but English-educated). None of the characters are simple, it is impossible to properly determine their motivations. Rather disappointing Q&A afterwards, don't know who was hosting, someone from the theatre but from halfway up the stalls I couldn't hear what he was saying when he introduced himself or when he embarked on a long anecdote about someone who had been significant to the Hampstead Theatre who died recently. Unusually the host had no questions themselves and opened it up to the audience at the start which made things rather stilted. Douglas Henshall didn't participate and Rona Munro wasn't there and while the young actors did their best they were not able to well articulate some of the themes of the play. Interestingly Rona Munro's first draft did not have Mary appearing at all in the play but I was amused at the conversation that an agent would have had about you're playing Mary Queen of Scots, in a play called Mary, as part of a series of plays about the Stuart monarchy. Congratulations! You have six lines Asked about why 'Mary' was appearing at Hampstead, out of sequence, the host said that Hampstead had commissioned Rona Munro to write something for them in 2011, and paid for her to go to a writing retreat, but it had not arrived, so she offered this to them as compensation. |
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Nov 10, 2022 23:11:45 GMT
I really enjoyed this. Had vague knowledge about Mary Queen of Scots (history A-Level focused on Edward, Mary and Elizabeth so got a little bit of Mary Queen of Scots by proxy) and skimmed the program before the show started and that was probably enough knowledge to get me by.
Some of the dialogue felt a bit repetitive at times, but overall my favourite show I've seen at the Hampstead (upstairs) this year. Also the most full I've seen it!
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Post by petrichor on Nov 25, 2022 19:01:00 GMT
I've been thinking about this play a lot since seeing it last Saturday and mulling over what I thought. I'm very much a fan of the James Plays (drove to Edinburgh from the East of England to see James IV!), and adored the original trilogy. For me, 'Mary' is a 3 star play. It had lots of lovely nods to the other plays (one in particular - it wasn't quite 'the key will keep the lock' but just a stone's throw from it), and I liked the exploration of the extent to which opinions and hearsay shape history (especially for those who don't have a voice to contribute to it), but for me there was not enough depth/ shade in it. I didn't feel any particular moments of high drama, perhaps until the very final moments. It was very dense. For me, the concentration it took to follow did not match the pay off.
Still keeping all things crossed for James V (she mentions this will be produced in 2023 in the 'Mary' programme - a definitive step from the James V programme!), and James IV (which will end the cycle, she says).
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Post by joem on Nov 27, 2022 11:24:28 GMT
This didn't work for me. The James Plays were big and dramatic and self-consciously epic, with talk and action combining and driving them forward. This, by contrast, is lika a chamber piece. All jaw jaw jaw between three characters with a five second cameo for the title role and a multitude of people descending on the stage to shout a few seconds before that. Yes, the writing is good but the play is static and almost entirely reportage. Whatever happened to "show, don't tell"?
Despite a very good performance from Douglas Henshall and the other two actors I really wanted this to be more dynamic and to be exciting history (or pseudo history, I think I noted a change in Munro's take on current events from the original trilogy) but it falls flat.
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