Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart, Cambridge Arts Theatre, 2018.

Cast: Michael Byrne, Christopher Colquhoun, Rudi Dharmalingam, Calum Finlay, David Jonsson Fray, Elliot Levey, John Light, Carmen Monroe, Eileen Nicholas, Daniel Rabin, Juliet Stevenson, Lia Williams, Harry Anton, Matt Butcher, Jane Macfarlane, Denise Stephenson, Rachel Kitts, Georgia Vyvyan.

Writer: Friedrich Schiller

Adapted & directed by Robert Icke

My overwhelming memory of this is that it was about half an hour too long. My next memory is that it didn't have much set - no Tudor castles were recreated. But reading the programme it turns out that Juliet and Lia were alternating in the roles of Elizabeth & Mary, an idea borrowed from Danny Boyle's Frankenstein although perhaps he wasn't the first. I have no idea which way around I saw them, and I doubt it mattered. It also looks like Cambridge was the only place it played outside London, although 50 minutes from London is hardly that far. I think we were supposed to feel lucky that it came but it's a pity they didn't send something more fun - there's a whole page about Carl Jung in the programme for goodness sake!