Mary Stuart

Backroom dealings, double agents and acts of terror inspired by religious extremism – in Faction Theatre Company’s powerful, visceral new production, Friedrich Schiller’s fiercely intense play about the last days of Mary Queen of Scots is not a world away from an episode of Spooks.

We find Mary jailed in England, awaiting Queen Elizabeth I's decision on her fate, while plans for her escape are cobbled together in gloomy corners. Faction’s characteristically spare staging in the empty black space of the New Diorama is spot-on for the dark world of the play, while a touch of the contemporary highlights the universal relevance of Schiller’s themes. In a furiously gripping production, Faction pack quite a punch.

The whole ensemble is compelling, but it is Derval Mellet and Kate Sawyer who stand out as Queens Mary and Elizabeth respectively, which is fitting for a play that is ultimately about two women, one hastily stripped of the power thrust upon her (although fate could so easily have reversed their positions). As Elizabeth remains alone in the spotlight with her murdered rival looming high on the scaffold above, Faction forcefully remind us of the shadow cast by Mary even in death.

Catherine Love

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