11 Feb 2015

Events:

There’s Something about “Mary Stuart” at the Folger

Queen Elizabeth I (Holly Twyford) and Mary Stuart (Kate Eastwood Norris) share an uncomfortable faux moment. Photo courtesy of Teresa Wood/Folger Theatre

Queen Elizabeth I (Holly Twyford) and Mary Stuart (Kate Eastwood Norris) share an uncomfortable faux moment. Photo courtesy of Teresa Wood/Folger Theatre

There is a moment in the Folger’s production of Friedrich Schiller’s “Mary Stuart” that is so funny and tragic, you start wondering if what you’re watching is theater of the absurd. It comes during the second half, when Sir William Davison (played by Todd Scofield) realizes that following his Queen’s command will be the end of him. He earnestly tries to make Elizabeth I understand: she is handing him a signed death decree but is not being clear with her orders to carry the deed out. If he second-guesses her and does not follow through, he is a traitor. If he carries out the order, he may displease her: after all, she has been eschewing this particular decision for well over a decade. He pleads for his life, but she sends him away, confused and doomed. Sir William is to decide whether Elizabeth I wants to have her cousin and nemesis-in-waiting, Mary Queen of Scots, killed.

Sir William cannot get his point across to haughty, haunted Elizabeth, played with deftness by Holly Twyford. And we, the audience, know his sadness and his powerlessness, and yet all we can do is laugh. This is both fitting and cruel for this German philosopher’s what-if fantasy meeting between the two queens: we laugh because we feel as powerless as both queens. We laugh because sometimes it’s pointless to cry.

“Mary Stuart,” now playing at the Folger Theatre through March 8th, is a beautifully staged show: most of the Folger’s shows are impressive in their set design, and this show is no different despite its minimalism. The austerity of the prison in which Mary resides and the golden opulence of Elizabeth’s court highlight and play foil to the two queens: one, beautiful, desired and too dangerous to Protestant England to be liberated. The other, privately self-doubting and insecure about her throne and her looks, but with all the winning cards. Throughout the play, which clocks in at about 2.5 hours with a 15-minute intermission, we slowly see the intrigue unravel: There will be no winner. The queen who remains will forever have her soul tarnished by kin blood on her hands. The queen who goes, does so after a series of disappointments and double-crossings that leave us all wondering if love and friendship are real, or just sad illusions that ultimately break our spirit.

Upcoming special nights include a pre-show talk this Wednesday February 11th, starting at 6:30 pm. To purchase tickets, click here to visit the Folger website.

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