Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: Mary Stuart

 Another home run with two amazing actors in the roles of Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth I.  With a front row seat that literally put me at the feet of the actors, it was easy to not miss a beat.  Lise Bruneau's passionate Mary Stuart exploded from her every move, gesture, and line.  She is a masterful actor who embraces characters full throttle.  The perfect person to play Mary.  Lesley Malin'a Elizabeth was intelligent, subdued at times, at times conflicted, but in the end cunning.  The cast of male characters were played nearly as shadows, mirror reflected the women, at times just pieces of furniture.  And in the end, none of them matter.  It wasn't their story.  Don't misunderstand my meaning.  They were just exactly what they needed to be.  

The original play was written at the end of the 18th century by Friedrich Schiller, and this version was up-dated by Peter Oswald.   Having never seen the original, I have no idea what exactly Schiller brought to the canvas.  However, there were several instances of tongue in cheek humor that did feel like contemporary slights.  The set was simple and with the help of projections glorious at the same time.  But the standout were the costumes!  Kristina Lambdin deserves a standing ovation all her own.

Finally, I experienced something with this performance that I have never seen before.  And as egregious as it was, it did not dampen my enthusiasm for the show.  The role of William Cecil, Lord Burleigh was covered by the understudy, Nathan Rosen.  While clearly "familiar" with the character and the roll, Rosen performed the entire character with script in hand!  At first, because when he arrives, he's come to share an edict, I thought it was a prop.  It took me about 3 minutes to realize that he was actually reading from it!  I will give him that William Cecil is not a minor roles.  But still.  And of course, it not just his presence with a script that detracts, it effects his interactions with all of the others on stage.  In one instance he had to juggle the script and snatch a piece of paper from another character which was a bit challenging.  

Of course, there is a little pre-show merriment.  Today it was the cast performing three minstrel numbers, period pieces were the two, the other a contemporary number to the playwright with lyrics written by him.  Intermission saw the giving away of a bottle of Prosecco, an intermission tradition.  Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is always a fun place to see the play.

Mary Stuart (Lise Bruneau) with her nurse, Hanna Kennedy (Jamie Virostiko)

Mary attempting to ingratiate herself with her jailor, Amias Paulet, Knight.   She convinces him to convey a letter of contrition to the Queen.

Mortimer (Joshua Williams), born again Papist who has sworn a secret allegiance to save Mary with his uncle Paulet, who is unaware of his subterfuge. 

The Queens meet: Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I (Lesley Malin)--this is something that NEVER happened in real life.  And Elizabeth allows Mary to stand in her presence.

However, she will not bow down to her.

The lover of both women, after betraying both at least once, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (DeJeanette Horne) attempts to repair the damage by denying the treason in order to maintain his own head upon his own shoulders.

Mary making her last confession with the help of her longtime friend, and steward, Melvil (Paul Diem)

With Mary dead, Dudley escaped to France, her High Treasurer banished, her last friend in the world, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, (Gregory Burgess) retires leaving her all alone on an empty, ever darkening stage.