Mary, Queen of Scots – London Coliseum

Composer and Librettist: Thea Musgrave

Director: Stewart Laing

An opera about Mary Queen of Scots should be very exciting; her story is a particularly interesting one and numerous questions hang over her history. Was she a weak ruler governed by her physical passions or a queen beset on all sides by murderous men in a violent country far from the French court where she grew up? Thea Musgrave’s 1977 opera thinks the latter and makes its English National Opera and London debut nearly 50 years on with Musgrave proudly in attendance. Yet, in a new staging by Stewart Laing set in a marquee built around Mary, this tale is slow to start and lacks a regal touch, with the incidents of Mary’s rather fantastically dramatic life seeming more mundane than they should.

Returning to Scotland to assume the throne from her half-brother James (Alex Otterburn) who has acted as Regent, Mary Queen of Scots is immediately warned about the men of her court and to be fearful of their ambition, including James himself. When Cardinal Beaton (Darren Jeffrey) goes missing, Mary quickly banishes Lord Boswell (John Findon) from her court while she follows her heart with the English Lord Darnley (Rupert Charlseworth). But marriage proves less satisfying or protective than she hoped, so Mary must decide if she is strong enough to rule alone.

As the audience take their seats, Laing’s production team begin to assemble a marquee frame on stage – perhaps, you might think, there has been too little time to set up for this two-performance run and the crew are running behind, but in fact this is the major symbolic metaphor of Acts One and Two. In what feels like a threadbare concept, it never entirely makes sense as a visual choice. There is some promise in Mady Berry’s costume design when Mary arrives like an RnB star in disguise, a big puffa coat, shades and a baseball cap, a woman clearly used to finer living, but the story never comments on the downgrading of her experience in Scotland so the marquee idea, though securely fixed to the stage, falls flat.

There is little sense of royalty here, of a court filled with factions trying to out-manoeuvre each other. Both the supporters of the male contenders, desperate to control Mary, and the common people wear anoraks and backpacks, more a group of Sunday hikers exploring the Highlands than a baying mob in thrall to and then rejecting their Queen. Only Mary herself (a fine Heidi Stober) has any clear distinction or glamour, especially in the latter part of Act Two where she realises that she can rule without a man, an empowering moment that only adds to the tragedy to come.

Having built it, the final act tears off the covering of the marquee to imply the deconstruction of Mary’s queenhood as the well-known events of her life are played out in just 25-minutes with the rejection of her brother, the murder of her husband and the infamous rape that predicates her escape to England – the point at which this story ends. But with all the politicking in the first part of the show and all the action in the shorter second, the production feels unbalanced.

There is certainly a sympathetic power in Musgrave’s version of Mary, buffeted by the forces of Scottish male bravado and unable to establish a secure power base on her own terms. When Mary came to England, she never left, so it is a shame the arrival of this operatic queen lacks grandeur in Laing’s too pedestrian concept.

Runs until 18 February 2025