National Theatre of Scotland
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS GOT HER HEAD
CHOPPED OFF
‘Once upon a time, there were twa queens on the wan green island, and the wan green island was split inty twa kingdoms.’
So the trickster prophet turns the wheel of fortune and plunges us into the heart of this story of two of history’s most intriguing women – Mary, Queen of Scots, and her cousin and fellow ruler, Elizabeth I of England.
The beautiful and staunchly Catholic Mary Stuart has returned from France to rule Scotland, a country she neither knows nor understands. While her return is little cause for celebration among her own people, it is even less welcome at her cousin’s glittering, highly politicised court. Elizabeth is well versed in the ruthlessness required of an absolute monarch and this is unleashed with bloody consequences when Mary re-marries and gives birth to a son.
All too soon the stage is set for a deadly end game in which there can only be one winner and one queen on the one green island.
First performed in 1987, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off by Liz Lochhead is feisty, fast-moving, and peppered with live music, wit, and cheek.
Tickets: £10/£8