cellio | Mary Stuart

On Sunday

lorimelton and I went to see the play Mary Stuart, by Friedrich Schiller, at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. I probably wouldn't have gone to this show on my own (as evidenced by the fact that I didn't), but Lori had free tickets and an outing with her sounded like fun.

I'm glad I went. This was very well done in many ways, and even though I knew how it would end, I found myself being pulled into the tension and uncerainty. I imagine that anyone who doesn't know the history would be even more drawn in.

The set was generally sparse -- four benches at the corners of a square on a stone floor. The same set was Mary's prison or, with the addition of a throne (on rollers for easy moving), Elizabeth's throne room. (Also, for one scene, a garden.) There were three doors along the back wall.

The back wall was mirrored, and I wondered about the purpose of that at the beginning. The first time Elizabeth made an appearance they were put to good use, as she glided on in a heavily-jeweled gown that precisely lighted. In a later scene, the blocking was carefully done so that we saw Elizabeth reflected several times (in a scene in which she was, basically, arguing with herself). Nice effect. (The mirrors and doors were also used powerfully at the end of the show, but I don't want to spoil it.)

The O'Reilly theatre, where this was held, is three-quarter round, so they had to block so as to not exclude any part of the audience for too long. We were in the center section, but it looked to me like this worked; there was enough motion, and the accoustics were good enough, that I don't think there were any bad seats.

Someone reading this is almost certainly wondering how authentic the costumes were. Sorry; I couldn't see details from our seats (didn't bring opera glasses) and I don't really know a lot about Elizabethan costume anyway. In broad strokes it all looked right to me.

All of the actors seemed to be competent, and those playing Mary, Elizabeth, and Mary's nurse were very convincing. Mortimer and Leicester were pretty good, too.

The background music was mostly used appropriately; there were times when I thought it got in the way a little. Music was used to cover scene changes on a dark stage, and that worked well. The scene changes were very fast, because there were few moving parts.

The show runs through June 27. I don't know what tickets cost; you'd have to call PPT and ask. If you don't already know the history, and maybe even if you do, plan to read the one-page "the story thus far" description in the program and look at the family tree. It'll help.

Mary Stuart

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