Mary Stuart

Chris loves English history whereas , I, on the other hand can take or leave it. The stories of what Queen got her head cut off defending this faith or other ,leaves me a little cold, but I knew he would enjoy the Theatre Clwyd production of MARY STUART which is produced by Terry Hands.
I realise that the story of the last days of the Scottish Queen Mary and her jousting with The Virgin Queen Elizabeth has little basis in actual reality, but I very much enjoyed this "historical" look at court manipulation and skulduggery!
The reason for this were two detailed and very accomplished performances from the two "queens"......Mary Stuart was played by the beautiful French actress Marina Hands, here pictured with the Welsh actor Owen Teale. She captured beautifully the regal strength and slight religious madness of the doomed heroine whereas Claire Price’s Elizabeth almost lapsed into Miranda Richardson's Queenie from Blackadder, but reined in her performance to just the right side of "shrillness" and power. The final meeting between the two, which is essentially a duel of temperaments, was quite electrifying to watch.
It was a lovely change to see good quality live theatre