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“An accomplished cast and lush score, this rarely presented opera is let down by inexplicably dull visuals”

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What if Mary, Queen of Scots got lost at TRNSMT Festival with some local farmers?

I find myself asking this question during Act II of Mary, Queen of Scots at the London Coliseum. Originally created in 1977 by Scottish composer Thea Musgrave who at a spritely 96, is still alive and was actually in the audience. It is premiering in London for the first time this year with ENO in conjunction with San Francisco Opera. Set during Mary’s time in Scotland, it sandwiches itself between her formative French years and her English exile. We follow her through her isolation, passion and betrayal by the manipulative men around her.

The cast is clearly talented, led by soprano Heidi Stober as Mary. This being Stober’s debut with ENO, she is astonishing. Small in stature, she fills the vastness of the dreary set with an exquisite vocal range and expressive tonality; hers being the sole solo female voice in the show- perhaps representative of her isolation in the Scottish royal court.  

Musgrave’s score is stunning and still contemporary despite being nearly fifty years old. I enjoyed the way the libretto, based on Amalia Elguero’s play Moray, explored the frankly Shakespearean drama of Mary’s world. The tragic events of her life were played out effectively by the cast. Act III really felt like a different show, however, with everything stepping up a gear in terms of action, drama, lighting choices by the time the crescendo arrived. It was too little, too late though as the damage of the previous aesthetic blandness had been done. 

The set. Ah, the set. I first noticed something was off when it looked like someone had left a massive, cheap looking marquee frame in the middle of London’s biggest, blankest stage. Over the course of Acts I and II, crew distractingly set it up with a grubby white roof, side panels and pink ratchet seals. It looked like it had blown in from someone’s garden. Taking up the majority of the stage, it did nothing but probably block the view of those in the cheap seats and after spending 1.5 hours putting it up, it had been completely dismantled for Act III again. All that remained was some harsh strip lighting and a block for a bed. Costumes too, were bizarre. The ensemble were dressed like extras in Clarkson’s Farm, and the nobility were dressed for a wedding in which each invitation had a different dress code. The whole vibe gave a sense of a dynastic struggle in a North London allotment. 

It was difficult to form any connection with the characters. Not least because of the literal physical barrier causing the set to look fenced off end to end downstage. Possibly a nod to Mary being trapped in, but equally plausible in that we, the commoners, are shut out. If you had spent the entire evening reading the surtitles you would not have missed anything visually. I’m surprised they didn’t fully lean into the currently popular sparse Jamie Lloyd style and get some live screens in there. I wanted more Scottish references in what is an essentially Scottish Opera based on an iconic Scot.  It was a perfectly missed opportunity to incorporate frankly anything culturally Scottish including instruments, clothing and imagery. 

This is a great story let down by Director-designer Stewart Laing’s creative choices and it left me as cold as the wintry lands it is meant to portray.