Catherine Tate stars as Mary in ‘Oh Mary!’ at the Trafalgar Theatre until 18th July. Cole Escola will be Mary from 20th July to 15th August. Jinkx Moonson will be Mary from 17th August to 26th September.
This is a riotous tour-de-force of a performance – Catherine Tate is not to be missed in a hysterical turn as the titular Mary Todd Lincoln, which cements her as one of the comedic greats.
‘Oh Mary!’ Has quickly made a name for itself as a must-see show. Over in the States several famed comedic actresses have taken up the Mary baton, such as Jane Krakowski and Maya Rudolph, and now the show has come the UK, we get to see our best take a turn at creating their Mary. Catherine Tate’s run will be hard to top – but if you’ve got tickets to upcoming shows don’t fret, Cole Escola who wrote the play and originated the role is crossing the pond to do a stint, and then from September Jinkx Monson will be London’s Mary – having already done a praised turn on Broadway.
In the performance I saw, Catherine Tate had unfortunately suffered a knee injury, which put some of the physical comedy on hold. However, even one knee down, Catherine gave a stellar performance – her range of voice and expressions kept the audience in stitches from start to finish, and in the fleeting emotional moments she offers a haunting window into the real Mary, far from the caricature we see presented on stage.
Scott Karim, also shines as Mary’s husband (the slightly better-known Abraham Lincoln), using every moment of his stage time to the maximum, indeed some of the loudest laughs come from his stressed and closeted Lincoln. Combined with Tate’s manic energy, you feel as though you never know what’s going to happen next in this play – but you know wherever it’s heading, the laughs will keep coming.
While the play is mostly a fast-paced farcical comedy for its 80 minute runtime, there are moments which become strangely dark and emotive – Mary, sitting motionless in the dark while her husband and lover conspire against her, the frequent threat of institutionalisation, which in real life was to be Mary’s fate, and the dismissiveness of the Civil War which is lightly present in the background of the play’s events.
Mostly though, you’ll come away from ‘Oh Mary!’ with tears of laughter in your eyes as you try and make sense of what you just witnessed. The show has staying power – and the London theatre audiences will certainly be coming back to see what other performers bring to the role of Mary. Or they might just come back to see Tate again – because she really is that good!
Tickets here.