Scottish Ballet’s new Mary, Queen of Scots at the EIF tells a well-trodden story in their own, powerful way

United Kingdom Edinburgh International Festival [9] – Mary, Queen of Scots: Soloists, Company and Orchestra of Scottish Ballet / Martin Yates (conductor). Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 16.8.2025. (SRT)

The relationship – and the intriguing duality – between Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots is well worn theatrical territory. Schiller did it, Donizetti did it, Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson did it, exploring the relationship between the two queens and their respective interlinked destinies.

So there isn’t much that’s new in Scottish Ballet’s new production for this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, which treads similar territory. In it, Elizabeth is depicted as the successful politician who maintains her position but dies an heirless virgin, while Mary is sensuous and fun-loving, a political failure who nonetheless ultimately wins by producing the heir, James, to both of their thrones. Soutra Gilmour’s designs have Elizabeth as ancient, sometimes male, dressed in white, while Mary is young, attractive and dressed in black. So far so conventional.

But if this production isn’t particularly groundbreaking then it still makes for compelling theatre. The exploration of the central characters is expertly framed as the aging Elizabeth looking back on her life, gripped by wistful regret that destiny forced her to deal with Mary in the way that she did, while the young Mary, frozen in time, haunts her dreams and memories. The dying Elizabeth is danced by Charlotta Öfverholm, an older dancer, while the younger Elizabeth is danced by a man, Harvey Littlefield: both casting decisions depict the Queen of England as ‘other’ and an outsider, while Mary is dressed in sensuous black (apart from in her execution) with a resemblance to Louise Brooks, the silent movie actress. The inhabit different worlds – the two famously never met – and the mostly monochrome designs reinforce the fact that they are separate but gripped by one another’s stories.

Sophie Laplane’s choreography cuts straight to the psychological heart of all the characters. Elizabeth and Mary sometimes mirror one another, and sometimes act in coldly aloof distinctiveness. The original score by Mikael Karlsson and Michael P Atkinson helps, too. It is mostly played by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra, live in the theatre pit, though heavily amplified and with some electronic touches; a mix of folk tunes, Renaissance pastiche and modern, rhythm-driven beat that is at least very danceable. There is one neat moment where Elizabeth dances to a Scottish folk tune, which says as much through music and movement as several pages of a novel or play could.

The other characters are vividly brought to life, too. There is a dangerous muscularity to Evan Loudon’s Darnley – you can tell from his first entrance that he is trouble – and the reckless swagger of Rizzio’s first dance tells you all you need to know about his character. I loved James Garrington’s camp Dauphin and the pointed, edgy thrusting of Thomas Edwards’s Walsingham, clearly a man at the centre of things who seeks to control all knowledge. His creepy band of falcon spies are an eerily macabre touch.

Not everything works, and it feels like there’s box-ticking in places: gender blind casting (yawn…) and an extraneous gay love story (snore…) but it is a piece with something to say, and it coheres very well as a powerful punch of theatre. On reflection, it is such an obvious subject for this company to take on, it makes you wonder why nobody had the idea sooner.

Simon Thompson

Featured Image: [l-r] Harvey Littlefield (Younger Elizabeth), Charlotte Öfverholm (Older Elizabeth) and Roseanna Leney (Mary) © Andy Ross

Production:
Choreographer and Co-Creator – Sophie Laplane
Director and Co-Creator – James Bonas
riginal Score – Mikael Karlsson and Michael P Atkinson
Set and Costume designer – Soutra Gilmour
Lighting designer – Bonnie Beecher
Projection and Video design – Anouar Brissel

Cast:
Roseanna Leney – Mary
Charlotta Öfverholm – Older Elizabeth
Harvey Littlefield – Younger Elizabeth
Evan Loudon – Darnley
Javier Andreu – Rizzio
Thomas Edwards – Walsingham
Kayla-Maree Tarantolo – Jester
Madeline Squire – Catherine de’ Medici / James VI & I
James Garrington – Dauphin

The Edinburgh International Festival runs at venues across the city until Sunday 24th August. Click here for further details.