Mary, Queen of Scots by Thea Musgrave, English National Opera, The Coliseum, London WC2, 4☆☆☆☆. Review Clare Colvin.

Photo Credit: Ellie Kurttz.

Mary, Queen of Scots by Thea Musgrave, English National Opera, The Coliseum, London WC2,

4☆☆☆☆. Review Clare Colvin.

“Tragedy of Mary, Queen of Scots.”

Mary, Queen of Scots was one of the most traduced of the band of female royalty who were landed with the task of governing a nation through the turbulent times of the 16th century. Thanks to the highly respected Scottish composer Thea Musgrave, who composed both score and libretto of Mary, Queen of Scots, there was a brief chance at the weekend to hear Mary’s story from her own viewpoint rather than that painted by Tudor historians of the time. The toxic trio of men who battled to gain power over Mary were her drunken husband Lord Darnley, her illegitimate half-brother James Stewart, and the predatory James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, sung respectively by Rupert Charlesworth, Alex Otterburn, and John Findon.

Scottish theatre director and designer Stewart Laing’s clean-cut contemporary pavilion represents Edinburgh and Holyrood Palace. The costumes are vaguely present day; Mary and her court arrive from France with portable wheely-luggage to an indifferent welcome in moonlit Leith. From the start warnings are voiced by a concerned courtier Lord Gordon (Alastair Miles) that each of these men will betray her in their own interests. An added danger is that the Scottish people are turning to Protestantism, whereas Mary is a Catholic monarch.

Thea Musgrave has created a sterling soprano role for the crystalline-voiced American soprano Heidi Stober, who brings gleaming high notes to the score. In the end Mary determines to face the future alone but even that isn’t allowed her when Earl Bothwell sexually assaults her. Her baby is taken from her to be safeguarded as Scotland’s future King, and Mary flees for her life from hostile Scotland to the cold comfort of an English shore, and eventual condemnation to death.

The opera, which was co-produced here with San Francisco Opera, has received few revivals since its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 1977, possibly linked to the fact that Thea Musgrave has lived and worked in America for much of her life. The composer herself, aged 97, was present on the first night in the front seat of the stalls. There was no mistaking the enthusiasm of the standing ovation from a packed house as she rose to the applause at the end.

Creatives

Director and designer: Stewart Laing

Conductor: Joanna Carneiro

Lighting designer: D.M. Wood

Choreographer: Alex McCabe