The Storytelling Centre is a wonderful venue. The seats are spacious, the isles wide enough to make for sufficient leg room, and they offer a great view of the stage. On taking one’s seat and settling in, you notice that the only props on stage are a desk and chair on the right, and a small chair on the left. The production starts with Mary Stuart, sitting at the desk, writing a letter. It soon becomes apparent from her monologue, that this is Wednesday, 8 February 1587, her last night of captivity, and, unable to sleep, she is writing a letter to the brother of her first husband, Henry III of France. In reality, Mary did write a letter of this nature to Henry III at 2am on this same date, with only six hours to live. Knowing this is sobering, it draws one in to her story immediately, as, for the next 50 minutes, you listen with near desperation to the emotions and dramas of her tragic life.
While listening to her recalling the exciting and disastrous situations that she had to face in her lifetime, the audience is taken through a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Her major life events cover the excitement of her teen marriage to best friend Frances of France, to his ill-fated and catastrophic death and her move to Scotland. Her marriage to the notorious and syphilis riddled Lord Darnley, right through her life to her capture and imprisonment by her own cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Moved to retell the events of her life, while writing this last letter, the audience is shown the brutality of the situations she found herself in.
Actress Anna Hepburn is superb as the highly spirited, passionate and spontaneous monarch. Her excellent portrayal of the varying emotions experienced by Mary, and her well-timed movement around the stage keep the audience rapt. This is a brave and extremely challenging production, but one well worth seeing if you are a fan of theatre and history.
4/5 
Sandi Hunter
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