Opera Review: ENO Mary Queen of Scots

Making its ENO premiere, in a co-production with San Francisco Opera, this modern retelling of Mary Queen of Scots still resonates today. With hostile forces on every side, Queen Mary I of Scotland attempts to secure a happy future for herself and her country.

One of Scotland’s most esteemed composers, Thea Musgrave delivers a thrilling score and director-designer Stewart Laing’s vivid, modern-dress production creates the perfect atmospheric frame for this captivating tale.

Caught between her drunken husband, her scheming half-brother, and her untrustworthy lover, Mary I of Scotland must find a way to protect her country and her Catholic faith. Each new conversation reveals a treacherous twist as she is betrayed or misled by those closest to her. Until finally a terrible miscalculation causes her to fall into the arms of her Protestant cousin, Elizabeth I.

The minimalist set, which looked like a wedding marquee being slowly put up and then dismantled, appeared pointless, didn’t have any clear relevance, no suggestion of where we might be, and just distracted from some of the more quieter parts of the music. In contrast, conductor Joanna Canario, who swept the E.N.O orchestra up into a frenzy of passionate lyrical energy, all lythe creepy woodwinds and staccato demanding percussion and brought all the emotional, atmospheric elements out of the score and gave the music a solid foundation for the singers.

American soprano Heidi Stobber was absolutely amazing, show-stopping with dignity, majesty and her rage, as realizes that her options are closing down and the true betrayal of the men around her, the emotional content and control in her voice was absolutely stunning and a high point of the evening. Musgrave’s music roams and relentlessly ploughs on, mechanical and ruthless and offers very little succour or comfort in this forensic exploration of betrayal and abuse. This is a woman cornered, searching for trust and roles and the music underlies that the sea that she’s afloat on is a raging rip tide that she has no control over. She’s swept away, struggle as she may, flotsam in this musical storm

John Fyndon’s Bothwell was excellent, giving real gravitas and weight to the role and bringing a sense of character to a stage which needed all the support it could get. Alex Otterborn as the Earl of Moray conniving and twisting in fine voice. Barnaby Rea’s Riccio, gave us greasy shivers. And Lord Darnley from English tenor Rupert Charlesworth was fay, decadent and debauchery and childlike arrogance. He was completely delulu, but his voice wrapped around the contortions of the emotional context of his character with ease. Possessed with flawed charm.

The ENO chorus were magnificent, although looking like slightly dishevelled hikers but they played a religious sectarian edge very well, the crowd dividing and dividing again on political or faith lines. There were some deeply disturbing menacing scenes, particularly the shocking rape scene, where the male parts of the chorus gather round to close ranks and watch. It’s a difficult to watch but the chorus, as always, were excellent. They played the mob as well as they did the nobles, giving a shimmering menace of confusion to the few choral reaches.

Full cast and creative here

There are huge amounts of drama, of change of place, of journeying, of transformation, of betrayal, but for some reason this very low-key, low-budget production doesn’t allow any of this to be explored other than through the music and the occasional singing burst, which are amazing but rare. But I would have liked to have known where and when things were happening. There was an occasional ‘one year later’ on the sur titles, which if you blinked and missed, you wouldn’t have really realised things had moved on in the plot. A pram came on, somebody died. The courtly dancing started but nobody danced. It really felt too minimal to hold the context of what’s a very difficult and very complex piece of 16th century Scottish politics. The twists and turns in Mary’s life weren’t given the visual context that the music and the singing were desperately underpinning.

It felt a very low-budget production. The set did nothing, the lighting didn’t apparently move, virtually no props. The costume looked like a casting call for Emmerdale. Everyone dressed for a Sunday Walk across the moors. The music underpinned this entire performance, the singing an endless declamatory style, that only loses grip for a few brilliant moments, but I really wasn’t gripped. When the singing happened and jam packed story was unfolding, there were plenty of plot points whizzing by, but it was the orchestra that kept my attention. I think if you’re a Thea Musgrave fan, this is a must-see, and the 96 year old composer was sitting in the stalls on opening night.