In 2019, to celebrate its 50th-anniversary season, Scottish Ballet commissioned five new works. The fifth and final of these, Mary, Queen of Scots, is choreographed by the company’s resident choreographer Linda Laplante with an original score by Mikael Karlsson and Michael P. Atkinson. The result is a work of striking theatrical imagination and choreographic ambition. The ballet unfolds in the winter of Elizabeth I’s life. The ageing queen looks back on her turbulent relationship with her cousin Mary and the chain of events that ultimately led to Mary’s execution at Elizabeth’s command. Memory merges with imagination throughout the narrative. While the broad sweep of history remains intact, the work allows itself moments of poetic licence that deepen its emotional resonance. We first encounter Mary at the French court where she marries Francis II. His death leaves her estranged from her formidable mother-in-law Catherine and forces her return to Scotland. She is accompanied by the musician Rizzio, portrayed with compelling presence by Bruno Micchiardi. In this dramatic reimagining, Lord Darnley, danced by Evan Loudon, is dispatched by Elizabeth to Scotland to win Mary’s favour. His arrival sets in motion a complex web of attraction and intrigue that also draws in Rizzio. Their male pas de deux that follows becomes one of the evening’s most electrifying moments. The dancers’ strength, musicality and fearless partnering create choreography that is both athletic and emotionally charged. This intensity is echoed in a more lyrical pas de deux by the spirits of Mary (Anna Williams) and Elizabeth (Grace Horler), danced with exquisite control and quiet poignancy. As the older Elizabeth, Charlotta Öfverholm gives a mesmerising performance conveying both regal authority and deep private regret, while Roseanna Leney’s Mary is radiant yet tragically vulnerable, capturing the queen’s youth, charisma and fatal impulsiveness. Thomas Edwards brings formidable presence to the role of Walsingham, Elizabeth’s spymaster, combining crisp technique with dramatic weight, and Harvey Littlefield, as the young Elizabeth, projects command and intelligence while revealing flashes of doubt beneath the crown. The queen who famously claimed to have the heart and stomach of a king is here both formidable and human. Visually the production is richly atmospheric. Shadow projections evoke a spider spinning its intricate web, an apt metaphor for the dangerous world of the Tudor court. The playful use of wigs, disguises and shifting identities cleverly reinforces the ballet’s themes of appearance and deception, power and illusion. Mary, Queen of Scots is a bold and imaginative addition to Scottish Ballet’s repertoire. Laplante’s choreography balances narrative clarity with striking theatrical invention, while the score by Karlsson and Atkinson provides a powerful emotional landscape. Combined with committed performances across the company, the result is a gripping piece of dance theatre that breathes new life into a familiar historical tragedy.
Rated: ★★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Andy Ross
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