MEDIATHEK

Mary’s Hand is a new music theatre project about the life and reign of Queen Mary I. The show runs without an interval and is intended for churches and other historic spaces, adapting site-specifically to each venue.
 
 Touching on themes of women and power, who writes history and for whom, and how past events may still resonate today, Mary speaks directly to us, inviting us to participate in the telling of her story.
 
 Mary introduces herself as a creature of history. She imagines the audience must condemn her as ‘Bloody Mary’ or at best consider her a loser compared to her brilliant half -sister Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I). She invites us to hear her out and judge for ourselves.
 
 The key players in her life are represented by the ‘Royals’ in a pack of cards. She invites an audience member to choose a card so the show may begin. That choice and subsequent choices determine the order in which she will tell her story - it’s our call. As the cards are played they are placed on a screen. At the end of the show Mary reflects ironically on the nature of Fate and our powerlessness to control what is said about us once we are history.