“Munro gives the actors plenty to chew on, and with actors like Henshall, Morison and Vernel, it’s a pleasure to watch and listen”
Mary is another play in the series of dramas about Scottish history by Rona Munro. They focus on the Stuart dynasty of the kings of Scotland, and begin with James I. These earlier plays, known collectively as The James Plays, were seen both on tour in Scotland, and at the English National Theatre in 2014, to well deserved acclaim. They provide the backstory for Mary, the current play in the series, but all the plays are meant to seen as stand alone dramas as well. This production of Mary, directed by Roxana Silbert, has a strong cast in Douglas Henshall as the Catholic Sir James Melville, Rona Morison as Agnes, a fiercely Knoxian brand of Protestant, and Brian Vernel as a politically naive guard named Thompson. Mary Stuart herself makes a couple of brief, but memorable appearances (a poised debut by newcomer Meg Watson). The austere lines of the set and costume designs (Ashley Martin-Davis), and the vivid lighting (Matt Haskins) are an appropriate contrast to the catastrophic events that lie at the heart of the reimagined events of Rona Munro’s play.
Mary is of course, about Mary, Queen of Scots, that well known, tragic figure of any number of romantic novels and movies about the Scottish queen and her rival, Elizabeth I of England. Munro’s version of Mary’s story doesn’t focus on the rivalry between queens, as Schiller’s does. In Munro’s hands, Mary Stuart’s story is altogether a much grittier, and more violent drama. It’s about the tragedy of a woman caught up in a vicious power struggle between warring factions at the Scottish court. The battle is literally fought on Mary’s body. Interestingly, Munro chooses to tell this story not through Mary’s voice, but through the voices of some minor characters at her court.
Munro’s drama opens the way it means to go on — on a scene of violence. A man lies on stage, bloody from a stab wound. Melville, the Queen’s devoted supporter, is trying to get him and his blood, out of the way before Mary sees him. Because “she’s been frightened enough already.” But Thompson wants the Queen to see what “he” has done to him. Melville calls in a servant, Agnes, to clean him up. It turns out that “he” is James Bothwell, suspected assassin of the Queen’s husband, Henry Darnley. Bothwell is in the middle of a rampage. Over the course of a few months, he will leave no one in Scotland untouched by his rapaciousness for blood and power. One of Bothwell’s most potent weapons is sexual assault. And as Mary proceeds, Melville is forced to confront his complicity in standing by while Bothwell rapes his Queen. He is also forced to make an impossible choice between his loyalty to Mary, and his loyalty to his country. In these tumultuous times, there is no distinction between the “body politic” and the Queen’s actual body. In seizing the Queen, Bothwell has seized power. It doesn’t seem to matter whether people believe Mary was raped or was a willing partner with Bothwell. Everything comes crashing down.
As a play, Mary works its magic with a mix of punchy and oddly modern dialogue, and genuinely heartfelt moments between the well-defined characters. Munro gives the actors plenty to chew on, and with actors like Henshall, Morison and Vernel, it’s a pleasure to watch and listen. The distinctive rhythms of the Scottish dialect heighten the emotions as these three struggle for power. But for all the drama of Melville’s anguished conscience, Mary ends on a cliffhanger. It feels like part of a series, and not a true standalone drama. Mary is really the Sir James Melville story. Maybe Munro will find time to write another play about Mary, Queen of Scots.
Mary may feel like a bit of an anomaly in The James Plays saga, but it fills in some essential details. If you’re a fan of the series, then you’ll want to see this play. So don’t miss Mary at the Hampstead, and start looking ahead to the next play in Rona Munro’s exceptional series about Scottish history, told from a Scottish perspective.
CONTEMPORARY DANCE 2.0 at the Battersea Arts Centre
★★★★★
“The effect is paradoxically dreamlike, but shot through with the energy of the battlefield”
Contemporary Dance 2.0 is a breathtaking reminder of the energy and innovation that choreographer Hofesh Shechter brings to the dance. Fans of earlier productions such as Political Mother will delight in the pounding rhythms and signature movements that the Shechter II Company brings to this latest work currently on tour at the Battersea Arts Centre. Contemporary Dance 2.0 is of our time, yet draws on a paradoxical, often ironic, combination of modern dance, ballet, and traditional folk dance. On the music side, in addition to Shechter’s own compositions, there are deliberately incongruous nods to Bach and Frank Sinatra along the way.
Shechter hails from Israel, where he trained as a musician, before finding an additional calling as a dancer and choreographer. His training in dance, especially in folk dance; his years as a musician, and his commitment to dance as both a political and community based act, show up constantly in his work. Based in the UK since 2002, he has worked with a number of companies before forming his own. The Shechter II Company that performs Contemporary Dance 2.0 is drawn from young dancers aged between 18 and 25. Shechter has worked very successfully with these comparatively inexperienced artists to produce dancers capable of moving in disciplined unity with the high powered energy that his choreography demands. The company has also emerged as a group of dancers more than capable of putting their own stamp on individual breakout moments throughout the performance.
Contemporary Dance 2.0 begins with a characteristically heavy beat as the dancers come on stage. A handwritten card announces Part One: Pop. Each dancer works in tight coordination with the others, but thanks to the costuming by Osnat Kelner, each dancer has an individual, as well as a collective identity. The movements are a complex mix of pulsing, undulating bodies and fluttering of hands, juxtaposed with moments of explosive athleticism. It’s a seamless coordination with the music. The lighting (Tom Visser) and the stage effects often shift between a semi dark smokiness where you can barely see the dancers, to moments of bright illumination scattering across their bodies. Again, echoing the beat. Dancers Tristan Carter, Cristel de Frankrijker, Justine Gouache, Zakarius Harry, Alex Haskins, Oscar Jinghu Li, Keanah Faith Simin and Chanel Vyent dance, often in wedge formations, to a moment where a dancer is forced into an individual statement, a breaking away from the pack. Bodies are rolled across the stage. Even thrown against a potential partner, only to be rejected, and fall away. And just when you are accustomed to the incessant beat, there is an abrupt shift in music, mood, sound and lighting. Traditional forms assert themselves against the pounding modernity. The stage fills with an austere serenity. Bach. Ballet moves. A deliberate parody of the past. Parts Two (with feelings), Part Three (Mother) and Part Four (Contemporary Dance) even parody Shechter’s own artistic past as well as the history of dance. But there’s no linear storytelling at work here. The overall effect of Contemporary Dance 2.0 is not so much a coherent narrative, as an invitation to a trance like state that pulls dancers and audiences alike into an awareness of heightened realities. The effect is paradoxically dreamlike, but shot through with the energy of the battlefield. Finally, there’s another abrupt shift as the dancers announce The End — again on a rough piece of card held up on stage. It’s the last ironic touch as the dancers swing into the sound of Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.”
If you don’t get a chance to see the Hofesh Shechter Company live, there are films and videos you can watch online to get a sense of this remarkable work. But do try and see them live if you can. An opportunity to watch the audience succumb to the same hypnotic rhythms as the dancers — to get caught up in those rhythms yourself —should not be missed. Catch Contemporary Dance 2.0 at the Battersea Arts Centre if you can.
Reviewed 26th October 2022
by Dominica Plummer
Photography by Todd MacDonald
Contemporary Dance will be playing at Dance XChange Birmingham on 24-25 November which is the last UK date of its international tour.
