MARY STUART

Friedrich Schiller

MARY STUART

A tragedy in 2 parts

Director – Inese Mičule

Set designer – Reinis Dzudzilo

Costume designer – Ilze Vītoliņa

Movement director – Liene Grava

Composer – Rihards Zaļupe

Lighting designer - Oskars Pauliņš

Cast: Ieva Estere Barkāne, Diāna Krista Stafecka, Rihards Jakovels, Januss Johansons, Ingus Kniploks, Mārtiņš Liepa, Krišjānis Strods, Kārlis Dzintars Zahovskis

Director Inese Mičule, while preserving Rainis’s translation, models the conflicts in Schiller’s play Mary Stuart in today’s time and society. “For me, it will be a production about power, gender, political responsibility, public image, and how random our place in the hierarchy of power actually is.” The director intends to turn the conflict between the Scottish queen Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I into a psychological, political duel between two women, rather than just a historical drama. One of the production’s main questions is whether it is possible to say which of the two queens is free? Will both women be able to see each other as human beings, not just as political functions?

In Friedrich Schiller’s tragedy Mary Stuart (1801), the historical basis of the conflict is the consolidation of power by England’s Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) in the second half of the 16th century, rallying supporters closely around her and taking aim at political rivals. The action of the tragedy begins at the moment when the trial has already taken place and Mary Stuart (1542-1587) has been sentenced to death. In Schiller’s play, the two rivals, and moreover relatives, are brought together. Historically, this never happened. Mary Stuart hoped that Elizabeth I would still set her free, but in 1587 she was executed by beheading.