Modernized political drama takes the stage in ‘Mary Stuart’

Being pressured to kill someone is unthinkable. Being pressured to kill family, even more so.

This is the quandary Queen Elizabeth I faces in Friedrich Schiller’s drama “Mary Stuart,” Theatreworks’ last production of the season.

It begins with Claire Warden as the title character, Mary Queen of Scots. Her cousin Elizabeth holds her captive as a prisoner of England.

Although Mary realizes the gravity of her situation, she still possesses the headstrong nature of a queen, which Warden captures with undaunted intensity.

With Mary in her clutches, Elizabeth, played by Jane Fromme, must decide whether or not she should adopt England’s popular opinion and execute her cousin.

Warden and Fromme succeed at making their individual characters complex and exciting to watch, but they are at their best when they finally meet.

Their conversation degenerates into an argument. Warden spreads out her arms, inviting her to attack, and Fromme looks disgusted enough to march over and oblige the request.

Director Murray Ross uses a new version of “Mary Stuart” by Peter Oswald that gives Schiller’s play, originally written in 1800, a contemporary feel.

Mary and Elizabeth wear beautiful, elaborate gowns, while the men wear suits, as if prepared to conduct business – and shady business at that.

Many of the men are political schemers, including John FitzGibbon’s Lord Burleigh, whose blunt antics and mannerisms add just the right amount of dark humor to an otherwise stark story.

While “Mary Stuart” has plenty of dialogue, there’s little action. The stage has a wide floor, pillars and the occasional piece of furniture, but that’s it.

None of the actors appear uncomfortable with so few props and how often they move about the stage, confidence that certainly speaks to the cast’s talent.

The setup still feels too plain for a show that’s almost three hours long, though. The mind starts to wander when in the midst of too many monologues.

Even the mildest case of apathy can prevent learning what’s happening and who’s who, both of which are especially important to pick up on in this production.

The first act feels too long, but once it’s over and the drama thickens, “Mary Stuart” doesn’t have to try as hard to cater to short attention spans.

Elizabeth’s ironic sense of powerlessness, even as a queen, invites sympathy. She is conflicted between following her conscience and the advice of her advisors up until the moment she has Mary’s death warrant in her hands.

Schiller’s play is historically inaccurate in multiple ways, the most glaring one being that Mary and Elizabeth never met.

Mary also did not murder her second husband like she claims in the play, and, contrary to her protests otherwise, she was involved in an assassination plot against Elizabeth.

Regardless, both Mary and Elizabeth display their share of flaws. They leave the audience to wonder which woman – if any – was justified in her struggle for power.