Cast

Synopsis

Here we have a slice of history looked at from a romantic angle rather than the political. A colourful pageant of Elizabethan dress, music and drama, the play depicts a train of events wherein Elizabeth and her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, live out their lives and death.
Paul Marks is Oldbury Rep’s resident playwright and he has clearly enjoyed researching the interwoven destinies of two Queens who, enemies to the end, never met each other.

Directors Notes

Fact and fiction are delightfully blended in Paul Marks’ new play ‘Elizabeth & Mary’.

Enough fact to make it ring true, and enough fiction to make it interesting and not just another history lesson. We know for a fact that Mary was offered Dudley by Elizabeth and turned him down, then subsequently married Darnley. We know for a fact that after Darnley’s mysterious death, she went through a form of marriage with Bothwell, after he had abducted her. We also know for a fact that Mary was imprisoned for approximately twenty years, almost all of them in various locations in England. What we don’t know are the
true motives and reasons behind this tragic train of events. Paul Marks’ theories are original and convincing. With Paul’s permission, here at Bingley we have incorporated live music into our production, in the form of minstrels. In Act Il we have used the minstrels to indicate a passing of time, during Mary’s sojourn in prison.

It has been a delight and privilege to direct a new, and as yet unpublished play, and I wish this talented young playwright every success in his future writing and publications.