13th Madách International Theatre Meeting

Exciting, extraordinary, seductive – this is how one could describe the meeting between British playwright Robert Icke and director Andrei Șerban on the stage of Bucharest's National Theater. "Mary Stuart" tells the story of two women who dominate the history of their times: the exiled Queen of Scotland and Elizabeth I, Queen of England. The former imprisoned for the mistake of threatening her cousin's crown, the latter a prisoner of her status as monarch. The one, sensual and passionate, the other, circumspect and desolate. Yet so alike. Two poles of strength, ambition and hubris. Coagulated around the concept of duality, the action of this historical thriller seems drawn from the reality of our present: manipulation, backroom games for political and religious supremacy have written history.  

A bold reworking of Schiller’s classic play by Robert Icke, this production of Mary Stuart, directed by acclaimed theatre master Andrei Șerban, places two powerful women at the centre of a brutal political and emotional struggle. With a coin toss before each show determining which actress plays Mary and which plays Elizabeth, the performance explores the fragility of fate and the human cost of power.