Scottish Storytelling Centre presents
Mary and John Knox
Tuesday 10 – Saturday 4 September
Mary, Queen of Scots: The Last Letter (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun)
John Knox: Turn Again (Tue, Thur & Sat)
5pm (50mins)
Suitable for ages 14+
Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street
Box Office: 0131 556 9579
Email: [email protected]
Tickets: £8/£6
Venue 30
Exploring Scottish history from a personal perspective
- Two one-handed shows portraying astringent enemies
- Features award-winning actors
- History brought to life through theatre
Mary, Queen of Scots: The Last Letter and John Knox: Turn Again explore the end of the lives of two of Scotland’s greatest historical figures. Both aware that their time is drawing to a close they look back on their lives with emotion, anger and uncertainty.
Mary, portrayed by Anna Hepburn who also penned the script, is on her last lap and contemplating her time with emotion and passion. Based on the real Last Letter that Mary, Queen of Scots wrote, we discover a lady who was not only Queen but a great writer loaded with spirit and imagination. Mary, Queen of Scots completed her last letter at 2am on Wednesday 8 February 1587. Six hours later she was to mount the scaffold at FotheringhayCastle in Northamptonshire for her execution.
This reflective meditation explores how everything went wrong for Mary and Hepburn’s moving portrayal takes the Queen of Scots out of the history books and onto the stage as she appeals to us, the future generations that still know of and admire her achievements, to hear her pleas and vindicate her.
John Shedden portrays the final testament of John Knox as he explains his actions and confides his influences. In a time of civil war in Edinburgh, Knox is conflicted between his official version of events and personal emotions of guilt, fear and fury that keep breaking through the surface as Shedden describes, “The piece tackles Knox from afresh as we explore the man at an older age recording his achievements. He was a humanitarian who cared for many things, specifically education, and his fiery character is seen along with the gentler side to Knox which is not often revealed, along with shafts of ironic humour”.
Unaware of whether his cause has been victorious or ineffectual, we witness Knox looking through history and pondering life lived, which leads him down a road of spiritual passion, mocking satire, humorous invective and some violently bloodthirsty inclinations.
Donald Smith, who wrote the piece explains, “Knox is revealed as complex and passionate but also as a great writer and storyteller – a master of language. The English got Shakespeare while the Scots got revolution, religion, and war and John Knox. It’s compulsive, unmissable and at some points unbearable.”
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