HAIL MARY
“Based on the letters of Mary Queen of Scots, Mary… is the testimony of Mary Stuart as she awaits martyrdom, accused of involvement in the most notorious plots of the time. On the eve of her execution, after nineteen years in captivity, she tells her passions and torments.”
At NYU Skirball, the great Isabelle Huppert is masterful in Robert Wilson’s Mary Said What She Said, a one-woman show written by frequent Wilson collaborator Darryl Pinckney. Working inside Mr. Wilson’s heavily stylized aesthetic, with its precisely choreographed movements and rapid speech, Ms. Huppert lends Mary a lovely humanity, making her accessible and sympathetic in spite of the “unreal” world she occupies before us.
As audience members find their seats, a TV hangs above the stage in a baroque frame, like a painting, in front of a magnificent red curtain, playing an old-looking black-and-white short film on a loop of a little white dog chasing its tail. Then the lights go off, Ludovico Einaudi’s music begins, and the curtain rises on a dark bare stage with Mary (Ms. Huppert), wearing a 16th-century-type dress by Jacques Reynaud, silhouetted against a bluish-white lighted backdrop that suggests perhaps a misty dawn on the morning of Mary’s execution? Or maybe it’s a reflection of May’s emotional-spiritual state? To try and encapsulate Mr. Wilson’s inventions in some sort of literal framework feels like a disservice to both his work and one’s own experience of it. His theatrical creations transcend theater and fall into the realm of poetry, and as such come with their own, often opaque, theatrical language. Unlike most dramatic shows, whose chief concern is creating a direct emotional connection between the audience and one or more of the characters, Mr. Wilson’s creations are more like balls of energy that simply are.
That said, Mr. Einaudi’s at-times overly-dramatic score, which sounds like a hybrid of classical music and something by Phillip Glass, doesn’t quite work. Also, unfortunately for me and my companion, the entire show is in French, with English supertitles above and on either side of the Skirball Center stage. But the text is so far from the action that one has to make a choice, either read or watch; it’s almost impossible to do both. In addition, Mary speaks very quickly, so even if one is focused on reading exclusively it’s difficult to keep up.
The show—the second monologue and third play directed by Wilson starring Huppert, following Orlando (1993) and Quartet (2006)—takes some effort to watch. Its theatrical language is unique and therefore unfamiliar. But it is full of deep, rich beauty. It might have imperfections but it’s a work of art and as such should not be missed.
photos by Lucie Jansch
Mary Said What She Said
a production of Théâtre de la Ville-Pariss
supported by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
concept, set, lights and direction by Robert Wilson
NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square
performed in French with English surtitles by Fabrice Scott
90 minutes, no intermission
ends on March 2, 2025
for tickets ($125-$200), call 212.998.4941 or visit NYU Skirball
