Astonishing characters speak in griping poetic prose. I long to see the text brought to life on stage. ( )

Schiller started researching Mary, Queen of Scots back in the early 1780s, but got sidetracked into writing Don Carlos instead, and didn't pursue the subject any further until Goethe started leaning on him for a new play in 1799. It was completed and first performed in the Weimar theatre in June 1800, and published in 1801. An interesting — oddly modern — detail is that Schiller involved his English translator Mellish in the project from an early stage, so that the German and English versions came out simultaneously. There have been several other English translations since, including ones by Stephen Spender and Peter Oswald. For some reason, Verdi didn't take this one on; Donizetti's (1835) is the best-known opera adaptation of the play.

The play deals with the period immediately before Mary's execution at Fotheringhay Castle in February 1587, with the action alternating between Mary in Northamptonshire and Elizabeth in London. Schiller cheats a little bit on the geography in order to make it look as though he's respecting the ideals of Unity of Place and Unity of Time, treating Fotheringhay as though it's only a short ride from central London when in fact it's close to Peterborough, at least a day's journey for a fast messenger. No trains in those days, despite Mary's reference to "...vollen, durstigen Zügen" in III.ii, which might sound like a good description of the East Coast main line! In reality, the action of the play would have been spread over about three weeks, but it is made to seem like three days.

As elsewhere, Schiller is interested in the conflict between free will and historical (political) necessity — Mary is represented as the (mostly) innocent figurehead repeatedly adopted by Catholic conspirators as a focus for their plots against Elizabeth, whilst Elizabeth agonises about signing the death warrant. She doesn't want to have the blood of a woman and a fellow-queen on her hands, but eventually recognises after yet another failed assassination attempt that it just isn't safe to keep her alive any longer. Schiller distorts history slightly by also making the negotiations for Elizabeth's marriage with the Duke of Anjou overlap with the period of the play (in fact they ended in 1581) and allowing Elizabeth's reluctance to be married and the knowledge that Mary's execution would lead to a breach with France play a part in her decision.

As always in Schiller, there's a hot-headed young rebel, Mortimer. His desire for an armed Catholic rising against Elizabeth makes him try to frustrate Mary's attempts to achieve a peaceful solution. His plot inadvertently provides the trigger for Elizabeth to make up her mind and sign the death warrant. But the hothead isn't at the centre of the play this time: the best parts go to Mary, Elizabeth, and Mary's maid Kennedy, and the men are all more or less secondary characters. ( )

I seem to quite like classic German dramas. ( )

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