Mary's Hand - music theatre work about the life and reign of Queen Mary I

Mary's Hand is a new music theatre work about the life and reign of Queen Mary I.

It's a little-known fact that Mary loved games of chance, such as dice and cards. In Mary's Hand, the Queen shares a game of cards with the audience who get to choose the next card to be turned. Their choices prompt Mary's reflection upon the influences and events in her life: her father Henry VIII, her mother Katherine of Aragon, her Catholic faith, as well as the perceived causes of her troubles; her half-brother Edward VI, half-sister Elizabeth I, the ever-stronger Protestant faith, and her desperate desire for a child. Above all, Mary was driven by the wish to be a good monarch and her deep conviction that she needed to restore England to the Church of Rome. Her marriage to the Catholic Philip of Spain promised to resolve many of these issues at a stroke, but Mary had played her cards badly and paid a high public and personal price.

With words by Di Sherlock and music by Martin Bussey, Mary’s Hand is performed by solo mezzo-soprano Clare McCaldin and is scored for cello, trumpet and oboe doubling cor anglais. This performance of Mary’s Hand is part of the 2018 Tête à Tête Opera Festival.