Hail the Five Marys
To be honest, I didn’t check what Tracy Letts’ play Mary Page Marlowe was about, I just said ‘Yes’ because Susan Sarandon was making her London stage debut and I know that Ms Sarandon will only be part of work that is worthy, writes Michael Holland.
Perhaps I should have checked because it took some time to realise that this in the round production, with Matthew Warchus at the helm, tells the story of Mary in disjointed, out of time snatches of her life, as if half the jigsaw puzzle of her existence has been lost and the remainder scattered across the floor to be picked up and assembled as best it can.
Five actors play Mary to cover the various years of her life. We begin with a Mary telling her young children that she is getting a divorce. They do not want to move from Ohio to Kentucky with her but are told their father does not want them with him.
Cut to a teenage Mary telling her friends that she doesn’t want marriage but wants to travel the world, while her friend learning how to read Tarot cards informs her that she has a good life ahead of her.
Jump to an older Mary ruing her many marriages but joyful at getting a release date from prison, instantly dropping back to baby Mary in a pram crying while her parents shout it out around her.
And so on, to scenes where Mary is on a drip and close to death, happily wed to husband two or three; struggling with a drink problem, anxious about her son’s drug habit…Each short scene tells us something about Mary but leaves us questions that do not get answered.
But that is how we experience life. We never see and hear every part of someone – even our very nearest and dearest. We see fragments, some of the ups and downs, some of the problems but not the reasons, the solutions but not the struggles to solve. We never really know why our friends make the choices they do. That is Mary Page Marlowe’s life. It is a life just like those around us. We can guess at why she has affairs,, why she drinks and how she gets sober, but that is all we can do here. The rest is about enjoying some wonderful theatre.
The genius of Letts play is that each scene is beautifully directed. Actors who have just minutes of stage time are given the opportunity to be the lead for that short time of limelight and make each of those scenes – that make up just some of Mary’s life – the very best. It is a beautiful thing to watch.
Of course, the five Marys are exceptional, and everyone else’s cameos make the play worth seeing, but it was Clare Hughes as the truculent daughter Wendy who caught my eye, evolving from angry teenager to weary young woman as she has to deal with the problems created by the adults who are supposed to care for her.
Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 until November 1st.
Booking and full details: https://www.oldvictheatre.com/stage/mary-page-marlowe/
