Feminist Nationalism in Scotland: Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off

Feminist Nationalism in Scotland: Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off ILONA S. KOREN-DEUTSCH The folk memory surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots is so powerful in Scotland that probably everyone there knows the story in some form. For that reason, when Gerry Mulgrew, the artistic director of the Edinburgh-based Communicado Theatre Company, contacted Scottish playwright Liz Lochhead about writing a new play, she suggested one to commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary, in 1987, of Mary's execution. Mulgrew liked Lochhead's idea for a play about Mary Stuart because it suited both Communicado's Scottish orientation and Brechtian techniques. Lochhead herself was drawn to the project for two main reasons: she finds it easy to care about characters from history in general and both Mary and Elizabeth I of England are the sort of "larger than life" women characters that she finds particularly appealing.' Her version of the Mary Stuart story, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, premiered at the 1987 Edinburgh Festival, where it won an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First.' Liz Lochhead was born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire and brought up in a strict Scottish Presbyterian home. After studying at the Glasgow Art College, she worked as an art teacher for eight years. In 1978 she became the first holder of the Scottish-Canadian writers exchange fellowship for her poetry. At that time, she switched to full-time writing and earned a reputation as a performer as well as a poet. She enjoys performing her poetry because it establishes a dialogue between herself and the audience. It is not surprising, therefore, that she soon turned to playwriting. Her plays demonstrate a fascination with history, and a concern for feminist issues. Her first full-length play, Blood alld Ice, uses Mary Shelley's life and art to question the validity of liberal ideas about "free love" in the face of the imperative of childbearing . Her other full-length plays include an adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Same Differellce, and The Big Picture. Often Lochhead's work is consciously Scottish, as seen in her translation into Scots and adaptation of Modern Drama, 35 (1992) 424 Feminist NatiDnalism in SCDtland MDliere's Tartuffe, in Mary Queell ofScots Got Her Head Chopped Off, and mDst recently in Jock Tamson's Bairns, which was produced by the CDmmunicadD Theatre CDmpany at the 1990. Edinburgh Festival. The CDmmunicadD Theatre CDmpany was fDrmed in SCDtland by Gerry Mulgrew, AlisDn Peebles and RDb Pickavance in early 1983 as a small actDrS' cDmpany. Mulgrew writes, "In CDmmDn with Dther actDrs' cDmpanies befDre and since it was begun Dut Df a feeling Df frustratiDn. We were frustrated as actDrs with the kind Df mediocre material we were being asked to. interpret and by the mYDpic, IDW standards Df the leadership we were under.'" When dDing new plays, the cDmpany wDrks directly with the playwright to. create a productiDn that will be cDherent bDth vDcally and visually. In fact, LDchhead cDmmented that many Df her best ideas for Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off came from talking to. Mulgrew after the rehearsal process had already begun' CommunicadD's productiDns are nDted fDr their strDng physical and visual statements. ChDreography and stage imagery are both essential to their productions. The company also. utilizes music both as song and as backgrDund for movement. CDmmunicadD thus derive many of their methods from Brecht's epic theatre. Most importantly, CDmmunicado aims to be a distinctly SCDttish voice in theatre, Dne that breaks away from the history Df English theatrical domination Df Scotland. SCDtland's historic ties to Europe rather than to. England can be seen in Communicado's approach to seeking theatrical ideas and influences . The company specializes in prDducing new SCDttish plays and Scottish adaptatiDns of classic continental European drama. "Our approach is to be Scottish by not being SCDttish," explains Mulgrew, "tackling European subjects with SCDttish voices and in so doing differentiating ourselves frDm English theatre."5 They also. make a pDint Df hiring Scottish actors and designers. Brechtian technique has suited itself particularly well to histDry plays such as Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. BDth playwrights and...