We take a look at what is being said about Tracy Letts’ play, running at the theatre until the 1st November.
The Guardian: *** “It is beautifully directed by Matthew Warchus, who elicits magnificent performances from the ensemble. Sarandon performs with ease, assurance and total ownership of her character; Riseborough, in scraped back ponytail, is astonishing as a woman whose life has hurtled off-course. Rosy McEwen, as an unfaithful wife who feels like an actor in her own life, is a scintillating, dangerous force on stage. The two youngest Marys – the 12-year-old trying to impress her heavy-drinking mother, played by Alisha Weir, and Eleanor Worthington-Cox’s hopeful high-school pupil – are also a pleasure to watch, as is the entire cast.”
Theatre Weekly: **** “While the staging issues detract slightly from the overall experience, this production remains a moving and thoughtful meditation on identity and memory. It reminds us that every life, no matter how unremarkable it may seem, contains richness.”
All That Dazzles: **** “Mary Page Marlowe is an incredible piece of theatre, overall. A fantastic exploration into one woman – its simplicity is a big part of its success, with its ability to resist the urge to fantasise or make this character unrelatable, admirable to see. Instead, we have one woman, laid out bare in front of us, with five different performers bringing differing qualities to her, while all being recognisably the same person.”
London Unattached: **** “Mary Page Marlowe poignantly depicts the wounds that families can inflict and how self-destructive choices can affect those who love them as much as themselves.”
WhatsOnStage: **** “Riseborough is an actor who always seems to be missing a skin; she brings all that raw intensity and eyes full of emotion to the scenes where Mary battles with divorce and despair; McEwen captures both the underlying instability and the bold determination to reject male expectations that drives Mary to both therapy and casual, pointless affairs. In their single scenes, both Worthington-Cox and Weir seize their moment with coruscating honesty and openness. Apart from Quarshie, all the men are ciphers, but Eden Epstein is compelling as Mary’s mother Roberta.”
Time Out: *** “Mary Page Marlowe is clearly an awful lot of hard work to stage (shout out to stage manager Robin Longley and team, who keeps the transitions crisp). I’m not entirely convinced it pays off. If you’re not going to go the whole hog and have Mary Page played by a different actor in every scene, why bother with quite so many as this? If not the full 11 then one younger and one older would surely make it more coherent – and give the performers more to do – than the current uneven distribution. It’s a smart piece of writing that’s given us some fine performances – particularly from Riseborough – but its fussy theatricality ultimately gets in the way.”
The Spy in the Stalls: **** “Sarandon has as little stage time as the others, and she uses it as efficiently. Poised and in complete control, Sarandon evokes regret and sadness with a stoicism that matches her presence.”
Theatre & Tonic: **** “But can a life be summed up in eleven scenes? Are these snapshots Mary Page’s memory or the memories of the other people in her life – husbands, lovers, children, therapists? It’s a complex tapestry and there is still a sense, even as the play reaches its conclusion, that we still don’t know who Mary Page Marlowe really is. That ambiguity is perhaps a little frustrating, but it is a rather fitting ending to a story based on subjective memories. The story is no less compelling for this ambiguity as the writing, direction and performances draw you in right from the start, and as the layers peel away to reveal more and more about our protagonist, our empathy and understanding grows with each revelation.”
The Stage.co.uk: **** “Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough star in an anatomy of one woman’s life.”
London Theatre 1: **** “Who we are and who we become is not a linear process. Mary Page Marlowe’s time-jumping episodes make sense of the juxtapositions – indeed contradictions – that a life, with or without regrets, and its memories and crossroads, will have and provide an outstanding vehicle for some truly leading ladies of the theatre.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.oldvictheatre.com/stage/mary-page-marlowe/