Mary Stuart

Two formidable queens face off for the first and last time in David Harrower's new version of Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart, and while it's no surprise who comes out on top, knowing the outcome doesn't make picking sides any easier.

In the blue corner we have Mary Stuart (Catherine Cusack), the Queen of Scotland who aspires to be heir to the English throne, too. Imprisoned in England, she is forced to take whatever chances she can to improve her position.

In the red corner is Elizabeth I (Siobhan Redmond), Queen of England and cousin of Mary, who fears that her Scottish counterpart is plotting to have her assassinated.

Harrower has said that his aim was to create a more balanced account of the power struggle between Mary and Elizabeth than that offered by the German Schiller, who favoured and idealised Mary. Here, the two women are certainly evenly matched, and equally wronged by the duplicitous men who seek to control them.

The first few scenes with Mary, her servant Jane and prison guard Paulet prepare us for a hard-going evening of long, static speeches, but energy and intrigue are quickly introduced with the arrival of Mortimer (Robin Laing), a Catholic mole who announces his intention to help Mary escape.

From then on the question of who, if anyone, can be trusted makes for a neatly plotted political thriller as well as an unflinching exploration of each queen's unenviable position. The impetuous young Mary seals her fate by refusing to acknowledge her cousin's status, while Elizabeth stifles tears and is stalked around her court by her male advisors.

Cusack and Redmond give a pair of convincing, understated performances, building up to an electric confrontation. Vicky Featherstone's production, in which the women wear traditional costume but the men are in modern dress, blends naturalism with melodrama. Robin Laing's obsessive Mortimer is a darkly sinister creation reminiscent of a celebrity stalker, while Phil McKee's Leicester is a silver-tongued social climber capable of spinning any situation in his favour.

Not merely a dry history lesson, then - not at all, in fact, since in real life the two queens never met - but an entertaining thriller about the troubled lives of two extraordinary women.