Mary Page Marlowe at The Old Vic — Susan Sarandon shines in a quietly extraordinary portrait of an ordinary life...
OUR VERDICT
The Old Vic
There’s always great excitement when a Hollywood star chooses to tread the boards in London. This time, it’s the turn of Academy Award winner and Thelma & Louise icon Susan Sarandon, who takes to the stage as Mary Page Marlowe at The Old Vic.
She is not the only one playing the lead, however. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts, Mary Page Marlowe is a vivid, time-jumping mosaic of one woman’s life, in which five different actors portray the complicated character at various moments over a period of seventy years.
Across 90 minutes, 11 scenes unfold in The Old Vic’s immersive new in-the-round configuration, making the experience feel all the more intimate.
It opens with Mary announcing her divorce to her children, before we hop, in unchronological order, from era to era, moment to moment. Much like the play itself, the scenes have no obvious beginning or end — so, like a blurred picture coming into focus, the audience must piece things together to understand what has been, and what is yet to come.
The Old Vic
The scenes depict mostly seemingly mundane moments, but each offers a clue to understanding Marlowe’s life, and each one leaves you guessing, and wanting to know more.
It is beautifully directed by Matthew Warchus, and thanks to Letts’ rich and cleverly nuanced script, we quickly get a clear image of who Mary Page Marlowe is.
In one scene, Mary is nineteen and having her tarot cards read at a sleepover with friends (played by Daniella Arthur-Kennedy and a very funny Kingsley Morton). With all the enthusiasm of youth, she speaks passionately of her hopes to travel and never marry.
Later, in a particularly captivating scene — thanks to a superb Lauren Ward as Mary’s ‘shrink’ and Rosy McEwen, who gives an extraordinary performance as the 27- and 36-year-old Mary — we meet her in a therapy session.
She is dissecting the reasons for her multiple extramarital affairs and explains how she feels “unexceptional.”
“Life happened to me,” she says. “I am acting out a part.”
We later hop to one of these affairs, and when her lover (deftly played by Ronan Raftery) asks what she would say if he wanted to get to know her better, Marlowe (again the brilliant McEwen) responds: “I’d say you’ll be disappointed.”
The Old Vic
As is often the way in life, we must go back to understand — and Letts takes us there too: as far back as Mary as a baby, followed by her childhood, rife with emotional cruelty, dysfunctional parents and alcoholism, all of which go on to become themes in her adult life.
The scenes whizz by at a fairly good pace, though there are a few lulls along the way. Nothing truly remarkable happens — a terrible tragedy is hinted at, a crime is committed — but there is a gentle, human beauty in the mundanity of it all. It’s refreshing to see a piece in which the protagonist is simply a “normal” person, though it does at times teeter on dull.
All five Marlowes (Alisha Weir, Rosy McEwen, Eleanor Worthington-Cox, Andrea Riseborough, and Susan Sarandon) are magnificent and perfectly cast as one woman. Sarandon does not disappoint — she is transfixing, grounded, and confident.
The same can be said for the astonishing Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie, Matilda the Musical) — wilder and more raw — and the pair make a particularly good match. Their similarities stretch as far as their shared mannerisms and almost identical accents.
Hugh Quarshie and Paul Thornley both give memorable performances in their very different scenes as two of Mary’s four husbands; Clare Hughes is captivating as Marlowe’s daughter, Wendy; and Alisha Weir’s scene as Mary at just 12 years old is utterly heartbreaking. The entire ensemble is hugely skilful and a pleasure to watch.
The Old Vic
When we meet Marlowe at her oldest, Susan Sarandon (transformed by terrific hair and make-up) is at her most captivating. Seated in a wheelchair and dressed in a hospital gown, she firmly informs her nurse (a wonderful Melanie La Barrie) that she is dying.
As she reflects on her life, Marlowe recalls her fondness for her work as an accountant — the quiet thrill of gathering receipts for dinners, flowers, and trips, and assembling them into a coherent portrait of a life. It’s an ordinary yet resonant image, and one that mirrors the audience’s own experience of watching Letts’ masterfully constructed play: piecing together fragments to form something whole, moving, and true.
This is a quietly powerful and beautifully acted reflection on a woman’s life in all its flaws and ordinariness. Mary Page Marlowe doesn’t aim to dazzle with plot twists or spectacle — instead, it finds its strength in emotional truth.
Sarandon’s stage presence alone is worth the ticket, but it’s the ensemble as a whole that gives this patchwork puzzle its pulse.
Until Nov 1, tickets from £15 oldvictheatre.com
