{"id":641972,"date":"2025-12-19T09:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641972\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T09:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:41:12","slug":"oh-mary-trafalgar-theatre-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641972\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh, Mary! \u2013 Trafalgar Theatre, London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writer: Cole Escola<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: Sam Pinkleton<\/strong><\/p>\n

With so many restrictions on what the press can divulge, it\u2019s perhaps best to start off with some superlatives. Oh Mary!, transferring from Broadway, is the funniest and most surprising show in the West End this Christmas. Unashamedly American \u2013 it\u2019s occasionally as unsubtle as a SNL sketch \u2013 Cole Escola\u2019s take on Mary Lincoln, wife of the assassinated president Abraham, is a hoot.<\/p>\n

Leading proceedings in the titular role is Mason Alexander Park, who spends another Christmas in London, but surely a better one than last year, when they played Ariel alongside Sigourney Weaver as Prospero in Jamie Lloyd\u2019s turgid version of The Tempest. As Ariel, Park seemed to spend most of the time suspended in mid-air above the stage at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Here, at the sumptuous Trafalgar Theatre, Park can really let loose and show off their comedy talents.<\/p>\n

Addled with drink, Park\u2019s Mary Lincoln appears already in mourning, wearing an impressive black frock, the skirt of which spins in the air like that of the best pantomime dame. She drinks because she wants to be something other than a president\u2019s wife. She hides whiskey in the presidential office, adeptly and wobblily designed by dots in true sitcom style.<\/p>\n

British actor Giles Terera plays Mary\u2019s Husband, and it\u2019s great to see him do comedy rather than Shakespeare. Sporting a wig and beard, Terera leans into the rumours that have circled around his character in recent years, and he receives the loudest laughs when he\u2019s praying to God; except that he isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

As Mary\u2019s Teacher, Dino Fetscher, wearing tight breeches, appears to have walked in from Little Women, and he\u2019s the perfect foil to Mary\u2019s ambitions. Bursting with period drama charm, it\u2019s not unexpected that Mary will fall for him. Kate O\u2019Donnell gives a spirited performance as Mary\u2019s Chaperone \u2013 she also wears a swirling dress created by Holly Pierson \u2013 and Oliver Stockley is hilarious as dim-witted Mary\u2019s Husband\u2019s Assistant.<\/p>\n

There might be a few people in the audience who think it\u2019s still too soon to make a mockery of events that occurred in 1865, but even they will be won over by the cast\u2019s determined, zany antics, all finely and tightly directed by Sam Pinkleton. In the end, however, this is Mason Alexander Park\u2019s show, and they mine every laugh, every joke, to its deepest. They even channel a bit of Kiki (from Kiki and Herb), Justin Bond\u2019s alter ego, giving a history to Mary every bit as tragic as Kiki\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Outrageous and iconoclastic, Oh Mary! is queer, delicious fun. If this is how Americans do panto, then the likes of Aladdin and Snow White have some serious competition.<\/p>\n

Runs until 25 April 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

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