The story of Mary Stuart, also known as Mary, Queen of Scots, is an integral part of Scotland’s history and culture. It is also a dynamic tale of powerful women, diplomacy, and the toll of leadership.
The Scottish Ballet brings its version to Spoleto USA this year for its North American debut, with performances May 28-30 at the Charleston Gaillard Center.
“It is a Scottish story and it really shapes our nation and it shapes how the United Kingdom came to be the United Kingdom. So it’s a very important historical story,” said Christopher Hampson, CEO and artistic director of the Scottish Ballet. “But one that, like any good story, keeps being retold because it’s ever fascinating and ever relevant to our times, whether that’s our social and economic times or our political times.”
Mary Stuart, the former Queen of Scotland spent her reign navigating political and emotional strife. Her rivalry with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, ultimately led to her imprisonment after Elizabeth felt that Mary was a threat to the English throne.
The ballet is choreographer Sophie Laplane’s first full-length ballet. She and her partner, Scottish Ballet Artistic Collaborator James Bonas, decided to construct the ballet from the perspective of Queen Elizabeth I rather than Mary, Queen of Scots herself, to see a familiar story in a new way, Hampson said.
“The reasoning that James and Sophie came up with for doing this production through the eyes and memories of Queen Elizabeth I is that she is an incredibly unreliable narrator, which I love,” Hampson said. “Dramaturgically, it gives Sophie and James the ability [to make] Elizabeth remember what happened, but also to misremember, to misinterpret, to be confused.
“What is remarkable is the depth of the relationship between Elizabeth and Mary that’s gotten across through movement alone.”
The ballet was tailored to the dancers performing it. Laplane choreographed with principal dancer Roseanna Leney in mind for the role of Mary Stuart. Lini joined the Scottish Ballet in 2016 after training at the Royal Ballet School in London and later performing with the Polish National Ballet.
“It was an absolutely incredible story and I think portraying her on stage in a ballet, having to show all the different emotions and things that she went through is honestly such an honor because it means I get to be everything all at once in the ballet,” Lini said. “As an artist, that’s all that you could ask for—to be able to show a strong, powerful woman, a mother, a widow, a woman in love, a woman who experiences heartbreak and loss.”
Lini described her relationship to the role as particularly special because of the artistic depth and dimension that it demanded.
“I think as an artist, to be able to dance and act for me is just so fulfilling. At the end of the ballet, yes, physically, I am exhausted, but emotionally as well,” says Lini, “I’m completely drained and you leave everything out there on the stage. And that is what is so special with a role that combines the two.”
IF WANT TO YOU GO:
“Mary, Queen of Scots” will be performed at the Charleston Gaillard Center on Thu, May 28, 2026, at 7:30 p.m.; Fri, May 29, 2026, at 6 p.m.; and Sat, May 30, 2026, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Tickets range from $60-$200-plus depending on the performance date and seat location within the Gaillard Center.
Jordyn Britton is an arts journalism and communications graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.