Photo Flash: First Look at MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS GOT HER HEAD CHOPPED OFF at the King's Head

Exploring the rivalry and mutual fascination between Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I, Liz Lochhead's Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off re-tells this murky tale of political and sexual intrigue with ferocious wit and innovation and examines Mary's legacy through the eyes of Corbie, a carrion crow who is her unseen attendant through life and death.

Previously only seen in London for one week at the Donmar Warehousein 1987, it will get its first full London season, 25 years after its Scottish premiere, directed by Olivier Award Winning La Bohème director Robin Norton-Hale at the King's Head Theatre, Islington, now through Saturday 22 June. Press night is tomorrow, Friday 31 May at 7.15pm. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off could not be more timely in an age when the question of Scottish Independence is back at the top of the political agenda. The play makes the link between contemporary Scottish sectarianism and the power politics of the French Catholic Mary and the English Protestant Elizabeth, the virgin queen. and examines the way contemporary Scotland's sense of identity has been forged by the myths of its history.

The cast features Nora Wardell (Mary), Sarah Thom (Elizabeth), Shelley Lang (La Corbie), Sean Hart (Darnley), Jamie Laing (Bothwell), Prentis Hancock (Knox), Michael Longhi (Riccio).

Directed by Robin Norton-Hale. Set and Costume Designer Katie Bellman.

The King's Head Theatre was London's first pub theatre since Shakespeare's time,founded in 1970 with 51West-End and Broadway transfers to its credit. Relaunched in 2010 with a revolutionary theatre and opera programme, resident companies

TheatreUpClose and OperaUpClose have become renowned for staging world premieres and first time revivals of work by some of the most well-known and respected playwrights of the modern era includingEdward Bond, Arnold Wesker, Peter Gill, Nick Ward and Tennessee Williams. A major success in 2012 came with the first London revival of Williams' Vieux Carré since its West End premiere in the 1970s. It sold out and transfered to Charing Cross Theatre. Recently the theatre premiered Lionel Bart's last unproduced great musical Quasimodo, written in 1963.

Visit www.kingsheadtheatre.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

Photo Credit: Christopher Tribble

Jamie Laird and Nora Wardell

Sean Hart

Sean Hart, Shelley Lang, Michael Longhi

Shelley Lang

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