Review: BURN, VAULT Festival

"Mary I of England was a strong, handsome queen. Intelligent, independent, and a powerful woman. She will forever be remembered as such" reads the blackboard at the start of Lucy Beresford-Knox's play Burn. The second production revolving around Bloody Mary couldn't be more different from Olivia Miller's Bloody Mary: Live! which we reviewed during the first week of VAULT Festival.

Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been imprisoned for two years when Mary visits him. While he tries to avoid being executed and pushes his official written recantation towards her, she's firm in her sentence. The pair tell her story over a game of chess.

Beresford-Knox introduces a cunning monarch with a steely gaze and flawless posture. Portrayed by Frankie Hyde-Peace in a magnificent performance, Mary owns a regal poise. She rarely explodes, but when she does, it's with composure and intention. Joined by Kelvin Giles as the Archbishop, she boasts her cruelty while he grovels.

Rooted in reality, the scene is set in a damp, humid cell that has the show feeling right at home at The Vaults, but might as well be happening in a liminal bubble removed from space and time. Mary debates her reputation while Cranmer recalls a free spirit violently tamed by her royal duties. Her gender identity becomes an inconvenience and the men in her life turn her into a pawn.

Her defiance grows alongside her thirst for vengeance, stifling any other emotion in the young princess. An elegant script makes it a sophisticated two-hander. Directed by Sophie Wilson, the piece takes the controversial figure and transforms her into a vehicle for a feminist condemnation of the patriarchal structures that bind women to their gender. Hyde-Peace looks down on Giles with an arched brow, growing a spiteful pout on a hardened face. She is in control, but her character has never been.

The Queen regularly puts Cranmer in his place while his past self changes the adjectives on the board into negatives as she gets is accused of everything women still are today. Emotional, angry, and abrupt, she is repeatedly matched with older members of the aristocracy to create allegiances, then criticised for marrying the Spanish king and doing exactly what they wanted. She could never win.

Mary might be recognised as a bloodthirsty ruler whose reign was branded by religious persecution and poor leadership, it's gripping to witness her identify herself as the product of her upbringing. Running at only an hour, we're left wanting to see more of Hyde-Peace and her gorgeous brocade dress.

Burn runs at VAULT Festival until 26 February.

VAULT Festival has been left without a venue for next year. You can contribute to the #SaveVAULT campaign here.

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