Mary’s Hand

About

Mary’s Hand is a chamber opera re-examining the life and legacy of Mary I of England, too often reduced to the epithet “Bloody Mary.” Created by writer-director Di Sherlock and composer Martin Bussey, the piece uses an interactive card-game structure: audience members draw from a deck representing key figures in Mary’s life, determining the order of scenes and making each performance unique. A historically inspired costume—based on a Hans Eworth portrait—functions as set, prop, and dress, and is gradually dismantled to reveal the woman behind the monarch. Bussey’s score contrasts brilliant trumpet writing that evokes public ceremony and power with expansive cello lines that mirror Mary’s private introspection, while oboe/cor anglais weaves between them. Designed to suit resonant church spaces, the production embraces and adapts to each venue’s architecture. The result is an intimate, flexible monodrama that invites audiences to reconsider a contested Tudor queen.