French star Isabelle Huppert takes the stage in Mary Said What She Said, directed and designed by the late Robert Wilson. Last seen in Australia more than a decade ago in Sydney Theatre Company’s The Maids with Cate Blanchett and Elizabeth Debicki, Huppert plays Mary Queen of Scots. With a book by Darryl Pinckney and a score by Ludovico Einaudi, the play draws on Mary’s letters, laying out her involvement in some of the most notorious plots of her time. She is lying, but as she faces execution, has fear persuaded her that she is telling the truth? Other theatre at this year’s Adelaide Festival includes Gatz, the epic eight-hour rendition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby by American company Elevator Repair Service (Her Majesty’s Theatre, 13–15 March) and the world premiere of A Concise Compendium of Wonder in which Slingsby performs three new stories inspired by fairy-tales (Adelaide Botanic Garden until 15 March).

Limelight Editor’s Choice

One of the greatest stage and screen actors of our time, Isabelle Huppert delivers a spellbinding solo performance as Mary Queen of Scots. Directed and designed by the late Robert Wilson, a towering figure in avant-garde theatre, this production bears all the hallmarks of his creative genius.

Written by novelist Darryl Pinckney, with a score by celebrated composer Ludovico Einaudi, the work plunges us into the psyche of Mary Stuart – a woman involved in some of the most notorious plots of her time, and a woman exiled, isolated and misunderstood.

Rich in the symbolism and imagery that earned Robert Wilson the title of “the world’s foremost vanguard theatre artist,” this work is unforgettable – a propulsive exploration of identity and power.