Last Updated on October 9, 2025
A mosaic of a life in eleven scenes
4.0 out of 5.0 starsImagine trying to choose eleven scenes that would depict your life. This is the premise of Mary Page Marlowe, written by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts in 2016 and having its UK premiere at The Old Vic. Directed as the opening play of his farewell season by outgoing artistic director Matthew Warchus, it has a stellar cast. Two of the five Marys are played by Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon, making her UK theatre debut, and Academy nominee Andrea Riseborough.
The play begins when Mary Page Marlowe is 40 and announces to her children that she is divorcing their father. Furthermore, she is moving from Dayton, Ohio to Kentucky. Despite daughter Wendy’s protests that she doesn’t want to finish her schooling there, the two children are to move away from their home. Rather than progressing in chronological order, the play moves backwards and forwards through Mary’s life, each age acted by a different cast member. Hence, we see five Marys across eleven scenes, her age varying between 12 and 69. Letts makes the audience do some of the work in piecing things together, and the play’s structure is somewhat like memory and self-concept being composed of fragments and contradictions rather than a linear narrative.
In choosing an unassuming woman, an accountant in Ohio, Letts explores the question of identity, the importance of choices we make, and reflects on the ordinary and extraordinary moments that are peppered through unremarkable lives. Although the play is not based on Letts’ mother, he was inspired to write Mary Page Marlowe after her death.
This beautifully crafted play is like a multifaceted jewel. Eleven scenes, each a masterclass in acting. Some scenes are very funny, especially the one where a 19-year-old Mary (Eleanor Worthington-Cox) and two friends engage in a tarot reading. Even scenes with emotional violence aplenty have a thread of bitter humour woven through. There is no unnecessary dialogue in this play, lasting one hour and 40 minutes. Each scene is a piece of a mosaic, and much is left unsaid, hinted at or described through metaphor.
Mary Page Marlowe is an ensemble piece, and despite starring Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough, they each have only three scenes. The limelight is shared with the other three Marys, each of whom puts in a moving performance. The youngest Mary, aged 12 (Alisha Weir) makes her professional stage debut at the young age of 16 and was heartbreakingly touching as the ‘too sensitive’ daughter of a bitter, alcoholic mother, Roberta Marlowe (Eden Epstein), whose self-loathing is projected onto her child, who tries to withstand the emotionally cutting blows. Teenage Mary wants to be independent and visit Paris, but her youthful hopes are to give way to the family pattern of addiction and a life in which she says she drifts rather than makes decisions.
Rosy McEwen is particularly good as Mary (36), who has affairs but is unable to connect her sexuality with her emotions. A scene with her boss Dan (Ronan Raftery) who wants to meet up for sex regularly, reveals more about her emotional distance than the one when she has a session with her therapist (Lauren Ward).
Then there is Susan Sarandon. Playing the older Mary, she is utterly captivating and commands the stage. Watching her talking to her nurse (a wonderful performance by Melanie La Barrie) about how much she enjoyed doing tax returns in her working days, one wants her to keep talking all night. For those of us who grew up with Thelma and Louise (one of Sarandon’s finest films), a rare opportunity to see her live on stage was one not to be missed. She is a superb actor, and my only complaint about her performance was that she had too few scenes.
Riseborough puts in a memorable performance especially in her scene when, bruised and battered from a car accident she caused by driving under the influence – the cops say the breathalyser result is off the charts – she and her husband Ray (Paul Thornley) eviscerate what is left of their marriage. Her final scene, desperate with fear for her son who has disappeared and unable to deal with stress without a drink, is a poignant depiction of the ravages that addiction brings to families.
Daughter Wendy (Clare Hughes) puts in an affecting performance as the long-suffering, parental child caught between her anger towards her alcoholic mother and her concern to reassure and comfort her, keep her moving forward and surviving.
Mary Page Marlowe depicts the familial devastation of addiction, and while this intergenerational pattern is not discussed, it is clearly portrayed as one generation after another succumbs, unable to self-soothe constructively, having been raised by alcoholic or absent parents. The scenes are like vignettes and are all beautifully acted and written, and yet this very structure prevents the audience from getting too involved with the characters. Just as one was getting into a scene, it ended, thus leaving me feeling disconnected rather than deeply involved. Perhaps Letts never intends us to get too close to Mary, much as she never allows the men in her life to do so. If she does not know herself, how can others know her? ‘You’ll be disappointed,’ she retorts when Dan expresses his desire to know her better.
Setting a play in the round is close to the heart of Warchus, whose final season will be staged in this way. While it does bring the audience closer to the stage, there were frustrating moments when the actor’s back was facing, and when one is missing Susan Sarandon’s facial expressions, that frustration builds.
Mary Page Marlowe poignantly depicts the wounds that families can inflict and how self-destructive choices can affect those who love them as much as themselves.
Mary Page Marlowe runs at The Old Vic until 1 November 2025
The Old Vic,
The Cut
Bankside
London
SE1 8NB
Looking for something different? Check our previews of South Bank and Bankside Theatre
We also recommend The Lady From The Sea, currently showing at The Bridge
Leave a Reply