For a woman who was executed aged 44 more than four centuries ago, there remains an extraordinarily healthy fascination with Mary Queen of Scots, her life, loves, apparent political miss-steps and legacy. Much has been written over the centuries — overwhelmingly by men and through a male power prism — invariably gaslighting Mary’s vulnerability as misguided passion resulting in ill-considered alliances conceived through little more than lust.
Douglas Henshall (James Melville) Brian Vernel (Thompson) Rona Morison (Agnes) in Mary at Hampstead Theatre. Credit Manuel Harlan
When news of its existence began circulating many moons ago, there seemed something delightfully subversive about the prospect of Elton John and Jake Shears combining their songwriting talents to create a musical based on the tumultuous life of one of the Christian Evangelical movement’s most unforgettable, beloved, pilloried, reviled and eventually rehabilitated television personalities, 
There are two types of people in the world: people who love Studio Ghibli movies, and people who’ve never heard of them. 