Docu-drama, 45 min, 2022
Director: Andrea Oster

Mary Stuart is remembered as a Catholic martyr, a saint who gave her life for the church, but also as a woman who suffered greatly at the hands of the men she allowed herself to love.

“The Tragedy of Mary Stuart” explores the truth about Mary, Queen of Scots, revealing how fake news and hate speech were very much a part of society as far back as the Counter-Reformation of the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Mary was subjected to propaganda and an attempt to rewrite history for the purposes of political agitation.

However, she herself was not entirely innocent of using similar methods. Historical documents dating back to the times of the Stuarts and the Tudors reveal that Scotland’s queen had designs on England’s throne, which caused a long-running feud with her royal cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. For thirty years, Mary Stuart conspired to become queen of England, even going so far as to become involved in assassination plots developed by Catholic fanatics.

The documentary uses a compelling storytelling approach: Mary’s life is narrated by her cousin Elizabeth I, played by the celebrated Austrian actor Marie-Christine Friedrich. Elizabeth is sometimes emotional and sometimes entertaining as she reveals her intimate knowledge of her cousin’s actions. And, when her account occasionally becomes just a little too coloured by self-interest, some of Britain’s most respected historical experts are on hand to provide context.

After all, as the historian Tracy Borman has noted, “Mary’s ambition to be queen dominated everything. She wanted to destroy Elizabeth.”