Mary Page Marlowe is a portrait of an ordinary life, charting one woman’s journey from a crying baby hearing her parents argue to an elderly, terminally ill patient in a hospital she may never leave. Mary Page, an unassuming accountant from Ohio and mother of two, lives a life that unfolds across a non-linear sequence of 11 scenes spanning nearly 70 years.
We witness her difficult upbringing, her adolescent anxieties and the emotional toll of love, marriage, and divorce. What makes the play remarkable is precisely how unremarkable Mary’s life is. She doesn’t conquer kingdoms or break barriers, instead, she mirrors the quiet resilience of millions of women whose stories often go untold.
Mary Page is portrayed by five different actors at various stages of her life, beginning with Andrea Riseborough as the character in her 40s. The play opens with a quietly devastating scene: Mary, at breakfast with her two children, tells them she’s leaving their father and moving to Kentucky for work. Her son Louis seems withdrawn, barely responding, while her daughter Wendy (Clare Hughes) reacts with a volatile mix of confusion, anger, and hurt. What are the reasons for the separation? Is Louis’s emotional detachment a sign of deeper estrangement? As the play leaps across decades, these early tensions echo through Mary’s past and future life, with answers emerging slowly and often raising even more unsettling questions in their wake.
We next meet Mary Page at 19, now portrayed by Eleanor Worthington-Cox, as a college student gathered with friends as one of them reads tarot cards to predict her future. Her boyfriend has just proposed, but Mary is hesitant, unsure whether marriage is the path she wants. The next time we see her, she is in her sixties, played with warmth and gravity by Susan Sarandon, married, but clearly to someone else. Her husband Andy (Hugh Quarshie) calls her “jailbird,” a term of endearment that hints at something in her past that will be gradually uncovered.
In the intervening years, we see Rosy McEwen portray Mary at 27 and 36, navigating an extramarital affair and sessions with a therapist. These moments reveal her growing sense of disconnection and her struggle to reconcile her choices with a life that often feels as though it’s slipping beyond her control.
The fifth version of Mary is played by Alisha Weir, who appears as a 12-year-old singing nervously while her alcoholic mother harshly criticises her performance. The final incarnation of the character is represented by a baby doll, standing in for infant Mary as her parents argue violently. The scene ends with her mother walking out, leaving the baby in the arms of her alcoholic father. These early wounds don’t fade and in adulthood, Mary grapples with her own struggles with alcohol, suggesting that trauma is passed down through the generations, reshaped and relived.
Despite featuring Oscar winner Susan Sarandon and Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough, Mary Page Marlowe is not a star vehicle but a genuine ensemble piece. The success of the production hinges on the clever structural device of playwright Tracy Letts using five actors to embody the title character across 70 years. Under the assured direction of Matthew Warchus, the five individual performances blend seamlessly, ensuring the audience perceives not five different women but five different versions of the same complex soul.
While all performances are strong, Riseborough delivers the most turbulent intensity as the middle-aged Mary Page, capturing her at the peak of her struggles with alcoholism and profound regret. She is perfectly balanced by Sarandon’s captivating, older Mary, who exudes a world-weary wisdom and gentle humour, suggesting the character is finally at peace with herself. The younger Mary Pages, including Alisha Weir and Eleanor Worthington-Cox, effectively establish the foundations of her independence and inherent sadness.
Mary Page Marlowe is a profound exploration of how an apparently ordinary life can be packed with extraordinary depth. Anchored by the gripping intensity of Andrea Riseborough and the settling grace of Susan Sarandon, the collective force of the cast makes this production deeply rewarding. Mary Page Marlowe reminds us that the smallest moments can often leave the deepest, most permanent marks.
