Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • Magazines

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Fiction
  3. Drama

Read and listen for free for 7 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
0.0(0)

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off

A modern classic about the bitter rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots, and her cousin and fellow ruler, Elizabeth I of England - retold by Scotland's most popular playwright.

'Once upon a time, there were twa queens on the wan green island, and the wan green island was split inty twa kingdoms. But no equal kingdoms...'

Mary and Elizabeth are two women with much in common, but more that sets them apart.

Following the death of her husband, the Dauphin of France, the beautiful, and staunchly Catholic Mary Stuart has returned from France to rule Scotland, a country she neither knows nor understands. Ill-prepared to rule in her own right, Mary has failed to learn what her protestant cousin, Elizabeth Tudor, knows only too well - that a queen must rule with her head, not her heart.

All too soon the stage is set for a deadly endgame in which there can only be one winner and one queen on the one green island.

Liz Lochhead's play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off is presented in a distinctive cabaret style, with much of the dialogue in the 'Braid Scots' vernacular. It was first performed by the Communicado Theatre Company at the Lyceum Studio Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 1987.

This revised version was published alongside the revival by the National Theatre of Scotland, which toured in 2009. Also included is a new introduction by the author.


Author:

  • Liz Lochhead

Format:

  • E-book

Duration:

  • 77 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Fiction
  • Drama

More by Liz Lochhead

Skip the list
  1. A Handsel : New and Collected Poems

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  2. Memo for Spring: 50th Anniversary Edition

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  3. Thon Man Molière

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  4. A Choosing: The Selected Poems of Liz Lochhead

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  5. Fugitive Colours

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  6. Quelques Fleurs

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  7. Perfect Days

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  8. Good Things

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  9. Blood and Ice

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  10. Liz Lochhead: Five Plays

    Liz Lochhead

    book
  11. The Colour of Black and White : Poems 1984-2003

    Liz Lochhead

    book

NHB Modern Plays Series

Skip the list
  1. The Party Girls

    Amy Rosenthal

    book
  2. Ordinary Decent Criminal

    Ed Edwards

    book
  3. The Estate

    Shaan Sahota

    book
  4. Miss Myrtle's Garden

    Danny James King

    book
  5. Inter Alia

    Suzie Miller

    book
  6. Takeaway

    Nathan Powell

    book
  7. Scenes from a Repatriation

    Joel Tan

    book
  8. Giant

    Mark Rosenblatt

    book
  9. My Master Builder

    Lila Raicek

    book
  10. The P Word

    Waleed Akhtar

    book
  11. The Hills of California

    Jez Butterworth

    book
  12. The Beautiful Future is Coming

    Flora Wilson Brown

    book

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5