Mary Said What She Said

Memory, open my heart. Let the past part my lips. The stars never lie. But how we misread them, bright drop after bright drop in the sea of night. Based on the letters of Mary Queen of Scots, Mary Said What She Said is the testimony of Mary Stuart as she awaits martyrdom, accused of involvement in the most notorious plots of the time. On the eve of her execution, after nineteen years in captivity, she tells of her passions and torments. Mary Said What She Said received its UK premiere at the Barbican Centre, London, in May 2024.

Darryl Pinckney is the author of two novels, High Cotton and Black Deutschland; three collections of essays, Out There: Mavericks of Black Literature, Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy and Busted in New York and Other Essays; and a memoir, Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West 67th Street, Manhattan. In addition to Mary Said What She Said, he has written or adapted texts or been a dramaturg for Robert Wilson on eight other productions: The Forest, Orlando, Time Rocker, The Old Woman, Letter to A Man, Garrincha: A Musical of the Streets, Dorian, and the forthcoming Pessoa: Since I've Been Me.