Mary Page Marlowe
21 October 2025
Old Vic Theatre
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Mary Page Marlowe, a play by Tracy Letts, is celebrating its UK premiere at the Old Vic Theatre, running until 1 November. The stellar cast includes Susan Sarandon, Andrea Riseborough, and Rosy McEwen all embodying the titular character at different ages throughout her life.
The play lays bare the life of Mary Page Marlowe, an American woman with substance abuse issues, two children, and three ex husbands. Her story is told by five actors at different ages in seemingly random chronological order, hurtling from mid-40s to late teens to retirement age without a clear reason for this arbitrary timeline.
While there is a high calibre of actors involved in this project, the show starts off with some of the poorest acting the Old Vic has been subjected to for a long time. Luckily this smoothes out as the narrative develops, only leaving a slightly sour taste in the mouth. Still, it isn’t the best way to start out a show that relies so heavily on the audience’s connection to its main character.
There is a good amount of meat to the story, a life full of emotional moments and pivotal developments, swinging back and forth through the decades and enriching the story with further details discovered throughout. Similarly, there are quite a few scenes that don’t really move the narrative along and feel to just be needless filler with no purpose. Overall, there is a mixed bag feel about this show.
With minimal stage design, the focus is entirely on the acting, and unfortunately this is also a mixed bag, with some versions of Mary Page Marlowe bringing strong and convincing performances, while others seem to just shout the words dispassionately into the auditorium, leading to a disappointing mish-mash that doesn’t manage to hold the attention of the audience throughout.
This play is definitely an interesting study in presenting a full life on a stage, and with some tighter writing and perhaps more rehearsal time, it could be a fascinating staging. As it stands, it is unfortunately a little disappointing.
