Exclusive to Adelaide Festival 2026, Isabelle Huppert again graced Adelaide stages some 14 years after she was last here for A Streetcar, this time with the final work of the late Robert Wilson’s Mary said what she said, a production of Théâtre de la Ville-Paris. A one-woman show, Huppert commanded the stage for the entirety of this intense production’s 90 minutes as Mary, Queen of Scots, who was also, for a time, Queen of France.
We don’t learn the exact historical moment when Mary said what she said unfolds, except through the literature that accompanies the show but it becomes clear that it is centred on the eve of her scheduled beheading- ordered by her cousin Elizabeth I, Queen of England, and of whom she stands accused of conspiring against. Here, we witness Mary reflecting on her life, her four loyal servants each named Mary, the immense losses and unspeakable cruelty she endured, plus her unwavering faith, treacherous betrayals, and rivalries.
Across Darryl Pinckney’s 86 paragraph text, Mary traces her tumultuous life, one which essentially begins with her birth and ends with her farewell letter written in French to her brother-in-law Henry III, King of France, on the eve of her death. This letter is not just a farewell but a plea that her staff, her four Marys (Fleming, Beaton, Livingston, and Seaton) be cared for and their wages paid. She says that each week she writes this testament of the Queen of Scotland (testament de la Reine d’Ecosses) because she needs to pass the time (“il faut passer le temps”).
Appearing almost ghost like, Huppert glides effortlessly from the back to the front of the stage, her feet cleverly hidden under her 16th century robe. This ethereal grace stands in stark contrast to the speed at which she delivers the opening 20 or so minutes of the piece, where Huppert speaks so fast that our ears (for those who speak French), and eyes (for those reading the surtitles) struggle to keep up. It’s offers a hint of the intensity that follows.
“Si seulement j’étais homme” (If only I were a man), she muses early on, contrasting her fated royal destiny with her brother, who at that age was frolicking freely amongst the swans. She rhapsodises about her porcelain pale skin as the stuff of poets’ dreams, declaring boldly that “les hommes m’aiment et m’ont toujours aimé” (men love me and have always loved me). In raw vulnerability, she begs for guidance and solace: “conseil-moi, réconforte-moi” (advise me, comfort me).
Yet the monologue rides a rollercoaster of emotions amid the tragedy. Occasionally we leap from our seats at Huppert’s unexpected shriek or wild, crazy laugh, while Mary’s fond jabs at her Four Marys, the eternally grumpy one and the servant always ready to laugh offer fleeting lightness.
Mary said what she said marks the third collaboration Isabelle Huppert and Robert Wilson. Beyond Wilson’s direction, staging and lighting, he lives on through Mary said what she said in a recording in which a man speaks to a child Mary testing her on her French vocabulary. Ludovico Einaudi’s score is perfectly written for the piece, with insistent loops and driving beats that mirror Mary’s restless, agitated memories. It is loud and overbearing when it needs to be, and calm and mellow at the right moments.
Robert Wilson’s light design is deceptively simple yet effective. The show opens with Huppert framed in dramatic silhouette at the back of the stage, backlit in white. Colours and intensity shift throughout. In one scene, the stage fills with smoke/fog completely engulfing Huppert, then gunshots ring out. But this is not Mary’s death, she wasn’t executed by gunshot? Is it a fevered dream of mortality? And as if speaking from the grave, Mary later references the executioner botching the first stroke, requiring a second to sever her head.
Huppert’s costume was crafted by Atelier Caraco and Théâtre de la Ville-Paris, and her shoes by Repetto. The high black collar with white ruffle immobilises Huppert’s neck like a brace, severely restricting her head movements, while the cinched corseting further rigidifies her posture.
Mary said what she said is an intense, captivating experience for the audience, and we can only imagine how much more intense it must be for Huppert to perform. When presenting the 2018/2019 program of the Théâtre de la Ville, Robert Wilson told the audience that Huppert was “one of the most exceptional people that I’ve worked with.” She is an enduring stage and film actor in France and abroad; her strong performance in Mary said what she said is just an example of why she is loved by audiences and directors alike.
5 CROISSANTS
Matilda Marseillaise was a guest of Adelaide Festival
Read our other Adelaide Festival 2026 content
Adelaide Festival 2026 announces very exciting and very French first shows
Pierre Gallon, harpsichordist with Ensemble Pygmalion, says ‘I feel like I’ve always played music’
