Oh, Mary! – Trafalgar Theatre

Mason Alexander Park and Giles Terera in Oh, Mary! at the Trafalgar Theatre, London. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Oh, Mary! continues at the Trafalgar Theatre, London, booking until 25 April 2026.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Oh, how we love a theatre fairy tale, when a quirky and original Fringe show achieves success beyond anything the creatives involved could ever have imagined. I’m thinking of recent examples such as Six and Operation Mincemeat, both of which have gone from humble beginnings to the West End to Broadway and beyond.

Comedian, actor and writer Cole Escola’s play Oh, Mary! (an alternative take on First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s life in The White House in the days running up to President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination) was more than 12 years in the making before it had an Off-Broadway run in early 2024,  transferring to the Great White Way a few months later.

‘Alternative’ is putting it lightly really. Don’t expect any evidence of fact or research, in fact the joy often comes from the characters being the reverse of what history tells us. No longer is Lincoln a grave and earnest man with a deep empathy for those around him, instead he is a repressed homosexual in an unhappy marriage with a “foul and hateful wife”.

Mary is an alcoholic – even paint thinner will do – who is desperately bored and dreams of returning to her life as a niche cabaret legend singing madcap medleys. The First Lady is not to be messed with either, when she is asked where her chaperone is, she retorts: “Why would I throw an entire woman down the stairs…”

Now the highly anticipated double Tony Award-winning production (Escola won for Best Leading Actor in a Play and Sam Pinkleton came out top in the Best Direction of a Play category) has arrived at London’s Trafalgar Theatre and it pretty much lives up to the hype.

In the same way that the directors of Six and Mincemeat have been true to the Fringe roots of the original productions, so has Pinkleton, with the staging deliberately more akin to a mid-scale regional tour from 50 years ago than a glitzy West End show (ironic, considering that the 16th president was shot while actually attending a touring production of the British play Our American Cousin).

There’s almost a Play That Goes Wrong vibe to the proceedings in that the small ensemble of five artists take their work very seriously and completely overdo the melodrama of it all – the more this approach beds in, the funnier the material becomes.

In a programme note Escola and Pinkleton write: “We all wanted to make something that captured that special feeling we got in high school when we first fell in love with theatre. From the wobbly walls to the fresh-out-of-the-box Capezio boots…” And that’s exactly what the pair, plus the creative team and an excellent cast, bring to the table. By treating the project with care and sincerity, there can be a delightful freedom in the way the nonsense and chaos of the proceedings play out.

Escola’s writing is tight, quick-witted and consistently funny with plenty of surprises along the way that take the level of hilarity up another notch. The brilliant punchlines come thick and fast and are timed to perfection, with Escola completing flipping conventional representations of the lead characters.

Pinkleton’s collaboration with Escola is first class, their understanding of each other evident every step of the way. On top of the nicely judged pace, the director demonstrates his skills as a choreographer, from the tiniest comedic movement to broader physical comedy. The separation of the dramatic vignettes with blackouts and piano music are also reminiscent of silent movies (lighting designed by Cha See, sound by Drew Levy and Daniel Kluger).

Of course, none of this would be possible without a cast which fully embraced the chaos, and the company comes up with the goods. Mary’s put-upon Chaperone and Mary’s Husband’s very accommodating Assistant, Kate O’Donnell and Oliver Stockley respectively, prove their comedy chops. Dino Fetscher, as Mary’s Teacher, also impresses, particularly during the speedy, emotionally charged banter with Mary. Is he an opportunist or does he genuinely care for Mary? I couldn’t possibly say.

Playing Mary’s Husband, Giles Terera once again demonstrates what a versatile actor he is. Whether pondering if the death of his wife could make him more popular, or fantasising about the posterior of his assistant, he brings the same dramatic focus to Escola’s one-liners as he would a Shakespearean text, and that is hilarious.

Following Escola’s Broadway debut as writer and performer, the role of Mary has become rather sought after in New York, with the likes of Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Moonsoon and Jane Krakowski stepping into the fancy bloomers (costumes designed by Holly Pierson, wigs by Leah J Loukas).

Mason Alexander Park joins that list of luminaries and is magnificent in the title role from the very moment they burst threw the doors of dots’ deliberately basic drawing room set. With the energy of a stand-up comedian on a roll, they never let up, deftly delivering the rapid-fire dialogue at the same time as ramping up the physical comedy. It could easily have become a caricature, but some added pathos means that we are fully invested in Mary following her dreams. It’s brilliant casting.

There are deeper themes going on in this 80-minute one-act play, covering gender politics, mental health, grief, repression of dreams and desires and more. It’s your choice whether you ponder those on the way home. Whatever your experience, it will be hard not to leave feeling the joy that silliness brings, while appreciating the work that goes in to doing it well.

Lisa Martland