one4review | On 21, Aug 2026

There is something particularly appropriate about seeing The Spy Network at Riddles Court. This atmospheric 16th-century building has its own connection to Mary Queen of Scots’s family: her son, James VI, held a banquet here. The company deliberately chose the venue for that reason, and it adds an extra layer of authenticity to this intriguing re-examination of the final hours of Mary’s life.

Shooting Fish Theatre Company’s three-hander takes us to 8 February 1587, the day Mary is due to be executed for treason. Rather than simply retelling the familiar story, it gives Mary one final opportunity to present events as she believes they happened.

Mary encounters Barnaby Fulke, an actor who has arrived to provide some pre-execution entertainment for the assembled crowd. His deliberately flippant attitude to the forthcoming execution provides an amusing counterpoint to the gravity of Mary’s situation. Barnaby invites Mary to tell her story and, crucially, to tell it as she believes it should be remembered. What follows is a play within a play, taking us through the spies, coded messages, betrayals and political manoeuvring that ultimately sealed Mary’s fate. This theatrical device is particularly effective.

Jamie Bremner, Rachel Waters and Livy Potter make up the cast, and all three are excellent. They move effortlessly between a wide range of characters, changing accents, personalities and demeanour with impressive speed and clarity. The result is a production that feels much larger than its three-strong cast.

There is also an interesting question running beneath the historical drama: how certain can we really be about what happened when so much of the evidence was recorded by people with their own political agendas? The production plays with those gaps in the historical record while remaining rooted in the known events.

The result is an entertaining and thought-provoking take on a story that has been told many times before. Well performed, cleverly constructed and particularly well suited to its historic setting, The Spy Network is an interesting new perspective on one of Scotland’s most fascinating historical figures, and I’d certainly recommend catching it.

****

Reviewed by Howard
Thistle Theatre at Greenside @ Riddles Court

Until 29th August (not 23rd)