The Testament of Mary: a mother’s tale

Alison Whyte is a compelling Mary in Colm Toibin’s The Testament of Mary at Sydney Theatre Company.

Alison Whyte gives a strong performance in The Testament of Mary. Picture: Lisa Tomasetti.

It starts with a classic image of Mary, in an altar cordoned off by red velvet ropes, bedecked in all the iconography — the red heart, the blue robes, the lamb, the halo and the votive candles around her. Then, in the opening moments, she sheds it all, emerges in modern clothes and steps down to tell us her version of the story of her lost son.

Alison Whyte is a perfect actress to perform the humanisation of Mary in Colm Toibin’s play, adapted from his 2009 novel, directed here by Imara Savage. Whyte has a richness of delivery, an ability to find the depth of a character and a complexity in articulating the development of emotions and actions.

There is a formality of utterance in her Mary’s opening scenes, and later in the final scenes when she reveals the depth of Mary’s grief.

Toibin’s Mary is an old woman imprisoned and set upon by men who are anxious to turn her son’s story into a legend that will inspire the world. They want her version to conform with theirs.

She is also a mother who watches with increasing anxiety as her son starts to attract a gang of young men, and to perform reported miracles that she has never witnessed.

As he becomes more and more notorious and distant (“Woman, what have I to do with you?”), she watches with growing fear as he starts to antagonise the established powers.

She is warned about what will happen to him if he keeps going on in this way. She cares little for his vision. She is driven only by a mother’s love.

There are many resonances of contemporary events in the Middle East.

Whyte plays all this with a slight reserve at first but, as her Mary comes to speak of her experience of her son’s crucifixion, a tension grows as she begins to realise that not only has she lost him but also that his legacy will be taken over by the young men, now grown up and rewriting history. If he can perform miracles, she asks, why can’t he turn back time?

The scene in which she describes what she saw at the crucifixion — the violence and the cruelty of it — is very strong.

The set by Elizabeth Gadsby, with its jarring transition from the old religious imagery to the modern world in which all this is packed away in a cardboard box, and the lighting by Emma Val­ente, which shifts from the muted shades of church lighting to the harsh tones of fluoros, are effective. There is a fine score by Max Lyandvert.

Whyte’s final line — a cri de coeur from a woman angry at what happened to her son and what will be made of his life and death across the ensuing 2000 years — is heartbreaking.

The Testament of Mary. By Colm Toibin. Sydney Theatre Company, Wharf 1, January 18. Tickets: $44-$60. Bookings: [phone] or online. Duration: 1hr 20min, no interval. Until February 25.