Parodying and Transvesting the Historic: Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of scots got her head chopped off

Abstract

When Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off was premiered in the late eighties, contemporary Scottish literature adopted unprecedented perspectives, through its satiric representation of the hierarchical transmission of ideologies in the nation. The play was written for Communicando Theatre Company, as part of the 1987 tributes to Mary Stuart in the fourth centenary of her death. This paper examines the text in a moment of special relevance for contemporary Scottish history, when claims for cultural and political autonomy from English models were starting to consolidate in the nation.Con el estreno de Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off a finales de los ochenta, la literatura escocesa adoptó nuevas perspectivas, debido a su representación satírica de las transferencias ideológicas de la nación. Escrita para Communicando Theatre Company, para homenajear el cuarto centenario de la muerte de María Estuardo (1987), la obra obtuvo un éxito inmediato y recibió el Scotsman Fringe First Award. Este artículo examina la relevancia del texto en un momento de la historia escocesa fundamental para reforzar la identidad con la que se ha reclamado recientemente la autonomía política y cultural respecto a Inglaterra.