Overview

'I'm still a person outside of this room, you know. I still live life even when you're not watching me.' Mary Page Marlowe is an accountant from Ohio. She's led an ordinary life, filled with pain, pleasure and drudgery, just like anybody else. But inside her seemingly unremarkable story is a nuanced portrait of the majesty of a modest existence. A vivid, time-jumping mosaic of one woman's world, Tracy Letts' play Mary Page Marlowe presents a life out of order, coloured by emotion and full of contradictions. It was first performed by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, in 2016, and received its UK premiere at The Old Vic, London, in 2025, directed by Matthew Warchus and starring Andrea Riseborough and Susan Sarandon. 'Exquisite... Beautiful and affecting, like flipping through a friend's photo album in no particular order, finding some faces familiar, others unexpected... A haunting, elliptical drama about the evolutions, reversals and resurrections in a woman's life... It illuminates, movingly, how youthful ideals wither, how little of life can truly be foreseen, how provisional all our plans are in a world where choice and chance are always in tension' — New York Times 'Tracy Letts is a poet of the ordinary, a playwright who writes about commonplace lives in uncommon ways.... You'll be enthralled to watch Mary's life unfold, for it is described in a manner so clear and true that you cannot doubt its significance. Mary Page Marlowe is the most purely beautiful play that Mr. Letts has given us' — Wall Street Journal 'This is Letts in contemplative mode, theatrically plumbing large questions like 'what is a person?' and, therefore, 'what is a life?'... Intensely thoughtful... the work has depth and an elegant potency... Mary Page Marlowe evokes a complex response that is both heady and emotional' — Variety 'Probing yet unsentimental in its clear-eyed compassion, this is a fragmented portrait of an ordinary life, distinguished by writing that plumbs emotional depths without ever surrendering its exquisite restraint' — Hollywood Reporter 'Searing... highly watchable... excellent dialogue' — Guardian 'Compelling and truthful... like watching fragments of a shattered vase, glued back together. The pieces don't quite fit and the cracks start to show... suggest[ing] that behaviour is not always tangential. Bad choices are made, and generational trauma is handed down. But also, things happen. Dreams die... remarkably poised; sad but never mawkish... full of humour' — WhatsOnStage 'Subtly devastating... a smart piece of writing' — Time Out

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9781839045165

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Reviews

'Exquisite... Beautiful and affecting, like flipping through a friend's photo album in no particular order, finding some faces familiar, others unexpected... A haunting, elliptical drama about the evolutions, reversals and resurrections in a woman's life... It illuminates, movingly, how youthful ideals wither, how little of life can truly be foreseen, how provisional all our plans are in a world where choice and chance are always in tension' * New York Times * 'Tracy Letts is a poet of the ordinary, a playwright who writes about commonplace lives in uncommon ways.... You'll be enthralled to watch Mary's life unfold, for it is described in a manner so clear and true that you cannot doubt its significance. Mary Page Marlowe is the most purely beautiful play that Mr. Letts has given us' * Wall Street Journal * 'This is Letts in contemplative mode, theatrically plumbing large questions like 'what is a person?' and, therefore, 'what is a life?'... Intensely thoughtful... the work has depth and an elegant potency... Mary Page Marlowe evokes a complex response that is both heady and emotional' * Variety * 'Probing yet unsentimental in its clear-eyed compassion, this is a fragmented portrait of an ordinary life, distinguished by writing that plumbs emotional depths without ever surrendering its exquisite restraint' * Hollywood Reporter *

'Exquisite... Beautiful and affecting, like flipping through a friend's photo album in no particular order, finding some faces familiar, others unexpected... A haunting, elliptical drama about the evolutions, reversals and resurrections in a woman's life... It illuminates, movingly, how youthful ideals wither, how little of life can truly be foreseen, how provisional all our plans are in a world where choice and chance are always in tension' * New York Times * 'Tracy Letts is a poet of the ordinary, a playwright who writes about commonplace lives in uncommon ways.... You'll be enthralled to watch Mary's life unfold, for it is described in a manner so clear and true that you cannot doubt its significance. Mary Page Marlowe is the most purely beautiful play that Mr. Letts has given us' * Wall Street Journal * 'This is Letts in contemplative mode, theatrically plumbing large questions like 'what is a person?' and, therefore, 'what is a life?'... Intensely thoughtful... the work has depth and an elegant potency... Mary Page Marlowe evokes a complex response that is both heady and emotional' * Variety *

Author Information

Tracy Letts is an American playwright, screenwriter and actor, and is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His play August: Osage County won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play and the Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. His plays include: Linda Vista (Steppenwolf, 2017; Broadway, 2019); Mary Page Marlowe (Steppenwolf, 2016; Old Vic, London, 2025); Superior Donuts (Steppenwolf, 2008); August: Osage County (Steppenwolf, 2007; National Theatre, London, 2008); Bug (1996); and Killer Joe (1993).

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