Mary Beer

Mary graduated with a cum laude degree in Theatre from Columbia University’s Barnard College in New York City. In addition to directing and stage managing several productions off-Broadway, Mary was awarded the Helen Prince Memorial Prize in Dramatic Composition for her play Subway Fare whilst in New York. Relocating to London, Mary has worked in the creative sector, mostly in television broadcast and production, since 1998. Her creative and strategic abilities in TV promotion, marketing and design have been recognised with over 20 industry awards including several Global Promax Golds. She is a founder member of multiple creative industry and arts organisations and has frequently served as an advisor to the Edinburgh International TV Festival.

Review of The Memory of Water at Hampstead Theatre

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 by Mary Beer

The Memory of Water Production Image - L-R Adam James, Laura Rogers, Carolina Main (lying down), Lucy Black, Kulvinder Ghir © Helen Murray.

The bereaved homecoming is a tried-and-tested dramatic device, be it Chekhov’s Three Sisters (1901); Langford Wilson’s Burn This (1987) or Tracy Letts’ August: Osage Country (2007). Amongst heightened emotions, familial tensions and uncovered secrets, tragedy and farce have a natural opportunity to reveal themselves and intensify in the claustrophobic confines of gathering for funeral rites … Read more

Review of Game of Love and Chance at Arcola Outside

July 22, 2021 by Mary Beer

Arcola - The Game of Love and Chance - George Kemp, Ellie Nunn, David Acton, Ammar Duffus, Michael Lyle - (c) Alex Brenner.

‘When will this farce be over?’ cries Sylvia (Ellie Nunn) – who is 58th in line to the throne and whose arranged betrothal to another aristocrat is at the heart of Quentin Beroud and Jack Gamble’s adaptation of Pierre de Marivaux’s 18th-century comedy. After an hour of a talky and relatively timid nibble at the … Read more

Review of Kneehigh’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk

December 7, 2020 by Mary Beer

Confession: I have an aversion to (linear) streamed theatre because it reminds me too much of what I’m not experiencing as live performance. Emma Rice’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk may have just cured me, however. This two-hander love story of Marc and Bella Chagall set against the constant tumult of the first half of … Read more