Friedrich von Schiller’s Mary Stuart

In the classic arts, things remain decidedly nationalistic. Just as the Italians get most of the credit and attention for opera, the English seem to command center stage in dramatic theater. And bridging the two, though often dismissed, are the Germans, who not infrequently bettered their cultural neighbors in both categories. Wagner, no matter what you think of him, was a colossus of opera. And his poetic forebears, Goethe and Schiller, got as close as anyone will to equalling Shakespeare. Park Square offers here the world premiere of a “new adaptation” of Schiller’s classic play about Mary Queen of Scots’ sudden-death-overtime with Queen Elizabeth I. We’re not sure this classic needed a new treatment. But we’re all for a new staging of the play, widely believed to be the best treatment of one of the most popular dramatic subjects. Park Square, 20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, (651) 291-7005, parksquaretheatre. org