Adelaide Festival reveals its hail Mary for 2026 program
A month after the death of celebrated American dramaturg Robert Wilson, Adelaide Festival has confirmed one of his final productions for its 2026 slate – featuring French star Isabelle Huppert as Mary Queen of Scots.
A minimalist tribute to Mary Queen of Scots is set to headline next year’s Adelaide Festival with new festival director Matthew Lutton revealing the first taste of his 2026 program this week.
Making its exclusive Australian premiere across three nights at the newly refurbished Festival Theatre, Mary Said What She Says retraces the rise and fall of the 16th-century monarch, who was executed in 1587 after being accused of a plot to assassinate her rival – and relative – Queen Elizabeth I. Performed in French by Oscar-nominated screen legend Isabelle Huppert, it’s billed as a three-part monologue drawing from Mary Stuart’s own testimony, and features music by Italian composer and regular Adelaide visitor Ludovico Einaudi and a script by Darryl Pickney.
Local audiences will be familiar with director Robert Wilson’s work courtesy of the Art Gallery of South Australia’s 2022 exhibition Robert Wilson: Moving Portraits, which featured long, still video that captured high-profile subjects including Isabella Rossellini, Winona Ryder and Lady Gaga. Wilson’s Gaga portrait, Lady Gaga: Mademoiselle Caroline Riviere, was subsequently acquired by the gallery and remains on display.
“Director Robert Wilson inspired generations with his genius, and I was deeply saddened to learn of his recent death,” artistic director Matthew Lutton said of the announcement. “We have lost a visionary, and Mary Said What She Said was to be his Adelaide theatre debut. This production, created with the force of nature that is actor Isabelle Huppert, not only reveals new layers of Mary Queen of Scots, but the power of Wilson’s unique theatrical vision.”
Mary Said What She Said premiered in May 2019 at the Théâtre de la Ville–Paris, and will arrive in Adelaide from March 6 – 8 after acclaimed runs at the Barbican in London and South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province in 2024, and New York’s NYU Skirball earlier this year. A Tokyo season is also set to open in October.
The festival has also dropped a key part of its musical program with the Baroque group Ensemble Pygmalion making its Australian debut. The French ensemble, founded in 2006 by conductor and leader Raphaël Pichon, will present three different concerts over six dates: (March 2 – 3): Bach: Good Night World (February 27-28), Luigi Rossi’s 1647 opera Orfeo (March 4 – 6), and Monteverdi’s 1610 work Vespers (March 2 – 3).
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“Raphaël Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion are leaders in their interpretation of early music. They celebrate you hearing Bach and Monteverdi with entirely new ears – it’s electric,” Lutton said.
Adelaide Festival 2026 will run from February 27 – March 15, with its full 2026 program is due to launch on October 27. Tickets for Mary Said What She Said and Ensemble Pygmalion are on sale from 10am, Thursday August 28.
Read more Adelaide Festival coverage here on InReview