Photo Credit – Kelsea Knox, So It Is Productions
It is a testament to how highly 53Two are respected in Manchester, that Simon Stephens chose to premiere his new play Maria during 53Two’s tenth anniversary year. 53Two are well known in Manchester for their welcoming, inclusive atmosphere, but this also goes hand-in-hand with their exceptional programming.
Stephens has penned a play using the life of a young woman to pivot the themes of social neglect, the erosion of family values, and our dependency on digital connection as a form of interaction, which can lead to isolation and loneliness.
Set in a small Northern town close to the coast, Maria (Stacey Harcourt) is young. She is barely a woman and pregnant at the age of eighteen without a partner and looking for an anchor in her own personal sea of life to cling to. Maria’s mother died a couple of years earlier, and her Gran (Anne Baron) is barely holding herself together since her daughter’s death. Her father (Toby Hadoke) works at ASDA and struggles with the burden that his daughter’s pregnancy has pressured him with, and her brother Christian (Noah Fox) has disappeared, struggling to come to terms with the loss of his mother – and these are Maria’s family.
This seventy minute play packs a lot in. The grief shown by her Gran, her brother and sometimes Maria (Ria to her friends and family), means that they are not fully there for her. At first glance they appear cold, distancing themselves from Maria when she needs them, but the family appears to have been left to ponder the nature of her mother’s death, without any form of counselling. As far as her pregnancy goes, the hospital gives her medical care, but she lacks the emotional support needed for such a young woman going through the complexities of pregnancy. Stephens appears to be taking a swipe at modern society. With our modern era of social media and outsourcing; have we also outsourced our family commitments, and lost our sense of connection with those that we should be responsible for?
The play centres its story firmly in the North of England, with parts of the play referencing this, and so it is interesting that director Sadie Mears cements this with her set that firmly puts the play in the docks, with dockworkers weaved into the script to add to the overall authenticity of the play. In placing the play in the docks, it frames the life of families living in the area where container ships bring in commodities to sell, but these same families are most likely the ones who cannot afford to buy these goods – another swipe, this time at our modern world of plutocracy.
It is interesting that Maria has been written in as a gregarious character, she loves watching documentaries as a way to learn and tries to talk to people about the things that she has learnt, but they tire of her chatter. In using Maria’s gregarious nature, her chatter provides the narration that is needed to knit this play together. In her young life she has experienced death, childbirth, and loneliness, but despite her hardships, she is resilient in a way that makes her the matriarch within her family. Harcourt is delightful as Maria, and as the youngest of her family she manages to navigate what life throws at her, and this is portrayed convincingly. This is a hard-working ensemble, along with the aforementioned actors, they are accompanied by Callum Burbidge who is very disturbing in his chatroom role, and Kiara Kiandra who shows off her versatility. Add in an interesting set build, lighting and sound design, this production is a success.
Maria only runs until the 11th September, but it will be popular, and rightly so. The play is hard-hitting, and the writing is gritty, but I believe that Stephens wants this to land heavily on the viewer. A case of, this is where we are, take a step back and decide if you like what you see!
Congratulations to the whole team involved with this play, I attended on the opening night, and it was faultless.
Just so that I do not miss anyone out, here is a list of the creative team:
Director – Sadie Mears
Assistant Director – Maggie Thorn
Sound Design – Patch Middleton
LX Design – Tom Sutcliffe
Set Build – Dave Howell
Operator – Elliot Blythe
Movement – Chris P Brown
To book tickets to see Maria before the end of the run on the 11th September, go to – https://53two.online/show/6a6c671ccddd25717a2fa763
Reviewer: Caroline Worswick
Date Reviewed: 2nd September 2026
Theatre Muse UK Rating: 4 stars
Photo Credit – Kelsea Knox – So It Is Productions
Photo Credit – Kelsea Knox – So It Is Productions
