Mary Lincoln
"...a captivating performance, so human from start to finish... stirs the audience to tears"Evening Standard
I was born into an Anglo Italian family - the youngest of five girls. All my sisters are performers at heart, but I was the only one who took to the boards professionally. I’ve been lucky enough to play leading roles in theatres all over the country, in the days when repertory theatres were widespread and I’ve worked extensively in Europe with Music Theatre London. A lot of my early work was as an actress/singer and I got to play some of the best female roles in the classical musical repertoire. In the West End I played Maria/Futura in “Metropolis” at the Piccadilly Theatre, Rapunzel in the original London Cast of “Into The Woods” at The Pheonix Theatre as well as Violetta in “La Traviata” at the Donmar Warehouse (nominated for an Olivier award). My T.V and film work was kicked off by playing Joanna Freeman, a regular character, in the soap “Crossroads”. I played Susanna in the BBC 2 Pozzitive Production of MTL’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and was Alice in the recent film “In From The Side” currently on Netflix UK. A high point for me professionally was when I found myself improvising with “the greats” – Rory and the two Johns, for three series on “Bremner, Bird and Fortune” – a real education!Most recently, as a playwright and poet I have had three short plays
performed and my first Ekphrastic poem was published in the Ekphrastic Online Review. I’ve written the words for two Christmas Songs – with music by my husband Tony Britten, one of which has been published by Stainer and Bell and the other is now included in the Tenebrae Christmas repertoire – how lucky am I!I have enjoyed my career but am proudest of all of my two adult children, Eleanor and Samuel and my grandchildren Mattia and Myla, who are a constant source of joy to me.
More detailed information about my professional work can be found at:
www.spotlight.com/4775-7869-2002
Agent: Nelson Browne Management
Marcella’s Minute to Midnight
a modern day parable
written and performed by Mary Lincoln
directed by Samuel Ripman
Marcella wakes up in her mid-sixties (when did that happen?!).A botched eBay order forces her into the loft de-cluttering of a lifetime, taking her on an intriguing and unpredictable journey through her past, and close to a full-blown late life crisis.Mary Lincoln’s one woman show digs beneath the experiences of a professional actress to find humour, reflection and a desire to reawaken the inner child in all of us.
Performance Dates 2024-25
14th September '24: Sheringham Little Theatre 7.30 p.m. (Q&A 8.45 p.m.)
24th - 28th September '24: Jack Studio Theatre (Brockley) 7.30 p.m.
6th November '24: Crockenhil Village Hall 8.00 p.m. (Private Function)
19th February '25: Horsmonden Village Hall 2.00 p.m.
20th February '25: Hornton Kirby Village Hall 2.30 p.m. (Private Function)
13th March '25: Milestone Academy, New Ash Green (Private Function)
3rd April '25: Cuxton Social Club 7.30 p.m. (Private Function)
10th June '25: St. Stephen's Church, Chatham 2.00 p.m. (Private Function)
13th January '26: Village Hall, Downe 2.30 p.m. (Private Function)
14th January '26: United Reform Church, Bexley, 2.30 p.m. Private Function)
What the critics say
Betjemania (Kings Head Theatre)
“Mary Lincoln is particularly good as the nightclub hostess left facing an empty life “and a squashed tomato sandwich on the floor” (John Gross. Sunday Telegraph)
Die Fledermaus (Drill Hall)
“The whole cast is a delight but Mary Lincoln impresses most as Rosalinda . not only clear-voiced but perfectly cast as a classy wife who wears a dress like Audrey Hepburn but weakens to her lover’s sexual advance like Moll Flanders.” (Graham Hassell. Time Out)
Traviata (Donmar Warehouse)
“Mary Lincoln’s voice belongs in musical comedy, not in opera – no criticism, for it has a fetching purity …. She acts, and with the whole body: the face catches every fleeting mood as Violetta confronts the void in Act 1; and as the flame gutters and dies in Act 3, the limbs twitch, the torso convulses. A remarkable performance …” (Opera Magazine Annual Festival Issue Nick Kimberley)
“While the whole team deserves a medal, Mary Lincoln’s pathetic, half-starved, lovable Violetta deserves at least six. She is by far the production’s best singer and her captivating performance, so touchingly human from start to finish, stirs the audience to tears at her consumptive hospital deathbed”. (Alexander Waugh. Evening Standard)
Bremner, Bird and Fortune (Channel 4)
“….A remarkable thing happened at this week’s recording of our programme, during the largely improvised hidden camera sequence: grilled and chided by a Pop Idol style panel of Blair, Lord Irving and Alistair Campbell for not being tough enough to stand up to the wreckers, our Estelle Morris (Mary Lincoln) fought back with a spirited attack on their whole approach. Her performance surprised us all, and as she turned on her heels and left, the audience burst into applause. It was an extraordinary moment. We’d presented a positive image of a Labour minister fired with honest conviction, and people really responded.” (From a Sunday Telegraph interview with Rory Bremner.)
Goodnight Mister Tom (Wolsey Theatre Ipswich)
“…the child’s sin obsessed mother’s motivations and peculiarities are unexpectedly expanded in a chilling performance by Mary Lincoln.” (The Guardian. M Grosvenor Myer)
Wild Oats (Pitlochry Festival theatre)
“… but it was Mary Lincoln as Quaker Lady Amaranth ….who gave the most coolly assured performance of the night.” (Perthshire Advertiser)