[Bronagh Lagan]
MRS PRESIDENT
Feb-Mar 2025 – Charing Cross Theatre
An Arts Pond production
Book, Music & Lyrics by John Ransom Phillips
Director – Bronagh Lagan
Starring Keala Settle as Mary Lincoln & Hal Fowler as Matthew Brady
Set & Costume Design – Anna Kesley
AV– Matt Powell
Lighting Design – Derek Anderson
Sound Design – Eamonn O’Dwyer
Movement Direction – Sam Rayner
Producer – Arts Pond
Washington D.C. A nation divided. A woman rewritten by history.
As the Civil War rages and America fractures under the weight of grief, ambition and political violence, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln finds herself battling not only for her husband’s legacy, but for her own survival inside a society determined to destroy her.
Told through the eyes of pioneering photographer Mathew Brady, Mrs President re-examines one of the most misunderstood women in American political history. Publicly vilified, fiercely intelligent and emotionally combustible, Mary Lincoln becomes trapped between private grief and public performance as the country turns her into spectacle.
Featuring a powerhouse performance from Keala Settle, this newly reimagined production blends sweeping musical storytelling with an intimate psychological portrait of a woman trying to hold herself together while the world collapses around her.
Directed by Bronagh Lagan, Mrs President is a contemporary exploration of power, media scrutiny, political image-making and the impossible standards imposed on women at the centre of history.
