"Mary Stuart" is the great historical topical performance of the season, marking the triumphant return of a sovereign of Romanian artistic creation in the first theater of the country after an absence as long as a human life. Andrei Serban is, quite simply, royal, writing, with a venerable, universally recognized grace, yet another important page in the history of the National Theatre in Bucharest.

Horia Ghibutiu, Blog - The art of the present for Andrei Serban in "Mary Stuart" at the NTB 

Art has its own delicate laws and its own rules, which it also breaks when necessary - but now the planets had aligned too much for a triumphant return of Andrei Serban on the stage of the National Theater, after more than thirty years. This is the second of Andrei Serban's amazing shows I've seen in 2024 (...) What do we have in the story of Mary Stuart and what do we see on the stage of the Studio Hall at the TNB? But what don't we have.... The struggle for Power, betrayal as common currency at Court, flattery to gain trust, the fierce ambition of parvenu by any means, getting into the Queen's good graces and, on the contrary, falling from grace, double talk and the art of duplicity, rabid jealousy, feminine and masculine, black, abyssal hatred for the adversary who stands as an obstacle in the way, lying in waves and in steps, denunciation, plotting and unmasking the plotters among themselves, brute force summoned without the slightest remorse or diplomatic "finesse", transparent blackmail, direct or veiled threats, religious fanaticism, with the hatred of Catholics for Protestants and Protestants for Catholics, then the hatred of the English for the French and the French for the English, then the ferocity of the fights and disputes between courtiers, between councilors, between the people closest to Queen Elizabeth I.

Daniel Cristea-Enache, Liternet.ro - Triumphant return - Mary Stuart   

The premiere of Mary Stuart at the NTB is, therefore, an extraordinary comeback of Andrei Serban on the national stage, an exceptional cultural event that brings together the tradition of classical theater and directorial innovation, being an invitation for today's spectators to reflect on a historical past that, in many ways, continues to reverberate in the present. You go home wondering: Whom are we today hastily "guillotining" for fear of rivalry on the basis of fabricated documents?

Alexandra Ares, Rinocerul Magazine - Andrei Serban electrifies the NTB stage with the national premiere of Mary Stuart by Robert Icke  

The director led to the realization of a special relationship of communication between stage and hall, between the authors of the performance and the audience. Andrei Serban contextualizes, paraphrases, in a postmodern register and preserves the themes of classical dramaturgy. The performance, performed by the cast of the Bucharest National Theatre - coordinated by Andrei Serban, assisted by Daniela Dima -, marks a substantialization of the Idea, full of meaning, visualizing it through a spectacular concretization of intuition, so that the reception is equivalent to a revelation.

Madalina Dumitrache, Bel-Esprit.ro - Lionesses in the historical carousel - "Mary Stuart"  

Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu