Lilit Lesser Talks BBC’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light

Exiled From Court

The BBC’s adaptation of the second part of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light, starts soon and here’s one of its stars Lilit Lesser, who plays Lady Mary, talking about it…

Please tell us about Mary – Princess to some, and Lady to others?

It’s an extraordinary journey. At the beginning of the series she is in what she would see as a cruel and awful exile away from Court, where she has been since the deposition of her mother – Katherine of Aragon – who she wasn’t able to see when she died. They were incredibly close and had a really extraordinary relationship. Katherine saw to it that Mary was incredibly well educated, pretty much to the level that a Prince would be. She was very much bred to be this golden child and an omen of sons to come. So she had this mythic quality of being the only one of her siblings to survive and she was doted on by her father and mother. Henry boasted that Mary never cried. This is a huge contrast to what happens following the marriage being dissolved, Mary being declared illegitimate, sent away and stripped of her title. So at the beginning of the series, she’s in this real space of violent turmoil where she’s railing against this idea that she must accept her father as head of the church, which for Mary, a staunch Catholic, is unthinkable. It’s glorious how resilient she is.

What is Mary’s relationship with Cromwell like?

This is the divine thing about Hilary’s work – there’s just endless layers and nuances and possibilities. That’s why it’s such a challenge and a treat to play, to try to honour the complexity of these layers, all of these different matters of politics and of the heart that are often so extremely at odds. There’s nothing more exhilarating than the relationship between Cromwell and Mary. Here are two people with polar opposite politics but who seem to be very drawn to each other and find a real kindred spirit in one another, for better or worse. I think neither of them are very accustomed to meeting somebody who really looks them in the eye and understands what they are seeing and is a real witness to them. I think Cromwell is very adept at remaining quiet and seeing deep into the hearts of people and playing these incredible long games, gambling and winning. And Mary is also a gambler, we see. And I think they’ve met their match with one another in a lot of ways, which is thrilling. She sort of sees him as her one ally, her one friend in the world. And at the same time, this is the man who oversaw the downfall of her mother.

What were your favourite filming locations?

There was one in particular which really struck me, the location we used for Hunsdon House, which had broken windows where jackdaws had flown through the chimneys. It was dressed to be very rundown… You could feel the melancholy in the place. These fantastic torn tapestries that really fed this feeling of what, to Mary, felt like imprisonment and being forgotten in these shadowy halls.

And how was working with Mark and Damian again?

It’s just the hugest honour and joy. They are so alive and it’s just the greatest joy to jump into this glorious wrestling match of wills. They both have an extraordinary sensitivity that is palpable. It feels like a closing of a circle to me – I did the first series as my first ever job when I was seventeen and I’ll never forget Mark’s incredible kindness, patience and generosity. He took the time to stop and ask me “do you know what’s happening?”, with all of these technical elements that were very new to me. And I was able to be like “… no!”, and he explained everything to me with such warmth. So to return ten years later was very meaningful.