Images © Douglas McBride.Writer: Liz Lochhead
Director: Tony Cownie
Length: 130 minutes.
16th September - 15th October 2011.
Eagle eyed readers of this blog (of which I'm sure there are hundreds) will notice that the name of this one horse show is taken from the latest offering from the Lyceum's season, a play I consider to be a modern classic. Indeed, in a Scotland with a majority Nationalist government and the idea of independence an increasing reality, the 1987 play by the Makar Liz Lochhead (Scottish version of the Poet Laureate) feels more relevant than ever.
Set during the reigns of the twa queens of the wan green island, the play follows the stories of Mary (Shauna Macdonald), naive and passionate, and Elizabeth (Emily Winter), scheming and ambitious, as they face sexism, sectarianism, patriarchal expectations and the threat of each other. Macdonald, best known for her work on Spooks, is a stand out in a strong ensemble, filling Mary with a quiet determination that offsets her more emotion driven nature. Kudos to Macdonald for mastering the Scots dialect with a French accent. Credit must also be given to Ann Louise Ross, who makes a feisty Corbie, the witty narrator who knows how things must end, and Liam Brennan, who encapsulates everything that was so appealing and terrifying about the legacy of John Knox. If I have one complaint about the acting, it is for Emily Winter, who seems to be playing Elizabeth like Miranda Richardson in Blackadder II. It's a good performance, and she excels in the scenes as Mary's servant Bessie, but it feels unsuited to this particular interpretation of the character, a scheming, proto-Thatcher politician who can and will rise to any challenge. The action lags a little in the second act but not so much that it detracts the audience from the story.
What struck me most about this production was its sense of immediacy. With Scotland's current political and religious climate, Lochhead's text feels all too current, a full on in-yer-face reminder that our troubles may not have changed much in the interim 500 years. Corbie introduces our country as a place where the national past-time is nostalgia (even today, there are pictures of Mary Queen of Scots' face on the side of buses in Edinburgh - her use as a symbol of patriotic pride despite our previous efforts to wipe her from our historical landscape do not escape Lochhead) but this is definitely not the Scotland of our tourism friendly pictures. Set to a scrapyard-like backdrop, populated with a mixture of historical and contemporary items (a John Knox statue with a traffic cone on top - a common site around the city and one I enjoy far too much), the audience is never allowed to forget the universal troubles of religion, politics and sexism that still plague our world today. Indeed, the famous final scene still feels as daring as ever as it serves to remind us of the continuing damage Sectarianism has on our society. Don't go in expecting a traditional period piece!
After a somewhat underwhelming start to the season with Wondrous Flitting, the Lyceum is back on characteristically strong form with a tightly directed production, each part working in harmony like a well oiled machine. The production (done with the Dundee Rep, yet another wonderful production to add to their acclaimed ensemble) packs a punch and prods the audience to remember that the stain of Sectarianism still exists today and hundreds of years of grudges won't disappear overnight. I know a few football fans who could do with seeing this play.
4/5.
More information for the production is available here. The production will transfer to the Dundee Rep from 19th October - 5th November. Details for that are available here.
(Side note: I actually have my copy of the play signed by Lochhead and may take a photo of it to post here later to be smug about if anyone's interested.)
