Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Neil Cooper ****
There are moments in David Greig's 2002 play when it looks like it might become a treatise on how a ruling elite can co-opt an entire community for their cause. It is true that the two Cambridge naturalists investigating the bird-life on a remote Scottish island prior to the outbreak of World War Two are agents of the state on unwitting reconnaissance. Once the island's dour custodian Kirk is out of the way, however, the nature-watch conducted by the mercurial Robert and his wet-behind-the-ears sidekick John takes on an altogether more liberating tone. This is particularly the case where Kirk's niece Ellen is concerned.
By the second half, the trio are en route to creating a pagan Eden for themselves a million miles from buttoned-up mainland conventions. It is here where things really begin to fly in Richard Baron's up close and personal touring revival for the Borders-based Firebrand company in partnership with Heart of Hawick. One minute Robert and John are doing an accidental slapstick routine with Kirk's body, the next the play's simmering erotic undercurrent has given way to full on sexual awakenings as human nature and animal mentality merge as one.
This is performed with such poetically realised force by James Rottger as John, Martin Richardson as Robert and Helen Mackay as Ellen that it all but becomes an anthropological dance or primal mating ritual, with Ellen's libertine siren spirit leading the charge. It is this desire for purity that makes Greig's play so quietly subversive. Only when Crawford Logan's Captain prepares to take Ellen and John back to a civilisation where war rather than free love looks set to reign does reality finally bite.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article