A BIT OF A BOAR

reviewed homerstraverse theatre, edinburghuntil october 19 then touringHHH

WITH Britain's urban and rural communities at loggerheads, the city-based Traverse company is about to embark on its annual tour of the Highlands and Islands. As in previous years, the material chosen is apposite, but what makes Homers especially timely is its two contrasting settings in Glasgow and an unspecified Hebridean village.

Iain F MacLeod's play is set in the 1960s, when urban Scottish orphans were often fostered into rural families. The central characters, Alex and Mary, are two such "homers", Catholic teenagers who find themselves in Calum MacNeil's sternly Presbyterian household.

What follows is a drama of culture shock and the struggle between repression and human urges. Calum and his compassionate wife Catherine Ann are believable if rather predictable figures; but aside from them the play is mostly peopled by stock characters: the jealous, narky son; the thuggish school bully; the lascivious local flirt. However, an enigmatic dimension is added by Priest, a former clergyman with a taste for cannabis (one of several nicely turned characterisations by Stephen Docherty); and by the bizarre appearance of a mythic figure known as Whaler.

Even more bizarre, though, are the interludes of absurd wordplay and knockabout comedy - from the schoolmarm's misheard contributions to a village meeting to a matador-style pig slaughter. These scenes are staged with variable success in Philip Howard's otherwise sure- handed and confident production. But even the best of them feel overly incongruous, puncturing the fabric of the main plot and depleting its impact. And the storyline is disappointingly flimsy. MacLeod sets up some interesting dynamics between his characters, but seems uncertain how to develop them; and neither the conflicts that arise nor their resolutions are very unexpected. A fair amount of the dialogue is in Gaelic (and the surtitles are not visible from all seats) though their gist is usually clear enough until the play's downbeat final moments - ironically one of its finest passages.

MacLeod has fun satirising both Hebridean and Glaswegian culture; and that fun is clearly shared by his cast - Iain Macrae, for example, plays Calum with the authority he's brought to similar roles before, but clearly relishes his second role as a prudish spinster.

Audiences should have fun too - and they're certain to like Alastair G Bruce and Mary Gapinski as Alex and Mary. But there's a lack of depth and substance here that left me feeling a touch unsatisfied.

Copyright 2002
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