Kontomble (The Shaman and the Boy), (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

Ray is a teenager with mental health problems, attending a unit that's trying to working his equilibrium.  At a bus stop he encounters Ezra, a West African who claims to be a Shaman, a healer through the power of community and spirit.  Ray feels that Ezra's words and advice can help him to recover.  His Auntie Ruth, who looks after him, is unconvinced.  A nurse herself, she has greater faith in the powers of conventional medicine than the more nebulous claims of superstition.

Is Ezra for real?  If he's a fake is he a genuine fake, a con man, or someone who believes in his own abilities to 'cure'?  And, when examined, does it matter?  Isn't it the end result that's most important?

In a secular society, where we look to science for answers, is there still a role for alternative approaches?  Is our city life, with it's disconnection from community, a part of our sickness?  This play doesn't provide any answers, but does raise questions.  Is it better to remain open minded, and honest, even it means going against accepted reason?

Keiran Marshall is superb as young, troubled Ray, torn between hope and despair, and looking for answers that will work for him .  Miles Yekinni provides a comforting presence as Ezra, a sense of ancient wisdoms, conflicting with the more conventional views of Beth Marshall's worried and loving Ruth.  With little more than a few chairs to play with the staging convincingly shifts scene from the damp Glasgow streets to Ruth's flat to the beach at Troon, the audience never in any doubt about what's happening where.  And there are some memorably funny lines as well.

A thoughtful and thought provoking forty five minutes.  Highly recommended.