Lisa's an Aberdonian quine whose life centres on her annual holidays in the sun with her oldest friend Shelley. Until said friend announces that this year she's heading off to Ibiza with her boyfriend, the creepy Gareth. And what, who, is Lisa without her holiday and her bestie?
In song and storytelling Lisa (Bethany Tennick) takes us through her life from who she thought she was, to the person that emerges from the other end. She resonds to an advert for a retreat, a chance to get away and have a bit of pampering. But the reality isn't all saunas and massage, but a strange forest hideaway presided over by the enigmatic Babs and, for all that it doesn't look anything like she expected, Lisa will never be the same again.
Based loosely on the East European myths of the ambiguous Baba Yaga (a name perhaps best known in this part of the world, from Mussorgsy and ELP), Morna Young's script is fast paced and very funny, mixing Scots reality with Slavic legend and magic. . While the resolution may ring a bit of New Age simplicity, there's an underlying message that we don't get to say where we came from, and sometimes that can make it hard to know who we really are.
Tennick is excellent as the dimly Doric Lisa going from confusion to realisation, and throws in a further half dozen characters along the way. She's got great comic timing, a decent singing voice rth and guitar skills, and brings forth all the fun from the full fifty five minutes.
There might be a touch of fay hippydom about it, but Babs is wonderfully entertaining and memorable.
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