Eilidh, Eilidh, Eilidh (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

Writer/Director Lana Pheutan is from Skye, where the play is set.

It’s Saturday night, and cousins Eilidh and Eilidh have missed out on a lock-in, so they break into a remote holiday cottage to carry on drinking.  It’s February, so none of those Air BnBs will be occupied.  Will they?

Boisterous Eilidh (MJ Deans) is a teacher, back on the island after 8 years in Glasgow.  And pissed off that she and her boyfriend are having to live with her mum, because everywhere else is too expensive.  The more reserved Eilidh Beag -wee Eilidh - has stayed on, and lives on her own in a tiny council flat.  Fired up by the boose and her own frustrations, the returnee rants about tourists and English making property too expensive.  While her cousin sees more of the bigger picture, conscious how much the tourists bring to the local economy.  Their banter is entertaining, with a serious undertone.

Things turn darker when the actual resident rushes in wearing a motorbike helmet and pyjamas, and threatening the youngsters with a shinty stick.  They all get a surprise when they realise that this is Ms NicilleMhicheil (Annie Grace), once the highly respected teacher of the 2 younger women.  And the situation reveals more about the island property scene than any of them had realised.  

A well crafted script provides a lot of laughs, and an optimistic ending, but doesn’t shy away from the darker problems that communities like these face from locals being priced out of their own homes.  While all 3 actors are excellent, Chelsea Grace as the more cautious girl brings an extra layer of subtlety to her performance that underwrites the complexity of the situation.  

Another excellent contribution to the PPP canon.  

Kev Campbell Was He (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

There aren't many plays which begin with the hero running in and getting himslef plonked down on the toilet with a sigh of relief, but that's the unusual opening of this one man performance, written by and starring Alexander Tait.  He plays the eponymous Kev, a working class man who almost does, but does not quite, fit in with his pals.  It takes a chance meeting with a stranger, who becomes his mwentor and new friend, to make him realise that there is another world he could fit into.  Even if it means having to leave his present behind him.

Tait delivers an energetic performance, not just as Kev talking direct to the audience, but also the voices in the dialogue - old best pal, new nest friend, and Moira, his slightly scary boss.  Using parallels with The Great Gatsby, the difficulties of moving from one world to another are clear, because they have very different standards.  In his old life 'gay' is a common slur, in his new it's just what people are.  Yet it's hard to defend the new world against the old, the one that's nurtured him for so long, and hard for the new to understand the old.  The drama lies in trying to resolve that conflict, and deciding who he is.

The set (above) provides 5 seats for different locations, an idea that works well.  But the drive comes from Tait, who is mesmerising at times.  He's a man to look out for.

Kris Drever & Chris Stout, Live at the Law, North Berwick

 As long standing fans of Mr Drever, we were not going to miss out on seeing his latest venture as a duo with fiddler Chris Stout.  The gig was in a scout hall, transformed with the addition of lights, and attracted a big crowd.  Turned out this was only the third gig of the Live at the Law venture, designed to bring some live music to North Berwick, and there was a large and enthusiastic crowd.  I wish the organisers well for the future.

The evening opened with local singer/songwriter Linday Strachan, with guitarist, fiddler and double bass alongside.  Together known as Wave of the Flood.  She has a decent enough voice, and some interesting songs, a fine support act.  But the arrangements were lacking in any real spark - it would have been fascinating to hear her voice supported by the more imaginative accompaniment of the main act!

Who were a huge step up in quality.  True virtuosos of their instruments.  Most of the material came from Drever's extensive catalogue of songs, and was familar to me, but Stout's fiddle managed to identify holes to fill where I never knew they existed.  The Shetlander also played a few home tunes, including a couple of wonderfully miserable bridal marches!

Ezxcerllent musicianship, entertaining introductions, and real beauty in the music, with Stout supplying endless variations on basic melodies.  Wonderful entertainment.

Dookin' Oot (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

Diane (Jannette Fogge) has had enough.  She's made it to 70, had a decent enough life, but now the body is packing up.  She's confined to her flat, seeing nobody except her carer Julie (Helen McAlpine) and young postie Connor (Kyle Gardiner).  Fortunately she has seen a solution to her problems - Dignitas.  A solution well beyond the grasp of her financial situation.

Julie's life a is a mess too.   Her abusive husband is getting too much to cope with.  But she has an idea how to make money for both her and Diane).  She'll become a dominatrix!  But how to make a start?

Connor has the answer - Onlyfans.  So he sets up the tech side and then the adventure begins.

It's very much played for laughs, and borders on good old-fahsioned farce at times.  But there are some serious undertones too, about the invibility of middle aged and elderly women, and the need to die with dignity.  Three strong performances, notably from McAlpine.

A hularious romp with a message should you choose to look for it.

Heaven, Traverse

 Mairead (Janet Moran) and Mal (Andrew Bennett) have been married for a couple of decades now. They're best pals, they say, but are they still husband and wife? Were they ever really?

They're back in Mairead's home town for her sister's wedding. From the city to an insular place where life has stood still and she finds many familiar faces. Not least her old lover, the one who she never forgot. While Mal is left to his own devices, falls off the wagon and lets himself indulge his long repressed fantasies. Both takes paths they had not expected, but are they really going to diverge?

The play takes the form of alternating monologues, her then him then her then him, as each talks about the self they've kept inside, and the person they have lived with. The technique emphasises their separateness, but their words also show their affection and understanding for one another, each explaining things that the other can't even admit to themselves. It's a perfect illustration of how lives can be so interconnected and so far apart, and of how long term relationships will often keep afloat long after the thrill of the launch has departed. That affection and dependence can take many forms.

It's a smart script, with plenty of Irish humour, and a few surprises. Two strong performances, but I sometimes felt I was losing my hearing during Moran's sections. But could hear every word Bennett uttered. It's a shame, as I'm sure I missed some good lines from the lack of projection.

Overall a very satisfying performance, and one that ends before you were expecting it, which is always a good sign. Well worth seeing.  

Hard Truths

 Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is angry.  And anxious.  She’s angry with her plumber husband Curtley (David Webber).  With 22 year old layabout son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett).  With her younger sister Chantelle (Michelle Austin).  With pretty much everyone she meets - in car parks, supermarkets, her doctor and dentist, the list of targets for her anger never ends.  And her anxiety makes her fearful of the world, where there is no safety.

Chantelle is a hairdresser, charming and confidence inspiring with her clients, fun and happy with her two daughters.  She wants Pansy to come with her to their mother’s grave, for the anniversary of her death.  Pansy even gets angry with that.

But she will eventually go, and the two families get together.  But even there the contrast between the two trios is stark.  While the shadow of Pansy’s anger hangs over everyone.  

So what will she do with faced with a situation that requires her to act with love?

Jean-Baptiste is superb, a tightly strung band always on the verge of unwinding dramatically.  Her rants are epic, her disdain apocalyptic.  But the vulnerability is never far away.  The reasons behind her behaviour leak out gradually.

.If this all sounds a bit grim you’d be wrong.  Pansy’s ire is hilarious viewing (although you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end) because it has no rationale.  We’ve all known someone like her, someone whose grumpiness and resentment is unending.  

The filming is up close and personal, filled with delightfully awkward silences and mumbled excuses, while the Chantelle aspect gives off vibes of real joy.  This is ordinary life in spades, the inconsequential gossip, the families that barely co-exist, the people who tolerate and those who don’t.

Another Mike Leigh masterclass in the everyday.

September 5

Anyone my age or older will probably remember the event, and how horrific it was at the time.  One of those world events you never completely forget.  It's all well documented now, so it's easy to read up on what happened to the terrorists and their victims.

But this film takes a new slant on what happened.  This was the first time that a terrorist event was able to be covered live on satellite TV, meaning the events in Munich found their way around the world immediately.  A team of sports broadcasters, from the American ABC network, suddenly found themselves in groundbreaking broadcast territory, and a sudden deluge of unfamiliar moral decisions to make.  If a hostage was murdered live on camera, should that be broadcast or not?

While the politics of the situation are touched on, it's largely in the context of how it determines the team's decisions.  This is about the human beings behind the cameras, and the strains it put on them.  The filming is claustrophobic, largely confined to the control studio, and using contemporary (grainy!) footage to show the unfolding drama being covered.  The tech is very much from the pre-digital era, and there's a lot of improvisation required.  Younger viewers will be shocked at how primitive it will all seem, but this was the cutting edge of TV sports broadcasting in 1972.

The focus is on the moral and emotional issues.  The mistakes made in a situation where the world is watcvhing through their lens.  The instincts of journalists wanting to pursue the story (and having to fight off the views of their own management who wanted a news team to take over - but the sports guys were the only ones actually there, on the scene).  Versus the moral responsibilities of playing their part in trying to achieve a safe ensding for all involved.  They even find themselves being invaded by German police at one pojnt, for hampering the efforts fo the authorities.  Are they reporters or voyeurs or accomplices.  The lines are sometimes blurred.

The style is often cinema verite, following characters rushing from one moment to another.  The messiness and confusion and need to make decisions comes across well.  There are some excellent performances, notably from John Magara as Geoff, the studio dierctor trying to hold it all together, and Leonie Benesch as Marianne, a (fictional) young German assistant, reflecting the mortification of her generation at the sins of their elders.

It's a strong drama, worth watching for the tension alone.  But the film also provides useful insights into the moral demands on journalists in life or death situations, and a the sesne of global trauma that came with those terrible events.