Spectrum Centre, Inverness, 14 October 2006

The Heretic's Tale

THE STORY of Elspeth Buchan and the Buchanite sect is fascinating, fertile ground for a dramatic work, especially – as Hamish MacDonald describes it – in “a time when religious fervour and devotion to extreme ideas appear to be as seductive as ever.”

With a strong central performance by Annie Grace as Elspeth and Matthew Zajec as her devoted follower, Andrew Innes, this two-handed play leads the audience into an exploration of faith and doubt, human frailty and the power of delusion.

The ideas that it grapples with are at times stronger than the script, which calls for greater development. It was interesting to note that a shorter version of the play was performed in 2005 for the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association Story Nation Weekend which lead me to wonder about the structure of the play in its current form.

There is potential here for the whole work to engage the audience in the same way that the arrangement of the stage mirrors the architectural setting of an eighteenth century congregation. There was potential through language of turning that entire mechanism of persuasion and truth on its head. It is a play of unequal acts but incredible potential.

The power of the word as used in the pulpit could also have been used here to greater effect and suggestion, especially in relation to the staging, which at times seemed clumsy.

The heavy box hauled from one end of the stage to the other by two already hard working actors in order to set the scene of gaol, dwelling, doorway and coffin is laboured. Letting the audience use their imaginations, better design in terms of staging and lighting, and tightening the script would have achieved more than a cumbersome stage prop, and maintained pace.

Budget constraint should not be a barrier to imaginative design and greater engagement of the audience’s imagination and emotion through the script would have allowed the actors to absolutely excel.

Grace’s range as an actor is impressive: comic, manipulative, fervent, fearful, tender and dominant. Her relationship with Innes is reduced powerfully to the final image of leader and follower. Elspeth Buchan is a fascinating character of many parts. The character of Innes is less convincing in its inherent weakness and devotion, when this could have been written and played with equal complexity.

Amy Geddes on fiddle replaced Christine Hanson on cello for this performance. There was a sense that the timbre of a cello would have been more attune with the mood of the play and an unexpected way of adding depth to the experience through sound.

Andy Thorburn’s sound design set the stage for transformation to another time haunted by voices, children singing, birds, harp notes and storm. The ability of sound and word to immediately conjure image could have been further utilised in setting each scene.

‘The Heretic’s Tale’ is successful because the issues it raises stay with you long after the lights go up. The audience is intrigued to know more about an extraordinary woman and the dynamics of her time reflected in our own.

In dramatic terms the play is a sound argument for continued support for emerging writing, performance and development of new work so that the idea equals its translation in performance.

© Georgina Coburn, 2006

Links

• Dogstar Theatre