The Mill Theatre, Thurso, 5 September, 2009

WHEN Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting was first adapted to the stage, it was said the author’s dialogue, used to describe junkies from the schemes of Edinburgh, would never translate as far as Glasgow, let alone anywhere else outside Scotland. Something similar might be said about George Gunn’s latest work, The Fields of Barley.

The Fields of Barley

Set – as ever – in his native Caithness, Gunn’s dialogue is so deeply rooted in broad Caithness dialect, even those from nearby Sutherland and Ross-shire would struggle to identify the Caithness brogue, in-jokes, and quirks that littered the play’s (hand-held) pages. Then again, this is perhaps Gunn’s point: to keep it local.

Anyway, it’s Autumn 1943, and a love affair is developing between Maggie Mackay (Sheila Smith), a female “fermer” from Lower Pultneytown, and Leonard Rose (Peter Gordon), an Italian-American “pi’lid” with the U.S. Army. Mackay is self-effacing, just out of her teens and likely to begin her young, adult life as a widow. Rose, on the other hand, is merely a lonely soldier, bewildered by the flat, desolate terrain he finds himself in, and itching to sweep the young Mackay off her feet.

Problem is, she’s still married, and he has yet to discover if he’ll survive the war. Rose, however – just like a few others in the audience who are not overtly familiar with the Caithness language – can barely understand a word Mackay says. But it doesn’t really matter, for the common themes of love, loss and war are about as universal to understanding as anything else. And there’s a subtext, too: Caithness itself, and how it hopes to cope in the future.

Underpinned with lots of humour, and cannily directed by Queen Margaret University student, Iain MacDonald, there is also one other factor to consider here – the dialogue is being read direct from the script. Fair enough. However, the occasionally awkward chemistry between the actors (Smith is from nearby Murkle, while Gordon is from Edinburgh) is merely intensified when both are trying to read their lines – and kiss and cuddle each other at the same time.

That said, it is indeed an endearing, if not all together satisfying, tale. While Gunn rightly deserves credit for drawing worthwhile attention to a section of Scotland so often ignored by modern writers, you can’t help feel that The Fields of Barley is a Caithness play aimed squarely at Caithness people. Which is just like the play itself: brave, but limited.

© Barry Gordon, 2009

Links

• George Gunn
• Barry Gordon