Glenurqhuart Hall, Drumnadrochit, 18 October 2011

THERE are times, as a reviewer, when your role feels surplus to requirement.

After watching a a production that is particularly insightful and well-crafted, any critique that you might offer seems completely superfluous. However, in this case, I almost feel as if I can contribute something useful; by telling people why they simply have to see Six and a Tanner.

David Hayman in Six and a Tanner

The play is an autobiographical account of Rony Bridge’s childhood in 1950’s Springburn, Glasgow, and recalls the traumatic abuse that he suffered at the hands of his parents. The stage is occupied solely by actor David Hayman and a coffin, representing his dead father. This pared down simplicity creates an uncomfortable sense of intimacy that would be lost if the theatre was filled by half a dozen actors. There are no distractions and no escape routes: the audience have no choice but to stare on as the adult Joe relives the traumas of his childhood.

This is not to say that Six and a Tanner is not an enjoyable play. As well as being immeasurably sad, it is also one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Hayman is a natural storyteller, and tales of ‘The Tablet that was’nae Tablet’ and ‘Billy the Imaginary Horse’ are delivered with effortless comic timing. Hayman recounts that in a rare act of kindness, the father gives Joe a little black kitten. The boy is thrilled but suspicious because, as the adult Joe now shrewdly muses, when his father was concerned ‘‘there was always a catch.’’ Sure enough, as the kitten grows bigger and more ferocious, it transpires that it is not a cat at all. Joe’s father has given him a panther.

Hayman’s skill of deftly switching between the comic and the macabre is unnerving, and makes the tragic elements of the play all the more heartbreaking; especially when one is reminded that this isn’t just a performance, but the story of Bridge’s childhood. If one purpose of the play is to shock, then it achieves this end completely: the audience is left with a complete sense of disbelief at man’s capability for cruelty.

Bleak as the tale may be, there is an optimistic message to take home from Six and a Tanner. While Bridges may never forgive his parents for their actions, he has turned his experiences into something positive. We are reminded at the end that while Bridges had the strength and resilience of spirit to overcome his past, this is not the case for everyone. Once the play is over, the audience has the chance to support its sponsor ChooseLife – the national action plan for suicide prevention in Scotland. This serves as a reminder that theatre doesn’t have to confine its message to the stage; it can be used as a vehicle for implementing change.

© Rowan Macfie, 2011

Links

• ChooseLife
• Glenurquhart Hall