Claire Lamont

Baby Mash-Up, What On Earth Are You Doing?

23/05/26

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The play that lurks behind that somewhat portentous title is a strange, fragmentary affair, featuring seemingly unanswered questions in the life of the titular character. These moments are revealed in a series of short scenes that career back and forth across the years. When we first encounter her, Baby Mash-Up (Claire Lamont) is a child, drawing simple designs onto paper, her primitive artwork displayed on a series of hanging sheets that provide a backdrop. But as soon as she speaks, it’s clear that she’s actually an adult looking back at her own childhood.

But this is to be no ordinary journey through one person’s life. It will include the bombastic observations of her father (Benny Young), her tragic mother (Pauline Goldsmith) and her sister (Jasmin Gleeson). There will be regular interruptions from various famous philosophers, memories of the horrors of Belfast’s Bloody Friday – and some involuntary tap-dancing. There are also regular visits from two mysterious young men (Paul Gorman and Cristian Ortega). The latter duo appear to have been charged with resetting Baby M’s life when things go wrong – which they often do – a simple process that involves putting her into a washing machine and pressing the ‘on’ switch.

Note to self: where can I get one of those? Amazon?

You could say that the play is pretentious and perhaps it is, a little bit, but that’s not necessarily a criticism. Some of the most ambitious art is ostentatious by its very nature and it’s undeniable that Sally Hobson’s Baby Mash-Up does exert an increasingly stronger hold on me as it progresses, until by the final scenes, I am completely hooked.

On the technical side, I’m impressed by Nicholas Bone’s tight direction, which keeps the piece unerringly on course – and by Cal Owen’s inventive set design, which is further enhanced by Dick Straker’s immersive video effects. The cast are uniformly excellent in their respective roles (particularly Gorman and Ortega, who are compelled to leap from character to character at the drop of a philosopher’s hat) and even if I do leave the theatre still asking myself ‘what the flip was that all about?’ I have nonetheless been both challenged and thoroughly entertained.

Job done.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

The Events

27/02/25

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The opening moments of The Events could hardly be more congenial, as Chaplain Claire (Claire Lamont) welcomes the large group of people who comprise her community choir. They gather, greet each other and perform a few joyful songs – and, since there’s a drinks trolley on stage, they offer people in the audience a tea or coffee. The drinks are made and duly dispensed. The atmosphere is warm, relaxed and celebratory.

And then The Boy (Sam Stopford) walks in and the mood changes dramatically. It’s clear from the outset that he is here to brutally destroy everything that Claire and her followers stand for – and something heinous swiftly ensues. One of the strengths of David Greig’s affecting play is that it takes its time revealing what has actually happened. Instead, we’re taken to the aftermath of the titular events, to see Claire trying to make sense of them, attempting to evaluate her own reactions to the tragedy.

In her desperate search to come up with answers, she talks to different people about what happened on that fateful day. Stopford slips effortlessly into the different roles, giving each character’s take on the subject. A writer, a politician, Claire’s partner, Catriona – each of them attempting to communicate their own perspective. The overpowering quest for answers takes Claire to the very brink of her own sanity and even sees her contemplating revenge.

Director Jack Nurse keeps the audience riveted throughout the play, aided by Becky Minto’s deceptively simple set design and Lizzie Powell’s vibrant lighting. Both Lamont and Stopford give powerful, and compelling performances in their very different roles, while the members of the seventeen-strong choir add songs that range from upbeat to melancholic.

There’s a moment of coup de théâtre that quite literally makes me gasp – and a resolution that drops the final piece into place.

Ultimately, The Events is about forgiveness, about coping with unimaginable distress. It’s about the complex process of healing. This is a powerful production from Wonder Fools with some surprising – and uplifting – twists in the telling.

4. 4 stars

Philip Caveney