Jamie Cowan

Gateway New Writing Festival

02/11/26

The Studio at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

It’s a fecund time for emerging playwrights as, hot on the heels of Saturday’s Trajectories by the Scottish Youth Theatre, comes The Gateway New Writing Festival, where six plays (still in development) will be shown over three evenings in the Festival Theatre’s studio. We’re here on opening night to see the first two.

In a Big Country by Ben Ramsay is an unnerving thriller set in a remote area of Scotland, where phone signals are mere phantoms and no one can hear you scream. Young couple James (Frederik Bang) and Maisie (Rachael Campbell) might be broke but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to celebrate their anniversary, so they’re exercising their right to roam and giving camping a go. Maybe a night under canvas will help to heal their troubled relationship? But they’ve reckoned without the overbearing landowner (Jamie Cowan), a strange, despotic man, who invites himself for a drink beside their campfire, armed with a knife and gun…

Directed by Rebecca Russel, Ramsey’s script bursts into life, with James and Maisie making a likeable and convincing couple. Bang and Campbell deliver sprightly, engaging performances, ensuring that we care about both characters, even as James’ insecurities bring out the worst in him. Posh weirdo Richard is perhaps less believably conceived, but Cowan imbues him with a suitably menacing presence, the tension ramping up as the couple’s dream of a romantic getaway slowly turns into a nightmare.

There are a few small issues that still need working out: the duo’s gullibility stretches credulity at times, and the ending is something of a damp squib. Nonetheless, In a Big Country has a lot going for it: the pace is kinetic and the atmosphere chilling. The couple’s problems serve as a microcosm, a commentary on wider social issues that affect us all. Ramsey is certainly one to watch.

Tonight’s second play, The Tide by Sophie Good, is a story of love and loss. Helen (Kirsten Maguire) and her husband, Grant (Paul Wilson), feel a strong attachment to their seaside town; it holds all of their memories. They had their first kiss in the local chippy and raised their little boy on sandcastles and ice-cream. Not that things are rosy any more: following an argument with his mum, their teenage son ran away and has now been missing for years, while coastal erosion means their clifftop cottage is in imminent danger of collapse. The council has issued an eviction notice, but how can Helen and Grant leave with Tom still unaccounted for? What if he comes back and can’t find them? And anyway, Grant doesn’t want to live in a ticky-tacky new-build. How will he distract himself without any repairs or renovations to do?

I love the premise of this piece: the symbolism of the crumbling home and the couple’s quiet desperation as they wait and wait for their son’s return. Under James Wood’s direction, their sadness is palpable, their fragile hopes almost unbearable.

There are places where the script could do with being pared back (the ‘partial sea view’ from the modern apartment is referenced too often, and we don’t always need words – such as ‘handcuffs’ – to tell us what is clearly visible). In addition, the exits and entrances slow down the pace; I think it would be better to keep the actors on stage throughout. For example, instead of playing to an empty stage, the recorded voices in the flashback would be more powerful if they were juxtaposed with the older iterations of Helen and Grant sadly muddling through their day. Niggles aside, The Tide has a lot of potential and I look forward to seeing more of Good’s work.

New writing festivals like Gateway are integral to the future of theatre, and it’s exciting to see what the next generation of playmakers has to offer. If you’re looking for something to do in the run up to Bonfire Night, why not take a chance on the next four plays (Stomach by Ben Kay, Dead People Don’t Have Data by Laura Tansley, ULTRAVIOLENCE! By Will Osbon and Steam by James Stedman)?

4 stars

Susan Singfield

[Un]lovable: a Work-in-Progress Performance

13/02/26

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Not So Nice Theatre Company presents a Valentine’s scratch-night with an acerbic edge, showing excerpts from five works-in-progress, all inspired by the prompt, ‘Unlovable’. In the run up to February 14th, the world is awash with heart-shaped tat and exhortations to be romantic. But sometimes life just doesn’t pan out that way…

First up is Clown Divorce, written by Russ Russell and directed by Sarah Docherty. We first meet Clown (Chris Veteri) as he struggles to push a suitcase across the stage. The visual gag is funny precisely because of its predictability: as the drawn out routine builds to its inevitable conclusion, the laughs it receives are very well-earned. Along the way, we begin to notice small details. Clown isn’t wearing any shoes, his socks have blood on them – and where is his red nose? The clue is in the title. Clown has recently divorced, and has lost half of his identity in the process…

Next, we have Wish Me Luck by Melissa Ainsworth. Cassie (Hannah-Mae Engstorm) has just been dumped and is contemplating jumping in front of a bus. Not that she wants to kill herself, mind. She just wants to grab her ex’s attention. But passer-byJamie (Jamie Cowan) isn’t about to stand by and watch it happen. Not after everything he’s been through… Directed by Adele Tunnicliff, WML has an intriguing premise, but needs more time to do justice to the complex issues it raises.

The final piece of the first act is Ryan Lithgow’s three-hander Tit for Tat, starring Veteri (again) as Nathan, Stan Ross as Darcey and Samuela Noumtchuet as Ellie. Under Cormac Myles’ direction, this is a tense dissection of a relationship, the two men veering from hurt and hostility to an uneasy admission that their anger stems from a place of love. However, Noumtchuet is under-used as Ellie: the character’s sudden, unexpected appearance ought to herald a change in pace or tone, but the men’s dialogue continues in much the same vein as before, as they rehash their past.

The standout piece comes after the interval: Emma McCaffrey’s funny and heartbreaking monologue, La Solitude, directed by Becca Donley. We’re well aware of McCaffrey’s prowess as a performer (we have seen them in Lung Ha’s Castle Lennox and Stella Quines’ Disciples) but this is our first experience of them as a playwright and I suspect it won’t be the last. The piece is beautifully written with just the right amount of levity to carry its serious points. At once laugh-out-loud funny, poignant and provocative, this is an intensely thought-provoking play. McCaffrey is Lee, a lively, engaging young woman, who – like McCaffrey – has autism and learning difficulties. We first meet her as a child, eight years old, receiving a diagnosis she doesn’t understand and which nobody explains to her. All she knows is that it makes her parents cry. As a teenager, she is isolated at school, infantilised by teachers and support workers, unable to make friends. And things don’t improve when she reaches adulthood: Lee can’t live independently, but that doesn’t mean she’s a child; it doesn’t mean she doesn’t want a job, a social life, or – heaven forfend – a love life. Why shouldn’t she?

Last up, we have Defective, written and directed by Not So Nice’s own AD, Grace Ava Baker. We’re in the near future and Abigail (Indigo Buchanan) has just given birth. The Assessor (Eleanor Tate) has some bad news… With a premise akin to Minority Report, Defective explores the idea of original sin from a mother’s perspective. Is nature really so much more important than nurture? What price are we prepared to pay for a safer society? And whose word should we accept about our children’s destiny? Although the ending is a little muddled – without giving too much away, I don’t understand what Abigail does with that syringe – this is a compelling piece, raising some important questions about autonomy.

All in all, this is an thoroughly entertaining evening, a welcome antidote to all the red roses and slushy poetry.

4 stars

Susan Singfield