Three women, a century apart, condemned for their unconventional or illicit relationships, find refuge in a remote croft, where myth and memory swirl about like Highland mist.
Enid clings on despite the threat of being burnt out for too close a relationship with the young, abandoned Eileen; Ruth leaves husband Tom, a censorious Deuteronomy-quoting pastor to set up home there with David; and Ruth’s daughter Laura, around whom the play revolves, seeks a new life in the croft with lover Suzanne, and maybe to exorcise old ghosts.
In this complex thriller, with actors playing more than one part across the generations, things go bump in the daytime, lights flicker and selkies—women transformed into seals—lurk in the waters.
I reviewed the show here in 2020 before its UK tour was halted by COVID-19, and in this revival directed by Alastair Whatley, there seems more emphasis on the psychology, less on the claustrophobic sense of fear pervading the place—although that may be partly due to the travelling set being rather small for the Malvern stage.
Two of the original cast thankfully remain—Caroline Harker as Suzanne and Ruth and Simon Roberts as Tom and Eileen’s father, both giving stalwart performances as one would expect. I particularly admired his slow, soft-shoe departure after a vain bid to win her back. The man knows how to make an exit.
But the surprise package was understudy Rheanna Trueman, stepping up for Gracie Follows in the dual roles of Laura and Eileen. One senses from the start some underlying secret that she carries, before her breezy tone gradually rises to North Sea gale force ten as she whips up the emotions. The other cast members surrounded to applaud at the curtain call. Count me in.
Other players are in fine form: Lisa Goddard is the name on the tin, but in the comparatively lesser character of Enid, and Gray O’Brien—best known as bad boy Tony Gordon in Coronation Street—sits perfectly within his natural Scottish brogue as David.