David Harrower, a new writer from Glasgow, is the author of Knives in Hens, a strange and atmospheric play set in an isolated village in a past time, before machinery. It is a kind of love triangle, but not in the romantic sense. The emotions depicted here are harsh, attempts to escape from a world of oppression and cruelty.
Pony William is a ploughman for whom his physical needs are paramount. They are filled by the fields, horses and the young wife he has recently acquired. She is content at first, in the way of her village; but she soon finds her new life inimical to personal growth, a barrier to understanding of the world around her.
When she is sent to bring corn to the miller blamed by the villagers for the death of his wife and son, she goes with a head full of superstition. But he is literate, a lover of books, and their initial hostility gradually changes to mutual respect. She finds that her husband is unfaithful to her with a village girl and begins to rebel against his routine tyrannies. Her own infidelity, when it happens, is virtually at his command.
By the downbeat ending, each of the three is on a new path to self-discovery. Paul Buckley, Susan Church and Paddy Rocks are excellent in the roles, playing to each other's strengths and filling the 80 minutes or so with introspective drama. Louise Drumm directs and the evocative set design is by Rosy Barnes and Nigel Hannon.
Continues until November 28th; booking on: 01-6703361.
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