Marital Arts

The monologue is increasingly becoming the dominant form of modern Scottish drama. Direct, short and intimate, it leaves enough change from the average production budget to afford a bit of a set, and can be adapted to different spaces. Both V.Amp and Gappad are offering female solos for Mayfesto, and both feature bravura central performances.

V.Amp's A Most Civil Arrangement has the bonus of Alison Peebles' sure direction alongside Anne Lacey's versatile performance. Tackling an increasingly non-controversial topic – at least in my social circle – V.Amp cover the prenuptial chaos of a civil partnership. Unfolding a clearly sign-posted twist, the episodic script takes Lacey's anxious and brow-beaten mother of the bride through predictable stages: the difficult discussions, the hen night, the ceremony.

There is something amiss in the morality of the monologue: we are asked to sympathise with a mother who cuckolds her daughter before the honeymoon has started. Colin Hough has twisted the idea of maternal love, as Lacey's mother is less bothered about her daughter's sexuality as her horrible personality. Through a series of recollections, including a disco scene and the witty finale, Lacey reveals years of bitterness, the script nuanced just enough to provide an insight into the invisible daughter's irritation at her passive-aggressive mother.

Gappad's Jordan is impressively performed by Magdalena Kaleta on a sparse stage, yet clocks in at nearly forty minutes too long. The script might be based on real events, but the descent of the murderous mother is stereotyped and insists on repetition, tangential readings of a fairy tale and a range of tormented woman cliches. A taut version, leaving a little more to the imagination and not so determined to paint the heroine as a victim, might have allowed Kaleta to capture the audience: as it is, the impact is dissipated.

Part of Mayfesto, these Global issues are resolutley domestic. They share the attempt to bring the experience of marginalised women to light, and could be paired as maternal meditations. The difference lies in the mature, humorous script of Arrangement against the striving intensity of Jordan.