Strange Doings

Although the National Theatre of Scotland's fifth year reflects either a willingness to diversify in terms of stle, form and contact, or a broad anxiety about its intrinsic identity, certain theatre-makers have become key collaborators with the company. Playwright David Greig, later offering his Macbeth sequel Dunsinane, and musician Ali Macrae, CATS award winner and the musical power behind both Communicado's Government Inspector and the NTS' Peter Pan, are both implicated in this rousing mash up of folk ballads, doggerel poetry, meditations on the role of myth, academic pretension and alcohol. Touring in pubs, bars and other unusual locations, The Strange Undoing of Prudentia Hart emphatically leaps out from beneath the proscenium arch, straight into the laps, and hearts, of the audience.

With most of the cast jumping between roles - sometimes a folk band, sometimes a Greek chorus of narrators, then professors engaged intellectual warfare, a shape shifting Devil or drunken slappers out on the piss - the versatility of Greig's script is echoed in the actor's bravura exchanges. The overall style is as unsteady as the NTS' annual programme: story-telling, physical theatre, karaoke, folk song and academic discourse jostle in the narrative.

Greig's structure is superb, as is his ability to connect the apparently disparate influences. Prudentia reclaims traditional tales and poetry for the age of Facebook and Twitter without sentimentality or token contemporary references. There are sing-a-longs, interludes for reflection, ironic observations and a final conclusion that makes peace with the haunting monster of the Scottish ballad: when the heroine addresses her final song, Kylie's Can't Get You Out of My Head, to a teary-eyed Lucifer, it both concludes the story and serves as an uneasy farewell to this folk demon, now a danger out of time and unloved, unnecessary.

Tight direction allows the cast to use the entire bar space and still hold the attention, and the cast are stunning. Greig's rhyme has a few moments of doggerel, and the sundry pauses and asides make the show a long two and a half hours. Fortunately, the leisurely pace and the relaxed atmosphere makes the time appropriate. Although this is a light, playful peace, it connects to the Scottish ceilidh tradition in an engaging and imaginative manner.