Strangers, Babies

Article by Philippa Cochrane | 11 Apr 2007
There are some truths that are so difficult to deal with that we actively spend time not thinking about them. Strangers, Babies by Linda McLean has one of those truths sitting at its centre, shielded from view, intangible, frequently sliding out of the audience's grasp, but there and undeniable none the less. May's life is defined by a terrible act she and her brother perpetrated when they were just children. Every relationship in her adult life is defined by her search for normality, her attempts at personal absolution and her yearning for a lost innocence that she has denied herself.

The audience are shown May with each of the men in her life – her caring husband, her dying father, her estranged brother, the man she met in an internet chatroom and the Child Protection Officer. Each relationship more closely defines her attempts to put her past behind her, and the reasons why that will probably never be possible.

This is a strong cast – each of the male actors brings nuance to roles that could be presented purely as foils. Sean Scanlan finds poignancy in an embittered dying man and Iain Robertson as May's brother Denis is scaldingly raw. But this is, has to be, May's play, and Gillean Kearney provides the focus that the piece needs. By turns vulnerable and fiercely strong, lost and determinedly certain, Kearney walks a tightrope that turns the character of May from the ghost left over when a child killer grows up into a living individual deserving of our understanding.

The Traverse is Scotland's new writing theatre and it is refreshing to find such deceptively simple writing in this piece. Linda McLean deserves much credit for precise, lean writing; not a word is wasted and the audience are encouraged to keep up and engage with the characters rather than waiting for easy answers and pat solutions. This is a piece of theatre that, while it might not take you on quite the emotional rollercoaster you would expect, will make you think – and that is a rare thing.

Run ended http://www.traverse.co.uk