ScotsGay Magazine

****

I always feel a bit uneasy going into Traverse 1 with its steeply raked seating. It often feels that I’m sitting on the side of a wall until I get used to things however it does add to the intimacy of this quite large theatre. It was therefore probably not the best place to see the first scene of this new play by Rona Munro. The first scene could take place in a hospital after Gnome (Lesley Hart) has fallen off a mountain. Except this is Paines Plough, so the first scene takes place 16,000 feet up a mountain, so realistically recreated on stage that I was quite literally terrified that I was going to fall off. Total theatre at its best. The action concentrates on the relationships between 3 climbers and their obsessions, one Grizzly (Garry Cooper) with his long dead brother killed in a climbing accident, and with a nurse (Jan Pearson) who is unable to come to terms with her long dead husband. A play that twists and turns and you never know until the final moment where it is going to go next, only that these people are likely to mess up each other’s lives. Paines Plough at their best.

Martin Powell

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