Anna Burnside reviews A Play, A Pie and A Pint’s Halloween offering.
It’s a stormy Samhain night and Sorcha and Evander are in a bothy on Ben Macdui. He has hurt his head and is wearing what looks like a rusty coat hook on a cord around his neck.
These will become important later on.
In between bilingual marital flirting - the play is in English with some Gaelic meshed in - the pair tell folk tales and stories. The strong theme, that fairies are not to be messed with, foreshadows the spooky twist that is an essential for any Halloween week production.
The mood is initially playful, if adversarial, with whoever is not holding forth providing live foley effects using the mugs and maps on the table. The mood darkens as the twist unknots.
Writer and performer Kenny Boyle has become Oran Mor’s go-to for the last week of October. Badhbh-Shith and the Storytellers shares DNA with last year’s production, Righ Iasgair: The Fisher King. The wild setting, the fairy tales, even the casting of MJ Deans, who returns this year as Sorcha.
She’s a strong choice for the role, a charming performer with the range to shape-shift when the role demands it. Under Ben Harrison’s direction Boyle is a convincing storyteller. It’s when he has to tell a story as a writer that this loses its way.
Badhbh-Shith and The Storytellers performs at Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint until 31 October 2026. For further details, go to the production’s website.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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