Lorna Irvine is disappointed by the latest lunchtime production at Oran Mor.
Never mind the English surtitles provided in Catriona Lexy Campbell's production, Doras Duinte (a first for PPP as it is performed almost entirely in Gaelic), the audience should perhaps have been provided with ear protectors as Donna Nic Leoid's central performance is shrill to the point of distraction.
She plays Lydia Ross, an agoraphobic ex-fashion designer trapped in the large house she inherited from her grandmother. When she advertises for a female lodger in the local paper, the advertisement mistakenly says "'male or female'' and a male wildlife photographer, Lindsay Guthrie (an excellent Dol Eoin MacKinnon), shows up.
This melodrama is actually at times quite nicely judged, with good direction from Muireann Kelly, beautiful ominous animation and design by Iain Craig and a chilly piano/acoustic guitar score from Ross Brown. Occasionally, its claustrophobia resembles Roman Polanski's thriller Repulsion.
However, the surtitles don't always appear, leaving non-Gaelic speakers baffled, and Lydia's characterisation never gets to be nuanced, leaving a sense of frustration at wasted talent.
A real pity, as some elements work beautifully and the writing has real potential.
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