Anna Burnside reviews a production with a strong core idea that ‘needs some divine intervention to fulfil its potential’.
Primary five’s volcano lesson was going swimmingly until their teacher saw a man at the back of the classroom.
Turns out the children could not see the guy in the cassock who told Miss Lockwood to look under the fridge.
Where, after poking about with her mobile phone torch, she found a missing earring.
This is the streamlined version. On stage, Miss Lockwood Isn’t Well takes its sweet time to get going.
Part of this is deliberate: the slow reveal that the earnest Catholic teacher is experiencing religious visions. Saints are popping in to dispense helpful, if prosaic, advice.
But the first 20 minutes are also lumpy and mumbled in places. Sporadic sound effects hinder rather than help to smooth things out. Jane McCarry, as the retired GP assessing Miss Lockwood’s fitness to return to work, is uncomfortable in the straight role.
The gear chances when McCarry’s Still Game compadre, Mark Cox, turns up. In a cassock. With all the best lines.
His ecclesiastical objections clarify the plot and make everything sharper and funnier.
Karen Young tries hard as the confused teacher, adamant that she should return to school, despite having seen the Virgin Mary ascend from the gym hall via a basketball hoop. But Catriona MacLeod’s direction lacks the pace needed to carry off the slow unfurling.
The set, with its neon crosses and holy statue, doesn’t help. Why is Jane McCarry carrying out a fitness for work assessment in a disco chapel?
Writer James Reilly’s core idea is a strong one, but it needs some divine intervention to fulfil its potential.
Miss Lockwood Isn’t Well performs at Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint until March 28, 2026. It then transfers to the Traverse Theatre (March 31-April 4).
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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