Lorna Irvine reviews the 300th Oran Mor lunchtime production.
A Play, a Pie and a Pint's 300th show, penned by Liz Lochhead, concerns loss-inveterate snob Nettie Abernethy (Ann Scott Jones) and socialist John Henderson (Dave Anderson). They may seem like disparate characters, yet both are locked in loneliness: the former suffering memory loss through dementia and in a care home, the latter having lost Isa, his beloved wife of over fifty years. A Burns Supper is suggested by the staff in the residential home, and the healing power of poetry is the welding factor, as a tentative friendship develops.
Obviously, there is some lovely warm witty Old Scots dialogue and acute observations about the inconsistency of the brain, as in the two most poignant scenes where poor Nettie wanders around the supermarket in her fur coat, nightie and slippers and a grief-stricken John talks to his wife alone in his living room, but as a whole it is stilted, despite Scott Jones' fantastic performance. A third character, supposed simpleton Piano Walter (Robert Pettigrew), says one line only and is supposed to be a comic foil but feels like an afterthought.
Not nearly as affecting as it should be nor up there with Lochhead's finest, this kiss is less fond than a perfunctory peck on the cheek.
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