Image: Drew FarrellA true classic of modern Scottish Theatre, and a haunting evocation of a lost way of life, Sue Glover’s lyrical play with music and song follows six women land workers as they graft and dance their way through a year on a 19th Century Borders farm.
Every ploughman had to provide a woman (a bondager) to work on the farm. If his wife was too busy with family, he hired a woman to work the fields and lodge in his home. Following these women through the passing of the seasons, we feel the rhythm of the land and the harshness, humour, hope and tragedy of those who worked upon it.
Passionate, haunting and emotionally-involving, this Bondagers is an absolute winner.
Even works that take on the status of ‘modern classic’ seem to find revival exceptionally difficult, so the Lyceum deserves great praise for bringing Bondagers back.
Glover’s drama has lost none of its energy or timeliness.
Kemp’s six-strong cast hit a strident note from the start, their delivery as tough and hard-edged as the bondagers’ lives.
Verdict: Poetic but hardworking take of a modern Scottish classic makes for a welcome and timely revival.
After more than a decade without a production on home soil, one of the most striking things about Bondagers is just how ground-breaking the play's fusion of rich poetic text, striking physicality and a rhythmic musicality that pulses it remains.
Rich in intellect, this play is brain food; a continuing classic of the Scottish stage that asks: what is the price of change, and are we still too poor to ask for it?
The Bondagers is not only a superbly evocative recreation of a time long forgotten, but a poignant reminder of the transient nature of life itself.
If you can, see this remarkable play in this very fine production.
There are moments of powerful beauty in the production.
The effect is poetical but, at times, almost too beautiful.
Glover’s play is arguably the finest of Scottish work plays, and Lu Kemp (making her directorial debut at the Lyceum) has fashioned the best production of it I have seen.
Interview: Lu Kemp, director of Bondagers
Sue Glover--Bondagers
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Wednesday October 22, 2014, until Saturday November 15, 2014. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk
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