Blackbird

15 years since it ended. Ray’s moved on with his life. But Una has found him, and she needs answers. Read more …

David Harrower’s Blackbird depicts a meeting between a middle-aged man and a young woman who rake over their relationship which ended when he was 40 and she was only twelve years old.

The critical consensus

Gareth Nicholls’s austere, unyielding yet immaculate production.

(*) Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 29/02/2016

Blackbird is based on the aftermath of an alarming situation and you might expect to leave the theatre in stunned silence, however, it does grab you by the gut and, like all the best thrillers, it may be unsettling to watch but you just can’t look away.

(*) Harriet Brace, The Reviews Hub, 28/02/2016

Nicholls’ surgically sharp yet simplistic direction allows the dialogue to take precedence and interrogates themes of truth and morality alongside the complexities of a relationship.

(*) Lesley Brown, TVBomb, 28/02/2016

As this new production by Gareth Nicholls – no stranger to intense two-handers following his production of Gitta Sereny's Into That Darkness last year - the relationship between Una and Ray is infinitely more complex than any cheap stab at tabloid-making sensationalism.

(*) Neil Cooper, Coffee-Table Notes, 29/02/2016

A convicted paedophile meets his victim 15 years later in this richly ambiguous two-hander, with Paul Higgins and Camrie Palmer excellent as the tortured pair.

(*) Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 29/02/2016

Harrower's moral provocations make for a hugely rewarding production.

(*) Jordan Shaw, The List, 29/02/2016

Director Gareth Nicholls’s has created a gripping production that captures the drama’s captivating and disquieting ambiguities. Superb actors Camrie Palmer and Paul Higgins are utterly compelling as they play out a meeting that is riven with mixed emotions and conflicting instincts.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 01/03/2016

Moral questions aside, however, this is a nuanced, well written play, and the interpretation given to it in this production is engaging and challenging.

(*) (*) Grace Knight, Broadway Baby, 29/02/2016

Nicholls’s production does exert the icy grip of a ghost story, in which characters are trapped by their shared past and we’re never quite certain whose account to believe.

(*) Allan Radcliffe, 01/03/2016