Anna Burnside reviews a production that tackles 'one of the most complex and divisive issues of our time' but 'goes for the easy laugh'.
A mother and child are camping. Maw is attempting to interest the kid in otters and birds, but real nature can’t compete with the mythical monster in the loch.
Fast forward a few years - Afton Moran does this masterfully with the hood of their jacket - and the child is now a teenager. The tent is still there, daubed with Buckfast by passing neds. Heather, Em’s mother, is nowhere to be seen.
But Moran’s character is not alone for long. Nessie swims up the aisle that intersects the audience, sheds her sequinned cape and turns round to reveal a green beard and a hairy chest beneath a green satin gown.
Turns out that Nessie has been a fairy drag mother to troubled LGBT Scots since the days of James V. Young Em is non-binary and their mother is not having it. Once Em has given Nessie the TLDR guide to what non-binary is, she wants to help.
This mainly involves some pretty standard drag/Ugly Sister moves, including a dance routine to Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’, cleavage shimmying and pantoesque jokes about Alan Cumming and Cumbernauld.
One monster-teen heart-to-heart chat later and Heather arrives to make peace. A shouting match ensues. Surely, Em argues, that as a woman who has been overlooked, belittled and discriminated against for her whole life, she should understand?
Heather is still not having it. The main thrust of her argument is Em is not the name she gave her child.
But instead of expanding on this thought and unpicking the really chewy stuff, Heather quickly backs down and Ness fast forwards to a final group hug.
This is not a bad production. Moran is vulnerable and believable, with some astounding dance moves. Craig Hunter could easily segue from Nessie straight into a panto gig. Annie Grace does as much as she can with the one-note character of Heather.
But Ness is very short, even for a PPP, coming in at around 50 minutes. If you are tackling one of the most complex and divisive issues of our time, surely you would want to fill every available minute? Instead, writer Hannah McGregor goes for the easy laugh and happy ending.
If only the real issues were so simple.
Ness performs at A Play, a Pie and a Pint at Oran Mor until April 13. It then tours to The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen from April 16-20, 2024.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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