National Theatre of Scotland strike black gold with revival of John McGrath opus The Cheviot, The Stag, and The Black, Black Oil at Eden Court, Inverness on opening night before Highlands and Islands tour

REVIEW

The Cheviot, The Stag, and the Black, Black Oil

Eden Court, Inverness

*****

I HAVE seen many things in the OneTouch theatre that have quickened my pulse during my time writing nonsense about art.

But nothing has caused such anxious palpitations as the sight of several audience members gingerly trying to Canadian Barn Dance along the edge of the stage without falling off.

The opening of this latest revival of the Cheviot served several purposes beyond scrambling the heart monitors of Fitbits across the packed crowd. It loosened everybody up, and evoked the spirit of what we were about to enjoy.

And that quickened pulse was kept at a good pace as well, through Cheviot’s storytelling – not so much fusing comedy and tragedy together as gleefully smashing them together through its walkthrough of the Highlands’ history of economic exploitation.

Thanks to a game, versatile and extremely adept cast, this production continues to deftly dance between its tones – a harrowing account of croft-burning leads into a pseudo-panto bit of “It’s behind you!” involving sturdy Highlanders and outrageously stereotypical Frenchmen.

But what really resonates is the anger. The Cheviot is a play designed to educate as much as entertain, to infuriate and inform. It’s a play that highlights the cycles of history, its arguments of how ruling classes enrich themselves at terrible costs being made forcefully and bluntly.

The words “I am perfectly satisfied that no persons will suffer hardship or injury as a result of these improvements” – repeated in the play several hundred years apart, to much the same end – will never boil your blood quite like they do in the Cheviot.

The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black, Black Oil comes to the Macphail Centre, Ullapool on Tuesday; and Dornie Hall on Wednesday. Go to www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

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