MARK FISHER finds Henry Adam’s new play for Dogstar lacking in laughs and direction

THERE ARE a lot of shows on this year's Edinburgh Fringe to do with surviving a traumatic event, whether that be a war crime, domestic violence or sexual abuse. Henry Adam's Jacobite Country seems also to be the product of trauma, although surprisingly, it is the hitherto unrecognised trauma of being brought up in the Highlands.

To be any more precise than that is difficult because this laughter-free comedy never makes it clear what is at stake and exactly what problem its central characters are trying to resolve.

Whatever it is, it is something to do with the three-century legacy of the Jacobite risings. Back in the day, Angus was a militant nationalist; now, having been in a coma for 12 years, his activist days are long behind him. He stands instead as inspiration for his nephew Haggis McSporran (and the jokes get no better than that) who is either an auxiliary nurse or a patient in the same mental hospital, depending on what part of the dream-within-a-dream story we are at.

Whoever he is, he has ambitions to be a stand-up comedian and to put his anti-English tirades to more creative use. It is not clear if his routines are deliberately bad, but they raise not so much as a smile from the audience.

This is not the fault of the actors. In Matthew Zajac's production for Inverness company Dogstar, they work tirelessly, rattling out the lines with tremendous energy. The dialogue sounds as if it should be funny, but the actors get little return for their spirited efforts.

Zajac adds to the play's surreal atmosphere by casting an all-female company – Sarah Haworth, Fiona Morrison, Annie Grace and Mairi Morrison – in primarily male roles. It is an interesting choice – and one the cast respond to with gusto – but it doesn't do anything to clarify the playwright's purpose. To create a bizarre theatrical universe is one thing, but to give the audience no way into it is another.

Quite what the author of the hilarious The People Next Door and the polemical Petrol Jesus Nightmare was trying to do this time around remains a mystery. The Caithness-born playwright recently said the play was one you either love or hate. It is a shame he hasn't made it more apparent what there is to love.

Jacobite Country is on tour throughout the Highlands & Islands in September (see link below).

© Mark Fisher, 2010

Links

• Dogstar
• Tour dates