There’s one last chance to see this quartet of truly local tales

Four short plays, centred around four women and four secrets, by two Borders writers, Anita John and Oliver Eade, played to a packed house at MacArts, Galashiels, last Friday, in aid of Children 1st Scotland.
Elsie Horobin and Wendy Barrett in Give the Dog a Bone.Elsie Horobin and Wendy Barrett in Give the Dog a Bone.
Elsie Horobin and Wendy Barrett in Give the Dog a Bone.

This was a truly local event, as the actors and theatre company, Odd Productions Theatre, hail from the region. Even the incidental music was from local jazz musician Leif Jorgenson.

The evening started with Anita John’s First Steps, which was highly commended in The Brief Encounters Project 2017. Three generations of women visit an old railway museum for grandmother Dot’s 80th birthday.

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Dot’s daughter, Lizzie, and her pregnant daughter, Jane, want this to be a perfect day out. However, inter-generational tensions threaten to overshadow the birthday treat, until Dot reveals a secret that she has kept hidden from her family for more than 60 years.

David Bon in The Other Cat.David Bon in The Other Cat.
David Bon in The Other Cat.

In The Other Nathan, by Oliver Eade, which was long-listed for the 2015 British Theatre Challenge, Aunt Beth, a confused old lady, constantly refers to ‘the other Nathan’, which everyone treats as part of her muddled thinking.

She incessantly calls her nephew Nathan, which threatens his marriage and tests his temper until she reveals her long-held secret.

Next on was The Other Cat, by Oliver Eade, which won first prize in The Segora International One Act Play Competition in 2018. A strange tale of ‘did it/didn’t it happen’ based on the premise of Shrodinger’s Cat.

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Poppy finds a body, but, as we eventually find out, it has her phone, shoes and coat. What’s going on? Are things real or imagined?

Michael Boyd in First Steps.Michael Boyd in First Steps.
Michael Boyd in First Steps.

The final play, another of Oliver Eade’s, which was also long-listed for the 2015 British Theatre Challenge, was based on a true story. Give The Dog A Bone is a tale of a manipulative mother and her twin daughters. The mother has just discharged herself from hospital after breaking her hip and one of her daughters, Eleanor, shows up in her mother’s house thinking she’s still in hospital. Eleanor, despite her mother’s wicked tongue and with nothing nice to say about her daughter, is still there for her mother.

All seven actors were brilliant in their depictions of the characters, with special mention going to Erin Christie, who was in three of the plays; David Bon, who took on four roles in The Other Cat; and Elsie Horobin, who was superb as Aunt Beth in The Other Nathan and totally believable as the manipulative mother, Moira, in Give The Dog A Bone.

Unveiled Secrets played to packed audiences in Selkirk and Carlops before coming to Galashiels. There’s just one more chance to see Unveiled Secrets – tomorrow (Friday) at The Eastgate Theatre, Peebles.

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