It’s surprising the phenomenon of a play, a pie and a pint didn’t originate in Dundee given the city’s historic association with the crusty delicacy.
Nevertheless, Glasgow’s Oran Mor cultural centre got there first in 2004, to be precise and the premise is simple: you get a short play, a pie and a drink all for the price of a theatre ticket.
In a two-week collaboration with Oran Mor, Dundee Rep is presenting A Play, A Peh and A Pint, the first of which ran its course last week.
What Love Is is a newly-commissioned work by Scottish playwright Linda McLean, focusing on the relationship between two ageing parents and their daughter. It is directed by Dundee Rep’s graduate trainee Emma Faulkner.
Inspired by an article in the news about euthanasia, McLean’s short play sees Gene and Jean (Peter Kelly and Rep Ensemble member Irene Macdougall) attempting to make sense of the world inside their own four walls.
After a playful beginning, when the pair appear to be enjoying themselves and staying young, a more serious and sinister plot involving ill-health begins to develop.
Both Kelly and Macdougall portray the confused, paranoid and slightly maniacal characters with convincing ease, but the surprise arrival of their daughter (Lesley Hart) breaks their reminiscence and reverie.
It is unclear how old, or mature, their daughter is, as she marches into the house in a bit of a tantrum wearing high wedge shoes.
Hart presents the character as stressed and huffy, but her back story isn’t certain is she a young woman struggling to cope with this harrowing situation, or is she older, her life on hold as her parents’ mental health deteriorates?
A powerful and thought-provoking piece, What Love Is transfers to Oran Mor in Glasgow’s Byres Road this week.
The production swaps places with St Catherine’s Day, a delicate and humorous work written and narrated by Dundee’s Michael Marra, which runs from tonight through until Saturday.Visit www.dundeereptheatre.co.uk for more information.