The Authorised Kate Bane

Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh until Fri 26 Oct

The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam

Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh until Sat 20 Oct

Nature or nurture: we are who we are because of what? Our DNA? The context in which we live our lives? Either way, what we remember (or conversely forget) and imagine about our past can impact just as significantly on the choices we make and the way we think. Multi award-winning company Grid Iron present Ella Hickson’s new play that superbly articulates the complexities of social conditioning and biology as they intertwine.

Kate (Jenny Hulse) arrives at her family home with new boyfriend Albin (Nicky Elliot), where she is greeted by eccentric father Ike (Sean Scanlan), pink champagne and parmesan puffs. It’s not long before her mother Nessa (Anne Bane) arrives and exacerbates an already tense environment. Hickson’s writing shows real sophistication as she opens up the family history, lets chaos run wild and stitches it neatly back together again. Witty lines capture the nuanced frustration of Kate as she struggles to define herself as part of a middle-class family and as a lefty playwright endeavouring to evoke social change. It’s an excruciatingly frank portrayal of growing up, realising (and coming to terms with) who you are, packed into a compelling 100 minutes. Hickson grasps the correlation between perception, memory and truth and uses it to powerful effect as the play twists towards closing.

Random Accomplice’s superhero See Thru Sam views the world from a very different perspective. After his parents are killed in a car accident, he has to use his powers to confront his fears of being alone, living with his uncle and school bully Chuck. This is a tight three-hander, starring James Young as teenage Sam, and James McKenzie and Julie Brown who multi-role every other character. A simple white set, on to which is projected animation, illustrated locations and thought bubbles that compliment the action. Writer and director Johnny McKnight has created a Kick-Ass-Scott-Pilgrim-esque examination of grief. The balance between fantasy and reality is clear to begin with, but as the play progresses towards its tragic end, of which the audience are warned at the beginning, the superhero metaphor becomes blurred. What starts as an interesting lead into the character becomes an affliction and a state of mind Sam can’t overcome.

Both plays grapple with the notion of identity, a theme that recurs again and again in Scottish theatre. Whether we succumb to our ids, egos or super-egos is one thing, but if we do so because of our biology, sociology or ideology is another entirely. Hickson and McKnight suggest that’s something worth exploring.