Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 03 Oct @ 19:30

Having enjoyed a spectacular Fringe run in 2012, Stoirm Og are now taking The Idiot at the Wall all over Scotland, from mountain to glen. The first play by Elspeth Turner (who also stars), we arrive on a Hebridean island in 1918 with Sorcha (Lucy Goldie) and Henry (Tim Barrow). He is keen to explore a world free from artifice; she is returning to a place barely cared for, and a family scarcely remembered.

Characterisation is uniformly exquisite, as we explore the various reactions to Sorcha’s return. The relationship between siblings Uistean (Simon Eilbeck) and Odhran (Turner) is especially tender, and in many ways they form the play’s central couple, despite various romantic excursions.

There’s a great use of music throughout – both as a haunting backdrop and as a more active element, such as when the family take part in a ceilidh. Gaelic is also interwoven, with minutes often passing before anyone switches to English. It’s a mark of how well rooted the characters feel, and how emotionally invested one feels in this barren island world, that an inability to understand the words in no way impedes the intended sentiment. We feel the hearts of the characters, even if we’re uncertain of some minor details.

Sadly, something is lost late in the second half. There’s nothing obviously awry but the increased supernatural component occasionally fails to find its feet. The concluding element of the plot – a twist that loses none of its poignancy despite a slight obviousness, is also painfully cruel. It draws from a legend on which the play is based and is obviously essential, but the sense of unfairness for one character and increasing dislike for another, jolts and distracts from the overall pathos. A small slip in an otherwise engaging and incredibly lively work.

Follow Kirsten on Twitter @Kirsten_Hayley