@ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 25 Apr 2015 (and touring)

The Straw Chair first took to the Traverse Theatre’s stage some 27 years ago and since its premiere, the play has rarely been performed, despite being one of the most powerful and contemporary plays by Sue Glover. Rich with diverse and relevant themes regarding the place of women in society, Borderline Theatre’s revival is directed by Liz Carruthers.

The tale begins on the remote Scottish island of St. Kilda, where Lady Rachel Grange (Selina Boyack) was kidnapped and dumped by her husband when she threatened to expose his Jacobite sympathies.  But the arrival of the minister, Aneas (Martin McBride) and his new wife, Isabel (Pamela Reid) brings hope of rescue from the isolation of island life.

What is telling, perhaps chilling, about Glover’s play is how it explores female agency in 18th century Scotland through the characters of Rachel and Isabel. Rachel is the definitive wild woman; crude, brash, rude, sexual and dangerous; her knowledge was her power and undoing. In contrast, Isabel is innocent, mild-mannered, compliant; a malleable, virginal female, desperate to please her husband. Yet, despite their obvious differences, both women and Oona, Rachel’s maid, are trapped by their roles in an oppressive landscape, where gender play havoc with the rights and futures of all three women.

And yet, despite the rich tapestry of femininity and rebellion that Glover weaves throughout the piece, bigger issues are at play. The subjects of betrayal, of politics, Christianity and most importantly, abuse of power and an inability to challenge authority emerge as the play goes on, asking important questions, but never giving the audience the reassurance of any answers.  It is fitting, then, that the play’s most powerful character, Lord Grange, remains a malevolent presence, always unseen and somehow never far from St Kilda’s shores.

Carruthers’ production is a welcome revival of this often overlooked piece, but although the play is performed with authenticity and compassion, it is the twinning of Boyack’s raw sexuality and rage with Glover’s exceptional script, complete with a series of long, yet perfectly righteous speeches that give this production such furious potency.

A very welcome and long-overdue homecoming, Borderline Theatre and Hirtle Productions’ revival of The Straw Chair has brought a grave injustice, issues of historic abuses of power and questions of female autonomy to the public once more, for which they should be highly commended.