Showing @ Traverse @ Ghillie Dhu, until 27 Aug @ 3:00pm

Mixing folk tales with ballads and academic rivalry, NTS’ revival of their popular play, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, directed by Wils Wilson and written by David Greig, is a welcome addition to the Fringe that encapsulates the spirit of Scottish history and identity and the Festival itself, without getting too experimental.

Beginning in 2010, Prudencia Hart follows the title character and frigid academic (Madeleine Worrall) when a conference takes her into deepest darkest Kelso, with some of the people she dislikes the most, namely her colleague, Colin Syme (Andy Clark). But a sudden blizzard leaves them trapped and they soon face a battle of wits, time, strength and karaoke in order to stay alive.

Staging a play in a pub during the Fringe is hardly an original concept, but while some may accuse NTS of jumping on the site-specific bandwagon, Prudencia Hart is the perfect play for a pub, bar or any other large and sociable space, as long as it has a bar, that is. But it’s not just the staging and the venue that make this play stand out from many of the other Scottish shows on the Fringe; Greig’s rhyming prose, complete with live music performed by the award-winning musician Alasdair Macrae and the cast, make Prudencia Hart the kind of complete theatrical experience that the Fringe can sorely lack. Inspired by Scottish Border ballads, the play remains faithful to the music that bore it, while managing to introduce some more contemporary references to modern phenomenon, a mix of modern technology, social etiquette and Kylie Minogue. While the play’s premise of an uptight and outcast social academic being changed by extraordinary events is a well tried and tested formula, there’s a sort of magical energy to Wilson’s production, that not only drives the story forward, but also allows the actors to resurrect the utter joy that comes from telling a good, old-fashioned tale, a talent that many people have forgotten as the years have flown by. Rowdy, ridiculous and damn good fun, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, while not a Fringe premiere, is one of the NTS’ most colourful gems yet.