It’s the new season at Pitlochry and it is off to a flying start with the world première of Milly Sweeney’s debut play. Water Colour is the winner of the St Andrew Playwriting 2024 Award, which aims to support and develop the next generation of Scottish playwrights.
It's a production that renews one's faith in theatre to connect with hearts and minds.
Produced in partnership with the Byre Theatre and Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, Water Colour is an extraordinary piece of work, promising much for the future of this young writer.
Two characters tell us about their lives, unknown to each other until a brief chance encounter in extremis. Sweeney has drawn on her own experience in creating a drama about mental illness, particularly in young people.
Esme (Molly Geddes) is an art student struggling in a sea of despair. She asks no one for help and thinks there is only one way out, but then a stranger, Harris (Ryan J Mackay), intervenes and vanishes.
Water Colour is superbly directed by Sally Reid, who is open to all the elements of this story, pacing it beautifully. The production renews one's faith in theatre to connect with hearts and minds.
The Pitlochry studio houses the Glasgow-set tale, and its confines are perfect for creating intimacy between storytellers and audience.
These two young actors are both to be commended for the range and power of their performances. Molly Geddes, making her professional stage debut, is lost soul Esme. Struggling at art school, friendless and unwilling to go out, it all looks bleak - but things change when a stranger intervenes and she reaches out for help. Geddes handles the transition from utter hopelessness to recovery with moving conviction.
Ryan J Mackay’s Harris is another standout portrayal. First a cheeky chappie on the verge of pursuing a career as a chef, full of energy and laughs, circumstance soon destroys his optimism and vision of a happy future.
Sweeney cleverly dovetails the dialogue as the pair tell their separate stories. They may be heading in different directions in their mental health, but both eventually find hope.
The cast of two also takes on the roles of employers, family and peers, particularly moving as the two mothers who mean everything to their children.
Water Colour is about the importance of reaching out when struggling with mental illness and for people to be kind to each other. Most importantly, it emphasises that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Clever Pitlochry for staging it in the season of hope.
