After a long day at art college, Birdy hoofed it along from the train station to the Traverse Theatre, where she got comfy for the one-woman performance of Night Waking.
I’ve got a confession to make; I’d never heard of Sarah Moss‘s novel Night Waking, nor had I really looked into what to expect from this show before accepting an invite, promptly forgetting all about it, and then receiving my ticket.
I was equally unprepared when I rocked up on the night, what with being a busy art student commuting between cities. This was all going to be quite a surprise for me – but would it be a good one? Well.
I arrived, and chose a seat towards the back of the small Traverse 2 theatre. Two large projection screens were set up, giving the feel of isolated Scottish countryside (which I’d soon learn is the deserted Hebridean island of Colsay). It was pretty, and in the centre there was a cosy rug, dining table and chairs. I settled in for the show.
Actor Nicola Jo Cully makes her entrance, and immediately begins to paint a picture of a tortured mother, the predominant caregiver to two young boys – and a husband whose main focus is a) himself and b) the puffin population. All she wants to do is sleep.
This is a one-woman show, with Cully playing the parts of Anna, Moth, Raph, Giles, and the police detective who’s been sent to question her.
Her youngest, Moth, wakes her up at 3am to demand to be read The Gruffalo. Her eldest, Raph (Raphael), asks what if something happened to Moth, and says at least she’d get some sleep then. The husband (Giles) says he’ll let her have a nap if he can have sex later. The police detective wants to know how many pregnancies she’s had due to the old remains of a baby they found in the garden.
There’s an undercurrent of dread as we watch these scenes take place. There’s a lot of fragmentation and repetition, and you get the feeling something bad may be about to happen… you’re just not quite sure what.
Cully does a great job of switching between characters, and adding a bit of dark comedy to the situation, but it doesn’t sufficiently distract from hearing the same lines, repetitive scenarios, and repeats of scenes in the non-linear storytelling.
I found it quite refreshing when the tone would change to the historical scenes where a midwife is getting to understand the cause of historic infant mortality on the island. It gives a little escape from the grating scenes of Anna’s life, where the dread is building, but not an awful lot is actually happening.
There are themes of isolation, sexism, the often unrecognised mental load of mothers, and rural deprivation at play… but it’s an hour-long play that feels longer, and doesn’t quite hit the mark. I found it overall to be quite an underwhelming show that doesn’t really have a lot to say.
Night Waking
Summary
A one-woman performance with themes of isolation, sexism, the often unrecognised mental load of mothers, rural deprivation. Currently on tour.
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