The Woman From The North

Published Date: 07 May 2010

By Joyce McMillan

A WOMAN FROM THE NORTH ****

ORAN MOR, GLASGOW

 McLaverty is such a superb musician of the spoken word, and such a fine, empathetic observer of humanity, that there's a shimmering poetry to his script nonetheless, and – towards the end – a brilliant use of Cassie's habit of repeating herself, to both tragic and comic effect. And in Eileen Nicholas, the show has one of the finest actresses in Britain, to bring out all its beauty, its subtlety, its cultural sensitivity. Cassie is a woman who will be folding her scarves neatly, and chasing up dust-marks in her little room, long after she has ceased to remember her own name; and in this, there is not only the remnant of her own character, but of a whole culture of dutiful housewifery, slowly fading into history.


Joyce MacMillan 7th May 2010