Badhbh-Shith and The Storytellers, Glasgow review: 'terrifying twists and turns'

Kenny Boyle and MJ Deans in Bhadhbh-Shith and The Storytellers | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Badhbh-Shith and The Storytellers, Oran Mor, Glasgow ★★★★

Traditional tales play a key role in this week’s forceful Play, Pie and Pint Hallowe’en show at Oran Mor, Kenny Boyle’s Badhbh-Shith and The Storytellers, in which 40 year-old storyteller Evander – played by Boyle himself – staggers into a Highland bothy, bleeding from a head wound sustained on the mountain, and finds his wife Sorcha waiting for him.

As they exchange stories, though, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems, and that the folk tales of Gaelic-speaking Scotland have a very dark side indeed, featuring their own vampire tradition.

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In Ben Harrison’s fluent Gaelic and English production, MJ Deans fully captures the terrifying twists and turns of the character who seems to be Sorcha; while Boyle’s Evander clings stoutly to his belief that even the Bhadhbh-Shith want and need their stories to be told – and that storytellers like him can always negotiate a free pass, even at the gates of hell.

Badhbh-Shith and The Storytellers is at Oran Mor, Glasgow, until 31 October.

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