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Irene Brown, 'Edinburgh Guide' ****
The piece is like a modern day fairy tale with the old man taking the role of the rich lonely giant or the dwarf with the gift of spinning gold, using their assets to bargain for the life of an unborn child and the males in the story mapping out the life of the powerless female. But this is not an ancient tale. This is set in present day and dealing with issues of sexual scandal and its modern day consequences; the vulnerability of a woman with a condition that makes her at times disturbed and deranged; her apparent powerlessness against a pact of male control and the weird consequences of a family’s estrangement.
There was an assured and competent performance from the cast, notably Clare Ross who was both strong and convincingly pregnant in this compelling play
Joyce McMillan, "The Scotsman" ***
There’s some fine acting on view in this fast-paced, brave and inventive production; and a gripping hour of theatre, for those willing to face the pity and terror of a very serious 21st-century tragedy portrayed in fierce close-up, and never fully contextualised or resolved.
Richard Stamp, "Fringe Guru" ***
Director Andy Corelli delivers some clever, claustrophobic staging, which sees the audience in two groups facing each other on opposite sides of the farmhouse kitchen. It means the actors spend a fair amount of time with their backs to half the crowd; but this time, the risk pays off. The mere fact I was facing another audience member was mildly discomfiting, their gaze a reminder of my own intrusion into life on the isolated farm. And the physical proximity makes the most of a spotlit moment in Gilmour’s script, when a befuddled Claire – hauntingly captured by actor Clare Ross – approaches us directly with a personal, unanswerable appeal.
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