The Uncertainty Files

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
5 - 9 Oct     

Having been disappointed with the first two plays in the current A Play, A Pie, A Pint season, Linda McLean's The Uncertainty Files is a much more substantial  and thought-provoking lunchtime treat. The uncertainties voiced in the series of short, sharp monologues are the ones we all feel in realtionships with partners, friends and relatives. Mostly they remain inarticulated and bubble away just under the surface.

Three identical desks and chairs, mugs and microphones. Three similarly dressed actors. Beautifully choreographed direction by Charlotte Gwinner. Three fine performances from Steven Duffy, Lesley Hart and Helen Mallon. The words are taken from a series of interviews McLean undertook while on a  residency in New York, They are reproduced word for word by the excellent cast word complete with all the umming and ahhing in normal speech patterns.

The Americans who consented to the interviews are identified only by initials and age but their words reveal much about them and also our own concerns as we negotiate all sorts of relationships, where not very much is clear-cut.

- by Keith Paterson