★★★

“Zajac’s performance is subtle and intense. Emotions flicker beautifully across his face”

The Tailor of Inverness tells the story of Mateusz Zajac (father of writer/performer Matthew Zajac) a Polish born tailor, who settled in Inverness after the Second World War.

The difficulty is that the story is simply presented as The Tailor telling us about his life. There is no mystery or dramatic question. A buried truth does come to light, and with it questions around the honesty of our narrator, but this happens so late in the play that it’s hard to care.

His life story is interesting, as with many of the stories of displaced Europeans in the 20th century. However, the structure is aimless and the details dense and lengthy.

That said, Zajac’s performance is subtle and intense. Emotions flicker beautifully across his face. He brings his father to life with a quiet complexity of accent and physicality. His accent – a Scottish-Polish hybrid – is maintained impeccably throughout, and a real sense of the man is evoked.

Ben Harrison’s direction is varied, working with the story to create light and shade. The storytelling style is broken with dramatic sketches of the past, and with song and poetry. Some of this is recorded with Magdalena Kaleta reciting in Polish. Harrison’s choices, along with sound design by Timothy Brinkhurst, work with the narration to create a strong picture of this man’s world. The piece is accompanied throughout by Jonny Hardy (in some performances it’s Amy Geddes) on the violin, bringing a haunting melancholy to the stage.

Much of the script is in Polish, and a little Russian, with subtitles projected onto the backdrop. The use of AV throughout is carefully and well crafted. A map accompanies the description of Zajac’s time serving during the war, flagging key cities and tracing the route. Photographs of the family are projected and flashes of memory are echoed with images. This works well with Kai Fischer’s subtly shifting lighting.

Ali Maclaurin’s set sees flattened and plastered clothing pasted against the backdrop, nodding to Zajac’s profession, while evoking the horrors of mass slaughter which he remembers. It’s a thoughtful and well executed idea.

While Zajac’s story is interesting, it felt too long a piece to coast on that. I was more interested in his time in Scotland, and the experiences of Matthew Zajac himself returning to Poland to uncover the truth of his father’s past (this made up the final third of the play) than the details of his father’s time in the war, during which I got a little lost.

BLIZZARD at the Soho Theatre

★★★★

“The plot is both completely mad, and entirely believable”

Emily Woof’s one woman show offers a truly unique view of the world, while still feeling universally observant.

The performer arrives on stage, mid anecdote. She tells a rambling, uncertain, but incredibly funny story. It’s like you’ve met her late into a drunken dinner party. Just as the audience are getting their heads around the naturalistic story style, the lights shift, pounding music plays and she is transformed through dance. Only for a beat. Then the story picks back up, as if uninterrupted. She is destabilising, charming and brilliant.

Dotty’s husband calls her Dotty. Dotty calls her husband Dotty. They love each other, have been ‘together forever’ but they don’t truly understand each other. As their marriage is tested, husband Dotty must confront the meaning of his life’s work and wife Dotty goes on an adventure which has her questioning the essence of self and purpose.

Woof’s script is evocatively told and created. At times uproarious, at times heart-breaking. It is intricately crafted to be rich with symbolism and metaphor, but doesn’t lose the characterisation at its heart.

The plot is both completely mad, and entirely believable. It deals with the little lives of little people but unpicks their absurdity to create a strange and whimsical tapestry of a life.

Hamish McColl’s direction is inspired. The more natural and stammering Dotty is, the more wild and free the physical theatre becomes. Sian Williams’ movement direction seamlessly blends with the hyper-realism of the monologue. The characters are all brought to life through studied and well executed physicalisation.

It’s a captivating performance from Woof. The character is emotionally complex and poignant. She is trapped in a small world, with a vast and peculiar worldview. Woof brings her to life, and makes us love her.

Andrew Croft’s lighting design and Theo Foley’s sound design brilliantly complement the shifts in the piece. There is no tonal imbalance, the stylistic transitions are seamless.

Ellie Wintor’s set is simple, but cleverly thought out to remain versatile. There is a beautiful moment with string, which I won’t spoil, but will stay with me.

Blizzard, for me, what theatre does best. It is strange and free but within the confines of a brilliantly designed story world. It explores an unusual woman, who somehow feels very familiar. And it’s incredibly funny. It loses itself a little in the second half, and the energy lags a bit as the style shifts, but it is definitely worth seeing, for Woof’s performance alone.

THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS at the Finborough Theatre

★★★

“Zajac’s performance is subtle and intense. Emotions flicker beautifully across his face”

THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS at the Finborough Theatre

Reviewed on 17th May 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Tim Morozzo

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS

THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS

BLIZZARD at the Soho Theatre

★★★★

“The plot is both completely mad, and entirely believable”