This gripping tale of one community’s resistance to the Highland Clearances is harrowing and life-affirming in equal parts.
Cianalas, an original play by writer and actor Niamh O’Donnell, brings audiences on a gripping ride as a village in the Scottish Highlands faces an existential threat: the Highland Clearances. During the 1700’s and 1800’s, communities in the Scottish Highlands faced increasing pressures to relocate (allegedly so that landlords could use the land for more profitable sheep farming), eventually culminating in thousands of forced evictions by the British Army. Many narratives of this violent era have implied that Highland communities accepted these evictions passively, but recent studies have begun to explore evidence that does tell stories of resistance and protests. Inspired by real instances from the Clearances, O’Donnell skillfully weaves together two parallel stories: one of a close-knit village community as they start to realise the impending threat to their home, and one of two soldiers who represent this rapidly approaching violence.
The show’s early scenes paint a relatively blissful picture of the loving relationships between the women in the village: the younger girls – optimistic Ùna (played by writer Niamh O’Donnell), wry Ciorstaidh (Clara Doherty), and innocent Seònaid (Katie Rough) – and the sage grandmother Magaidh (Elizabeth McNally). The dashing Lachlann (Peter Jeffries) stumbles over his words as he and Ùna exchange glances, and the two are subject to much teasing. But Ailig (Eoin Quinlan) brings news that some families have been offered a fee to move off the laird’s lands, and this spark of danger grows steadily over the next two years until the show’s riveting climax. Within the village, the central tension lies with Seumas (Mark Moore), Ùna’s overprotective father, as he refuses to believe that these ‘rumours’ are anything more than idle gossip. Outside the village, two British Army soldiers – lone wolf Lowlander Walter (Joshua Urquhart) and the family-minded Englishman George (Ned Cooper) – grapple with their own demons and their wildly clashing personalities. With a resoundingly strong ensemble performance, this piece will leave audiences deeply invested in each and every character’s journey.
Produced by Lauren Lewis, Rachel McKay, and Niamh Deasy, and directed by Anna Millington, this evocative production comes to life against a background of drying laundry and herbs hanging behind a cosy domestic table setting. Ellie Rowlinson’s creative lighting design uses shifts in colour and focus to separate different scenes without changing the set. The real standout of this production design is the music: with music direction by Imi Waters, the live traditional soundtrack adds melancholy strings and pulse-quickening drums to emotional scenes and lively ceilidhs. Each time rumours of families leaving the area are mentioned, gentle strains of accordion add an undercurrent of changing tides to the moment.
O’Donnell wrote this piece to address the relative absence of stories on stage about the Highland Clearances, and the underrepresentation of Gaelic both in the arts and in Scotland today. To that end, the show weaves together English, Scots, and Gaelic (with translation and guidance from Uilleam MacCormaig). Throughout the play, characters delve into questions of whether it’s better to stay in a threatened home or give up one’s way of life. The show’s name, ‘cianalas,’ is a Gaelic word referring to a profound connection to ‘the place where your roots lie.’ The word doesn’t carry strong associations of sadness or loss, however, and while this play is a wrenching look at the physical and cultural violence of the Clearances, it ends on a note of hope for the next generation. Cianalas celebrates the power of stories, poems, and songs to bring people together, to soften hard hearts, and to carry a sense of belonging across mountains and oceans.
Cianalas ran from 30-31 July at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington as part of the Camden Fringe.
As a Scots., this play was so informative and powerful this play should be shown nationally. More historically than Braveheart. And more in touch with real events. A wonderful production
Amazing review