What happens when a young Doric quine comes face to face with the witch-like Baba Yaga from Slavic folklore in the Aberdeenshire woods? Theatre magic, that’s what.
Certainly, Babs – penned by Burghead-raised playwright Morna Young – enchanted audiences and critics alike when it was staged as part of A Play, A Pie And A Pint in Glasgow’s Oran Mor last November.
Now it is coming to cast a spell over Aberdeen audiences, running at The Lemon Tree next week, as part of the venue’s PPP series.
And Morna – who also wrote the award-winning Runrig-inspired musical The Stamping Ground – is delighted to be back on home turf with Babs.
“Its’s very exciting as we originally thought it was just going to be the one week in Glasgow, but we’re coming to Aberdeen and then to the Traverse (Edinburgh) in March,” she said.
What happens when a modern Doric quine meets Baba Yaga?
The short play tells of Lisa, whose trip to Ibiza is scrapped when her best mate dumps her for a new man. She seeks solace in a sanctuary in the Aberdeenshire woods but the retreat’s eccentric guru Babs isn’t what she seems – her house is on chicken legs for a start.
“The whole story is told through the eyes of Aberdeen quine, Lisa, and it’s all about her journey of discovery,” said Morna.
“So what happens if a contemporary young woman meets Baba Yaga? Suddenly you have this amazing, contemporary take on things like, this fence is made of bones. How does a young woman react to that in this day and age, because she doesn’t know the Baba Yaga myth?
Audiences also don’t need to be familiar with the myth of Baba Yaga and its many iterations in folklore, said Morna.
“There are some Easter eggs in there if you are a fan of the Baba Yaga myth, but there are so many different variations. There’s a version of it where she’s a child-eating witch, through to the other side of it where she’s there on a journey for a young woman coming of age,” she said.
“There are different sides to her and that’s been really fun to play with in the script. So it doesn’t matter if you don’t know her, but if you do there are some nods.”
Babs will be a fun hour with a big heart at The Lemon Tree
Morna said the story – performed by talented actor and singer-songwriter Bethany Tennick – goes off in unexpected directions, much to the delight of the Glasgow audiences who saw it last year.
“I think it’s a really fun hour. It’s a show that has a big heart to it. It’s filled with original songs by Bethany who is an amazing composer. And it’s all in Doric, so there’s really this rich language to it,” she said.
“I think it makes you laugh and cry and we were all delighted because the audiences loved it. What more could you want than to hear people laugh and bring a wee tear to their eye?”
This is Morna’s fourth work for A Play, A Pie And A Pint – a series that does exactly what it says on the tin, offering a short play, a drink and a tasty snack, all in under an hour.
“What I love about A Play, A Pie And A Pint is that it’s a welcoming home for my slightly curveball ideas. I’m not sure where else in Scotland I could go and say I want to write a play about a female Doric Elvis impersonator, or about two retired superheroes sent to the north-east to live out their days,” she said.
Morna’s award-winning The Stamping Ground coming to HMT
But Morna’s next outing on an Aberdeen stage will be rather more large scale.
The Stamping Ground, commissioned last year by Eden Court in Inverness to massive acclaim, is set to tour Scotland later this year. That includes a week-long run at His Majesty’s Theatre from June 7 to June 10 for the show, which won best music and sound in the Critics’ Awards For Theatre In Scotland.
Morna said: “Everyone involved in the tour is really buzzing about it. Last summer was wonderful, but we were also caught at that peak Covid wave, so it was a difficult time to be making theatre. The stakes felt high, but there was such a joy in bringing that production out to the world at that difficult time.
“But now to have a chance to return to Runrig’s songs and to take it to a wider audience, I’m absolutely thrilled.”
The successful writer and actor has been on a remarkable trajectory since her first play, Lost At Sea.
Morna Young’s poignant tribute to her father was ‘pivotal moment’
It was written as a tribute to her father, Donnie, who died in a fishing boat tragedy when Morna was just five years old. She started writing it about 10 years ago and it was staged in 2019.
“Having that play on stage was such a pivotal moment in my life. I think back to the very seeds of that and what I wanted to do and how I wanted to pay tribute to my dad and to the fishermen of the north-east.
“So there is something for me that is so poignant about the unexpected journey I went on with that play and that what I’m doing now is all rooted in that.”
“For me as a kid in Burghead, getting the chance to do these things would have been unbelievable. It’s why now I try whenever I can to work with bairns in schools and get that chance to encourage other kids to look at the arts. I’ve been very fortunate.”
Babs is at The Lemon Tree from Tuesday February 14 to Saturday February 18. More information and tickets visit aberdeenperformingarts.com
Conversation