Divided

Aug 17 2024 | By Rebecca Mahar More

★★★★☆ Delicate

Royal Scots Club (Venue 241): Tue 13 – Sat 17 Aug 2024
Review by Rebecca Mahar

“It’s not been twenty-four hours, has it? It’s been years— sixteen years.”

In the midst of an argument, a husband shouts this to his wife, as they work to come to terms with the revelation of their child’s identity; something that to the child has always been known, but which, at sixteen, they have now shared with their parents.

In Divided, Kate Macsween and Michael Reddington play the parents of recently transitioned Saul, in this (mostly) two-hander about family, gender, and the deeper commitments behind unconditional love.

Divided. Michael Reddington and Kate Macsween. Publicity image.

The play begins before Saul’s transition, with the parents discussing their daughter, before learning via a letter (shared in Saul’s voiceover) that their child is actually their son. Both react with shock, but have different responses: the father immediately accepting despite some flubs with name and pronouns; the mother sure something must have gone wrong, that their child has been influenced by trends, or needs therapy.

In conversations around their kitchen table over the span of four months, the parents discuss and argue, support and lash out at each other, as they come to terms with their new family dynamic and how best to support Saul.

The topic of parental grief when a child transitions is delicate: no matter how much a parent professes that they will love and support their child no matter what, the reality of backing that statement up can be more complicated than anticipated. At the same time, transition is more like rebirth than death, and grief can feel like betrayal to the person who is transitioning. Like so many things in life, none of these feelings and responses are binary.

forced to choose

Divided handles all these issues with care. It allows both parents to expresses their views, make mistakes, become divided, and ultimately unite in love and support of their son. Saul, too, is part of the story, appearing in diary-like voiceovers to share his feelings on his parents’ response to his transition. Only once does he appear physically, when Charlie Macsween, who supplies Saul’s voiceovers, steps into a spotlight to sing Wall in My Head from the similarly-themed musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.

Both Reddington and Kate Macsween (who also penned the script) handle their difficult roles well, with Reddington in particular standing out in moments when his character feels forced to choose between wife and child, and the passion he brings to Saul’s defence while still trying to be a partner to his wife. While the script needs a bit of massaging for Saul’s appearance to be less abrupt, it feels right that he does physically appear, rather than being relegated only to voiceover.

At the end of this production, rather than being accosted with advertisements for another show, audience members are handed flyers with information on free and confidential support for trans and nonbinary people in Scotland.

Running time: One hour (no interval)
Royal Scots Club (Hepburn Suite), 29-31 Abercromby Place EH3 6QE
Tuesday 13 – Saturday 17 August 2024
13 – 15: 2.30pm; 16/17: 12.30pm
Details and tickets at: Book here