TÁIN
★★★★☆ Otherworldly
Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30): Mon 12 – Sun 25 Aug 2024
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Young Edinburgh Storytellers, Mark Borthwick and David Hughes, hold their audience rapt with TÁIN, a much-condensed adaptation of Ireland’s most famous epic tale.
Borthwick and Hughes set the tone of their tiny storytelling space with lighting that mimics a hearthside glow, and an offering of home-baked shortbread and a nip of Irish whiskey to each member of the audience.
The set for TÁIN. Pic: YSL
Before beginning the tale, the pair describe how in the past the Táin Bó Cúailnge would be told over many nights, filling up the dark hours of winter, and how they will now attempt to tell it in just one hour— an ambitious feat, to say the least.
The Táin is a complicated set of texts based in ancient oral tradition, and the Storytellers have done a skilful job of selecting which bits to include in order to tell a cohesive story that can be spun in a single hour, yet still retains the flavour of the saga’s epic scale.
linchpin
Beginning with one of the Táin’s remscéla (fore-tales), Hughes and Borthwick relate the origin of the two great bulls Finnbhennach and Donn Cuailnge as a pair of much-transformed, feuding swineherds. Donn Cuailnge, then, is set to become the linchpin of the tale as its tellers move into the “present tense” of their story: Queen Medb of Connacht comparing fortunes with her husband, Ailill, and finding that her bull Finnbhennach prefers the company of Ailill’s cows. Not to be outdone, Medb hatches a plan to raid into Ulster, ruled by her ex-husband Conchobar mac Nessa, and steal the rival bull Donn Cuailnge.
Mark Borthwick. Pic: YSL
What follows is a story far grander and more weighty than a simple cattle raid. It is packed with fate, curses, and thwarted bonds as battle is joined in Ulster, and the hero Cú Chulainn appears on the scene. A particularly excellent episode in this telling of the Táin is the confrontation between Cú Chulainn and his foster-brother Ferdiad, whom Medb sends against him in single combat. The tension of their equally matched and ill-starred conflict thrums in the room, and the heartbreak of its end is palpable.
With the clever addition of live music (electric guitar, keys, fiddle, bodhrán) and lighting manipulated by a foot controller, Hughes and Borthwick augment the instrument of their voices to create an intimate, immersive, compelling tag-team rendition of the Táin that feels full and complete in its short runtime.
Accessible to those with no prior knowledge of the Táin, and satisfying to those familiar with it, TÁIN will transport you from the hustle and bustle of the Royal Mile to a plane of otherworldly legend for an hour, and leave you wishing for a long, cold winter night on which to hear more.
Running time: One hour (no interval)
Scottish Storytelling Centre (Library), 43-45 High Street EH1 1SR (Venue 30)
Monday 12 – Sunday 25 August 2024
Daily (not Mon 19): 3.45pm
Details and tickets at: Book here
Instagram: @youngedistorytellers
Linktree: @YoungEdiStorytellers
ENDS
