High Plains (A Western Myth)[author-post-rating](4/5 Stars)

Out on the dark expanse of the barren stage, a lone figure speaks of ghosts, gods and man-made myths in Brian Watkin’s contemporary campfire tale, High Plains.

Jake (Ben Newman) sits unsteadily in his seat. A large bloody gash is clearly visible above the hem of his tattered shirt. A bruise rests comfortably below his left eye. Our battered narrator seems to pay little heed to these visceral war wounds. They’re the silent epilogue to a story so tangible you expect to leave the theatre as visibly distressed as the abused protagonist.

The tale is raw and riveting throughout. From sibling rivalries and childhood faults it draws you in slowly, inviting you to step out and take a seat on the desolate plain. As you lean in closer the first sinister events reach your ear like a whisper in the dark. Silly details and comic observations enfold Jake’s eerie accounts, initially staving off the creeping chill that waits patiently on the edges of the story.

Watkin’s script is never overwrought but is therefore unforgiving. It demands a careful nuance that Newman, under Anthony Reimer’s understated direction, provides with aplomb. Playing the role of naïve storyteller, Newman has an almost hypnotic effect on the audience, subtly enticing the group in around him. Jokes and anecdotes are scattered pointedly throughout, as the group finds a comfortable groove in the sand. It’s only when you’re sitting in circles in the cold wilderness that he conjures the stories’ numerous spectres on the horizon all around.

In the penultimate moments of the play the protagonist finds himself running across the wastes, being chased down by someone or something from his tortured past. In your mind’s eye you can clearly make out the solitary shape speeding along in the dying light. Without thinking we fall into step behind him, the same clambering chill snapping at our heels.

A small yet sumptuously unsettling tale, Watkin’s story leaves you alone on the High Plains, pondering your way home in the growing morning light.

High Plains (A Western Myth) is playing at Underbelly Cowgate as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For more information please see to the Edinburgh Fringe Website.