FringeReview Scotland 2026
Deep Blue by Lola Rose Wood
Scottish Youth Theatre Trajectories
Genre: New Writing, Theatre, Youth Theatre
Venue: Oran Mor
Festival: FringeReview Scotland
Low Down
Two workers and a supervisor are responsible for the cutting up of a whale that has been beached. Discovering that it is still alive, one of the two workers slaughters it. They discover a baby whale, still alive, during the murder of this magnificent beast. Redemption is hoped for by one of them trying to take that whale off to the sea. We are then taken to that character sitting in a chair doing what appears to be a data management job whilst contemplating what just happened onstage.
Review
Presented as part of Scottish Youth Theatre Trajectories, and the final one of the three presented in a Saturday lunchtime slot, this has been developed under the tutelage of Douglas Maxwell. Of the three, this is the one that challenged me the most, and at the same time gave me greater hope that it could sustain a full production.
The idea of a piece of theatre which doesn’t whack you over the head with environmentalism whilst confronting you with something that whacks you over the head with environmentalism was truly intriguing. Sure, the challenge of a getting a whale onstage aside, this did make the debate really real.
I found it slowly engaging as the characters emerged through each section, leaving me slightly confused at the final section with one of our protagonists on a chair. I didn’t quite connect it with what had gone on before but was willing to be taken by the metaphorical hand to find out. That takes skill.
I thought this was innovative, original and progressive. I concentrated on the words rather than the performances because it really requires a full production to explore the ways an audience would react.
I also thought it being presented alongside two comic sections was a little unfortunate because this didn’t have funny written all over it: it had serious and pay attention written all over it, and I did.
In his introduction to the piece Maxwell highlighted the radical nature of it and that is what gave me hope. The afternoon began with him telling us we would feel more optimistic about the future of Scottish theatre by being there and here was the take you by the hand and show us our folly type of approach I was hoping for. It provided a counterpoint, added to the mix, gave us strength in depth for the afternoon.
Though it had a clear storyline and narrative, this felt it was taking you along, not a flight of fancy, but a flight of comprehension and understanding that all is not as you would see it.
The challenge of bringing that to the stage was taken on admirably by our three actors who did a decent job, though not having anything concrete to work with and having to mime was a challenge that longer rehearsal time would have helped with. Not sure why it took so long to get the bleeding chair onstage, but it added rather than detracted to the overall feel of us seeing developing rather than polished pieces.
The crew did their job well and it all worked.
Overall with this being the final piece at the beginning of a New Year, it gave hope and I shall certainly have three new names to look out for as the year progresses to see where they are going to next.
