Content warning: this review contains references to suicide. If you require support, please contact the Samaritans through their website, or on 116 123.
★★★★
Named after the mountain they are climbing, Devil’s Point follows young couple Ailsa and Sean on a hiking trip. The atmosphere is as cold as the winds howling outside the bothy where they are staying, and in a bid to entertain themselves without ending in an argument—something rare for them—Ailsa tells Sean a story from Scottish folklore that her granny told her. These scenes are interspersed with look-backs throughout their relationship, allowing us to see how an awkward first encounter leads to their first date, and the eventual downfall of their relationship.
Ailsa’s story is about a girl who can hear the devil calling her name. It eventually drives her mad, and she jumps off a cliff in the middle of the night. This is accompanied by shadow puppetry controlled by Sean. It was hard to see this clearly from my position at the side of the stage, but Ailsa’s storytelling paints a vivid picture anyway.
Predictably, the story starts an argument between the couple. Ailsa gets annoyed because Sean centres the girl’s husband in the story, and Sean retaliates by calling her crazy. It’s sharp: a huge contrast to his happy-go-lucky ways that we’ve seen previously. Both actors do an excellent job of portraying their characters’ differing moods. They have great chemistry together, and their earlier date moments are very sweet, which makes it even more unfortunate that they don’t work out.
After the story ends in an argument, Sean suggests they play quick-fire questions (less time to disagree, he reasons), just like they did on their first date. They start talking about where it all went wrong, and Sean storms out of the bothy in anger. When he doesn’t come back after a while, Ailsa goes after him, and we have a chilling realisation that we may be closer to the folk story than we thought.
A voicemail left by Sean apologising for not showing up for their trip evokes the question: was he really there at all? It’s a bit bewildering, but adds to the eerie atmosphere of the show. Well executed and haunting, I’d highly recommend squeezing it into your Fringe schedule.
Devil’s Point will be performed at theSpace on the Mile – Space 1 until 16 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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