Oran Mor, Glasgow
21st-26th September, 2026
Glasgow’s Oran Mor continues to celebrates its many-faceted role as a venue for locals and tourists alike. Situated at the top of the West End’s Byres Road, it continues to look good, while remaining as welcoming as ever. Since 2004, the basement of this venue has played host to ‘Play, Pie & Pint’ — which is, quite literally, just that.
The 2026 Autumn season begins with a piece by Izzy Gray, a very talented playwright, whose oplay ‘The Whaler’s Wife’ offered an intense study of hardship and grim survival, making waves on the stage. The set hinted at a tale to come, told by our three characters who held you as they spoke, and hypnotised when they sang.
The balance of personalities between Marion (Joyce Falconer), Elsie (Shawney Henderson) and Bess (Emma Tracey) was closely knit to the roles they were playing. Marion stepped onto the stage like a dark dream in motion, and the set immediately made sense. We were, in moments, aboard a boat fit for the sea and faraway places. As we sailed along the surface of the script, we were immersed in a long-lost world of whaling, and the songs sung by poor men at sea or far from home.
The play’s examination of its themes was colourful and effective, delivering fiery emotions, sad times and the determination to meet every challenge with the strength of the human spirit. I enjoyed the costumes immensely, particularly the white hairbands, which gave an effective sense of roughness and simplicity. There was something wonderfully tactile about the world created around the laundry, transporting us into the distant time of this woefully courageous tale.
The story was shared among all three performers. From the stage, their words reached out into a filled room, and a light of honesty seemed to prevail. There were no male roles in this week’s production, but that gave our three compatriots the space to stand on their own and explore love, brotherhood and sisterhood, all in a delightfully enigmatic way. There was a dance in their words, just as easy to ascertain as a physical dance across the stage.
Using this action, we were swept along by boat into the coming sea, as though it were long ago, when the spirit was fresh and unabashed for adventure — to conquer, to survive and to keep an old flame alight. This was personified wondrously by the three performers. We were met with a barrage of confidence that travelled around the room. Their sincerity was paramount, and very well done, while the storytelling moved at a very fast pace as they turned upon one another, or fell into moments of worry about beloved and precious things.
So much inclusion happened that ignoring the action, or even becoming distracted, simply didn’t occur. Instead, we were met with the story as it was — and as it could be. The theme rose as the story speedily unfolded, and we grew to sympathise with all that went on. This brought our attention to the whale, whose tales are remembered each time we encounter them: something ancient, interesting and worthy of celebration.
During sea shanties and vividly metaphorical storms, land loomed, but no one was quite sure what they saw. Stars or planets? The three voices were totally different. They sang like mermaids who had suddenly joined the proceedings, their personalities becoming soft, true and beautiful, then fierce and fiery in preparation for the many storms to come.
The three asked questions — loud, appropriate ones — cleverly constructing the higher moments of the plot and placing things such as outrage exactly where they belonged. Great, thoughtful and transiently complete.
Words: Daniel Donnelly
hotos: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan