The Straw Chair at Finborough Theatre

Finborough theatre has been home to some of the most prominent artists today, including Kathy Burke, Mike Bartlett and Sam Yates. It is no surprise, then, that it has frequently been ranked as the top venue for fringe writing, and has become a household name for new talent, consistently sweeping awards ceremonies.

Written in 1988 by Sue Glover, and based on the real account of Lady Grange, née Rachel Chiesly, The Straw Chair is a drama with conviction. Kidnapped and imprisoned in 1732 on the remote island of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides, after suspecting her husband of being a Jacobite sympathiser, Rachel does not disappear quietly. She is portrayed by Siobhan Redmond in a most formidable performance, awakening compassion in the audience as she struggles with only her maid, Oona (Jenny Lee) for company. 

Newly married Isabel (actor and music director Rori Hawthorn) is just 17, travelling from Edinburgh (also the home of Rachel) with her minister husband, Aneas (Finlay Bain), over the rough Atlantic waters – a journey on which she is mostly sick. Initially intimidated by Rachel, who storms the stage claiming she is the highest born on the island, Isabel soon discovers there is more to Lady Grange than the opinions ferried around. As they gradually befriend each other, the Lady instructs Isabel on marital details; Aeneas is reserved when it comes to intimacy, causing a palpable rift between the couple and a pressure to consummate their marriage.

Admittedly, Rachel succumbs to bouts of rage and drunken behaviour, but this results from her troubled relationship with Lord Grange, who had several affairs and because of whom she is trapped. (The real-life Lady Grange was shunned to several remote archipelago islands for 13 years and is the only Scottish woman to have been given three burials.)

Finborough’s stage is managed well, given the very intimate space, and with the help of the lighting and sound design, audiences can easily picture the Outer Hebrides in the 18^th century. With beautiful, traditional Gaelic music (including fiddle arrangements), Glover’s pitch-perfect writing – a lot of which is surprisingly very funny, given the story – and Polly Creed’s direction, The Straw Chair speaks volumes about the mistreatment and ostracism of unconventional women and still rings true after 300 years. 

Selina Begum
Photo: Carla J Evans

The Straw Chair is at Finborough Theatre from 19^th April until 14^th May 2022. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.