The storied life of Mary McKinnon, one of Edinburgh’s leading brothel keepers, comes to the fore in this heartfelt and ambitious new work from promising company Fat Pooch Productions, Bloody Mary’s.
Set in Mary’s brothel, the show spotlights the numerous women who work under Mary’s care. This is a safe space for the sex workers of Edinburgh, as outside of Mary’s walls, plague and violence are rife; inside her home, these women are free to work as they please, for whomever they please. While 1823 seems to be bleak, damp and dingy for everyone else, the vibrancy of the life and shared bonds between the women here is bright, brought to the fore by Julia Gonzalez Franco and Jade L. Hutchison, writer and director, respectively.
It is an intriguing show, and one that, at just over an hour, is lofty in its ambitions to give the workers of Mary, a real-life brothel keeper and one with a devastating ending, a voice of empowerment, with some actively and openly discussing how they enjoy their work, while contrasting this with the looming, dangerous, presence of men that look to get ‘what they deserve’.
As McKinnon, Erin Clarke is superb in honing a character who appears both as a domineering businesswoman and as a tender mother to these women. Clarke is sharp in her verbal delivery, scything down chancing men with acerbic wit, which also, in a powerful finale, is utterly devastating, with Mary’s defiant and desperate closing monologue one of the highlights of the show. It is an emotionally charged performance, and one Clarke holds together superbly.
Sophie Nell Williams, as the brothel’s ‘Gossip’, is energetic and entertaining, though a little too outlandish in comparison to the rest of the characters, with Williams shining brighter in the quieter, more severe moments, while Eleanor McMahon is intriguing as Heather, a worker who does not sleep with the men, and instead is an ear for their troubles. Heather’s sexuality, loving another woman, is also explored here in a plotline which fizzles out a little quickly, but serves well to look at male hypocrisy in the work too.
Indeed, it is Jordan Monks’s despicable William Howat that the play’s tension and violence are explored. Howat’s predatory nature is portrayed brilliantly by Monks in a skin-crawling display, which culminates in shockingly stark violence which is well-choreographed and inventively staged. While the piece takes a little too long to get to Howat’s outburst, the speed and devastation in the last fifteen minutes are worth the wait.
The production is supported by terrific onstage musicians, with the foreboding strings used excellently to hint at the horrors to come. While the production could use a little sharpening in a slower opening, and has a few plotlines which tease something yet go unresolved, the clear effort of the piece to spotlight McKinnon and shed light on her devastating story is astounding.
For the women of ‘Bloody Mary’s’, life had few options, yet for Bloody Mary’s as a show, the potential is large. An atmospheric, powerful, female-led story.
