Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Islanders,” with Sylvie Stenson and Stephanie MacGaraidh/Photo: Steve Tanner
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On a spare, small stage, two young women sing in harmony, a capella, about the land and the water. The song is new but sounds like an old Celtic melody, about an island splitting, a storm raging and the people having to choose how to live.
They record bits of song and clapping using sound looping technology, working controls on a podium between them. Then they sing again over the recordings, creating multiple layers of harmony and rhythm so it seems like there’s a full choir. Every sound heard is created by the women onstage.
This is the unusual format of the new Scottish musical “Islander,” playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Upstairs, as part of its WorldStage Series. Conceived and first directed by Amy Draper, with a book by Stewart Melton and songs by Finn Anderson, it’s a sweet story, beautifully performed, about a friendship between two teenage girls. One of them is a mermaid or selkie who takes care of whales. Anderson is music director and loop station sound designer for the traveling show, which won best new musical at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Eilidh (“AY-lee,” played on alternate dates by Lois Craig and Sylvie Stenson) and Arran (played alternately by Julia Murray and Stephanie MacGaraidh), are brought together by a dead whale calf on the beach of the Scottish island of Kinnan. Both need a friend—Eilidh is the youngest person on Kinnan, which has lost its school and most of its people to the mainland. This includes Eilidh’s mother, a nanny who left Eilidh in the care of her grandmother. Arran is estranged from her own whale-keeping kin.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Islanders,” with Sylvie Stenson/Photo: Steve Tanner
The two actors play all the parts in the show, including gran, mum, a pregnant woman, a whale cow, a marine biologist and an islander in desperate search of his missing garden gnome. Both Craig and Murray (who performed on December 1) are amazing musicians and actors, with mobile faces and versatile voices who easily switch between roles. Melton’s book is witty and touching—especially in the character of Eilidh’s gran (Murray), a leader of the island folk who listens to their debates about Kinnan’s future. But she’s also a trickster—occasionally faking her own death to scare Eilidh. The Scottish brogues are thick, but easy enough to understand.
Despite the skill of the actors, the multiple characters can make the play confusing. There’s a key section on a boat when it is difficult to know who is speaking, or even who is there. The plot can be woolly—is it Arran’s fault that the calf died? The set by Emma Bailey is strange—it looks like a translucent bathtub, stitched together like Frankenstein’s monster. It’s a versatile piece of stage furniture in that the characters can run around inside it and along the edges, and light can shine through. But it’s not pretty, and you need to work hard to imagine a beautiful, rugged island off the Scottish coast.
These are small matters in what is otherwise a lovely, uplifting show. A great musical for children and teens, with its story of friendship, alienation and whales, it’s also a treasure for caledophiles, sound geeks and singers—who will be awestruck by the skill shown here. Catch “Islander” while you can—it runs only through December 17.
“Islander” through December 17 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 East Grand.
