The Guardian 12 September 2022

There is something unknowable about young Maggie Wall. Perhaps you would call it spiritual. You hear it in the lullaby handed down through the generations, the words like an incantation taking root within her. Or it’s the magic of the illicit Latin prayer she sings, a romantic alternative to songless Presbyterian Perthshire.

Such music sets her apart, as does the complexion she inherited from her late father, a man also ostracised from his neighbours in superstitious times. That this uncommonly beautiful girl on the brink of womanhood clings close to her protective mother, never venturing out alone, adds another level of mystery. You can see why the 17th-century locals might have been intrigued. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).