The Scotsman 18 April 2023

As a theatre director, Joanna Bowman looks for two things in a play. First it should not be able to exist anywhere but the stage. Second it should have a reason to be heard; something “politically necessary”. As she sees it, Wolfie (Some Sort Of Fairy Tale) ticks both boxes.

The debut play by Ross Willis, it premiered at London’s Theatre503 in 2019 and went on to be named best play at both the Writers’ Guild Awards and the Off-West End Awards. It is about twin sisters whom we follow from before they are born until the age of 26. They are farmed out to different foster parents – one as dysfunctional as the other – and have their lives shaped accordingly.

“It just pings off the page in the most terrifying and exciting way,” says Bowman, making her debut as associate director at Glasgow’s Tron, a post she will hold for two years. [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).