The Straw Chair
Finborough Theatre

INSPIRED by a true, 18th-century story, Sue Glover’s play weaves together the lives of two distinctly different women stranded on the rocky and windswept Hebridean island of Hirta and the strange and dangerous relationship that develops between them.

Lady Rachel Grange has been abducted and held hostage for six years on the island after an acrimonious divorce. Her vicious treatment and isolation has driven her to the point of madness but her fiery spirit is undimmed. The arrival of a puritanical minister, Aneas, and his naive young wife, Isabel, after their recent, unconsummated marriage provides the imperious and blunt-spoken captive with an outlet for her disturbing narrative and candid views on sexuality. 

Siobhan Redmond creates an intriguing Mrs Havisham-style creature in Rachel, parading around the barren island in her dishevelled finery, abusing her servant and clinging onto the past with a feverish determination. Her fierce passion, haughty manner and blunt sexual advice soon pull Isabel into her orbit.