The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
And Then Come The Nightjars
Inchyra Arts Club, Perth, April 19-20, then various venues
And Then Come The Nightjars is the debut play by South Devon playwright Bea Roberts. Based on her own experience, it won the 2014 Playwriting Award at London’s Theatre503, beating 2,000 other scripts.
On the surface it’s about the foot-and-mouth crisis which hit British farming in 2001, but there’s much more going on beneath – including a sense that the industry has reached a crossroads which may signal the end of an era.
“The central spine of the play is this ‘odd couple’ friendship between an older farmer and a younger vet from very different backgrounds,” says actor Nigel Hastings, who is one of the stars of the show.
“Jeff the vet, who I play, is from Surrey and quite posh, an outsider in South Devon, and Michael the farmer (played by Scots actor Finlay Welsh) is very stuck in his ways.”
The two characters are brought together by the foot-and-mouth crisis, and a spiky but enduring friendship develops between them over 10 or 15 years.
It’s this amusing relationship which forms the heart of the play.
The nightjar of the production’s name is a species of small British bird, explains Hastings.
“They’re rarely seen, but when they are, Devon folklore says it’s the bird of death,” he adds. “It’s a metaphor which runs throughout this play.
“It’s about love, loss and friendship, and a dying way of life.”
For him, the show also shines a light on the realities of modern rural life, with the countryside increasingly regarded as somewhere for people to have holiday homes and admire the views and less as a place where they might actually want to live and work.
“The industry of farming is being neglected, and some people have seen this play as a lament for the way the countryside used to be,” he adds.
In researching his role, Hastings spent some time with a Devon farmer whose entire herd had been culled during the crisis.
“When they were killed, he had to start from scratch. He was a very big, archetypal strong farmer, but within minutes of talking about it there were tears rolling down his face,” he recalls.
The original production was a collaboration between Theatre503 and Bristol Old Vic. Perth Theatre is a partner on the current tour which, given its subject matter, has focused on towns in rural areas.
After playing the Inchyra arts Club it can be seen at Blair Atholl Village Hall (April 21), Aberfeldy Town Hall (April 22), Birnam Arts, Dunkeld (April 26 -27), Blairgowrie Town Hall (April 28) and Strathearn Art Space, Crieff (April 29).