Arran author tackles tale of Typhoid Mary
Arran author and live storyteller Marty Ross makes his professional debut as stage playwright in his home city of Glasgow next week.
His play, The Tale of Typhoid Mary, debuts at A Play, A Pie and A Pint, the lunchtime theatre at Oran Mor in the west end, which has become Scotland’s pre-eminent forum for new stage writing.
The play is based on the true story of Mary Mallon, an Irish cook in early 20th century New York who, without showing any symptoms herself, was carrying Typhoid bacillus, causing outbreaks among the wealthy households of America’s East Coast.
After tracking her down, the New York Health Department forcibly confined Mary to an island in the East River for the rest of her life.
‘It’s a story I had been obsessed by for a long time,’ said Ross, ‘but it’s gained a whole new currency in the light of the Covid pandemic – a story about the hard choices in public health between respecting individual liberties and defending society as a whole from infection.
‘Mary suffered the severest lockdown imaginable and we can debate to this day the rights and wrongs of the way she was treated, but my play aims to be a thrilling story above all – a detective story, a dark comedy and a deeply moving tragedy.
‘If any of my fellow Arranachs are over in Glasgow that week, they couldn’t do better for a lunchtime show.’ The play is at Oran Mor from Monday October 4 to Saturday October 9, with shows at 1pm. The Saturday show is already sold out.