Writer: Bea Roberts
Director: Caitlin McLeod
It’s summer 2022, and deep in a sleepy Devonshire village, there’s activism afoot. Ivy Tiller has a mission. As a leading member of the Manaford Morton Red Squirrel Action Force, she aims to remove every grey squirrel 
from the estate so that the red squirrel population can return as the rightful inhabitants of the land. She’s not squeamish about how she goes about it, either. In fact, since her mother died it’s her only interest in life and an obsession. So what should she do when the last squirrel has been shot?
Ivy Tiller: Vicar’s Daughter, Squirrel Killer is part of the RCS’s Mischief Festival. It showcases works from contemporary writers in the intimate studio at The Other Place, and Bea Roberts has created a work that asks more questions than it answers. There’s an awful lot going on here, far too much to even adequately explore let alone resolve in 100 minutes – and what we’re left with is a feeling that we don’t quite know what exactly it is trying to get across. Unresolved grief, insularity and questioning of what exactly is ‘native’, how aggressive we should be when tackling conservation, feeling that your life has lost its meaning – these are all themes that are touched on to one degree or another but left dangling. It’s not clear whether it ran out of steam or was left deliberately unresolved as a vehicle for audience self-reflection – but if that is the intention, maybe it’s a bit too subtle for its own good.
Despite its flaws, the piece provides an entertaining evening. It’s a darkly comic piece with a lot of humour along the way, and some strong performances from the six-strong cast. Jenny Rainsford is a determined and feisty Ivy, a hard shell bottling up the lost and lonely woman inside. Nathan McMullen gives fine support as her cousin Gary, recently out of prison and visiting Ivy because his family was concerned about her. Alex Bhat shows some good comedy skills as Ivy’s adoring lieutenant Reece, and Jade Ogugua’s Primary School teacher Jade shows she can be as determined as Ivy. Rounding up the cast we have Tim Treloar (Clive, Tig, Sam) and Anna Andresen (Head, Andrea, Sue) showing good versatility in picking up three very different characters each.
An entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying evening.
Runs Until 5 November 2022
