Writer: Douglas Maxwell
Director: Sally Reid
In 1995, two students meet at a party and make a pact: they will never touch, or if they do so just once, they must part as strangers. The impulsive and mercurial Iris believes that this will preserve ‘the charge’ between them and save them from inevitable staleness and sadness. Law student Robin reluctantly agrees. Iris has forgotten the encounter by the time her hangover lifts, but Robin holds tightly onto the memory until they meet again by chance, 30 years later.
Writer Douglas Maxwell has an impressive track record of award-winning plays about contemporary life and society, performed in venues across Scotland and beyond. His intriguing new play in the Studio at Pitlochry Festival Theatre examines the arcs of two lives from this one point in time. Robin becomes a Chief Sheriff Clerk and lectures his hapless junior colleague about how their role in court demands discipline, tidiness and utter integrity. The court is a repository of human ‘mess’ that they must not succumb to. Iris, on the other hand, has run through several careers and relationships, and got involved in supporting a young activist who has found herself on the wrong side of the law. When their worlds collide again, will Robin prioritise his systems and keep things tidy, or get dragged into Iris’s chaos? And will they ever touch?
As Robin, Sandy Grierson gives a beautifully nuanced performance, appearing in turns baffled and fascinated by Iris while struggling to maintain the self-control and self-denial that has kept him on a steady course thus far. Meeting her again unlocks his emotions, and he decides it’s time to say ‘yes’ to everything, to start again. Iris, on the other hand, is being pulled back into her past life and forced to rethink her priorities. Adura Onashile exudes warmth and passion as the complex Iris who has certainly successfully resisted stagnation but finds there’s something missing. Two young actors playing multiple roles complete the cast. Sophie Fortune gives an assured performance in the three very different roles of Young Iris, lawyer Shauna and activist Toni. Alexander Tait, also playing three characters, exhibits some cracking comic timing as the court junior Arthur, and switches effortlessly between parts.
With Sally Reid’s direction, the action flows swiftly yet the two main characters have ample time to explore their memories, their choices and the intimacy they crave. Reflections on touch, parental love, and loss are shared, and it turns out that it’s never too late to reassess and start again. Inexperience is a warmly engaging portrait of two people longing for authentic connection, for a still point in the chaos.
Runs until 4 July 2026 | Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
