Childminder at the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh

Iain McClure has been writing plays ‘on and off’ for the past 40 years

But he is also a child psychiatrist, and after coming away from the world premiere of his latest play, I felt like I needed counselling!

There are no holds barred in this shock horror story of…a child psychiatrist who has to come to terms with his own past. I just hope it wasn’t autobiographical!

Be warned; this psychological thriller throws everything at you in graphic detail – child murder, a disturbed teenager, suicide, childbirth, death and, to top it all, a ghostly visitation, while at the centre of it all is the story of Joseph and his young partner Cindy.

We knew we were in for some thrills when we walked into a darkened and misty auditorium.

The story switches backwards and forwards through time beginning with Joseph, a successful psychiatrist in New York, returning to his hometown of Edinburgh, where his past comes back to haunt him. Fast forward 16 years to an intimate dinner in the US between Joseph and Cindy, of native American descent.

At this stage I should introduce the actors who play this scene so well I felt I was intruding on what was a very private and intense occasion. Cal MacAninch’s name isn’t familiar to me but his face certainly is, with countless TV and film roles to his credit. As Joseph I could feel his desperation as he woos Cindy, 20 years his junior, while Mara Huf, as Cindy, is totally transfixed one moment and then feisty with the arrogance of youth the next.

But a surprising bonus comes in the shape of Ben Ewing who steals the scene each time he appears as the waiter, providing some much needed comic relief. And he continues to be just as memorable when he later appears as a troubled and uncommunicative 13-year-old.

The staging is a bit clunky and although there is ‘real’ blood at the end I wish Joseph and Cindy had been eating and drinking real food and wine during their intimate meal instead of having to mime. And I also wish I’d read the synopsis beforehand as I would have had a much clearer picture of what was going on, such as the fact that Joseph’s luxury Edinburgh flat had been developed from the old hospital where ‘things had happened’!

Childminder can be seen at the Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock on June 14 and 15, and The Byre Theatre St Andrews on June 28 and 29.