EDINBURGH 2023: Review: GUNTER at Summerhall

It’s the start of the 17th Century. Two boys have been murdered by a grown man during a game of football and their mum wants justice. But Brian Gunter is the richest in their village in the south of England and, with that, come intimidation and favours. A tense feud starts between the Gunters and the Gregorys, and when Brian’s daughter Anne falls ill, there’s only one thing that could have happened: she must have been bewitched. Historian Lydia Higman introduces a harrowing tale of misogyny and fear set in the idyll of a country scarred by witch trials.

The real-life case drew the attention of academics, doctors, and even King James I, but most documents (as well as the result of the trial) have been lost in the chaos that ensued when the Gunpowder Plot failed. Multi-talented company Dirty Hare present an eclectic, electric production that’s difficult to pin down as a single genre. It’s physical theatre and pure drama, but it’s also comedy and music. Their incendiary storytelling includes eerie three-part harmonies, songs full of passionate narration, a sharp lighting design that creates harsh shadows and striking chiaroscuri. It also displays a deep empathetic investment and care into the forgotten life of Anne.

Gunter is an energetic, subtle, genuinely amusing, hard-hitting piece that ties the effects of violence and suspicion to the patriarchal structure and all its demands. Julia Grogan, Norah Lopez-Holden, and Hannah Jarrett-Scott materialise the story while Higman narrates it and contextualises it sitting at her drums, electric guitar in hand. Titles introduce the characters and set the scene, streamlining the process and maintaining a beckoning pace freed from the need of any lengthy explanations. Unshackled from the constraints of historical accuracy but rooted in the factual events, the show is feminist fringe theatre at its best.

Gunter runs at Summerhall on the following dates: 5-13, 15-20, 22-27 August.

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