Beastie
★★★★☆ Speculative
Scottish Storytelling Centre: 11 Sept 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar.
Flagstone Theatre’s new work Beastie haunts the Scottish Storytelling Centre for one night only, bringing to life a contemporary legend of myth and memory exploring the echoes of the unexplained.
A man lives alone in a bothy on the shores of Loch Morar, eking out a quiet existence giving monster tours, until he is thrust into the viral spotlight by a crew of documentarians. Dubbed “The Hermit of Morar,” this Beastie bites back against his newfound fame with sharp remarks and stories— stories of monsters, misunderstandings, and the mystery behind how he came to be the keeper of the loch.
Fraser Sivewright in Beastie. Pic: Andrew Perry.
Written and directed by Izzy Gray, Beastie is described as “part Highland ghost story, part fever dream,” and lives up to that expectation.
Fraser Sivewright’s skilful performance slips from frank and blunt, addressing the audience as if they are his present-day interviewers, to groping confusion and wistful memory as he relates Beastie’s history, centring around the disappearance of his uni friend Corra in the Pentlands.
The story’s three central strands (Beastie in the present, his family history with the bothy/how he came to be there, and Corra’s disappearance) are well-woven, skipping from one to the next and back again in the manner of someone telling a story full of distraction and unanswered questions.
Rather than an elaborately constructed non-linear drama, it feels as if Beastie is simply talking about all this, really allowing himself to examine it, for the first time, prompted only now and then by questions from an interviewer.
Sivewright appears alone onstage, but is joined by voiceover performances from Kirsty Macduff as Corra and Ellen MacDonald, Brian Maitland, Megan Macdonald, and Gordon J Millar as members of the Morar community. These clever additions allow Beastie’s story to expand into more detail without forcing Sivewright to deliver every bit of exposition, rather reacting to how they speak of him. And, of course, to bring the ghostly figure of Corra into the present, even if only Beastie can hear her.
layered atmosphere
Illustrations from Rachael Gray and animation by Dominika Jackowska further expand Beastie’s world, supplementing the simple set of the space outside the Bothy with whimsical representations of the land and characters beyond. Composer Quee MacArthur, sound designer Ewan Watson, and lighting designer Tom Sulat also contribute layered atmosphere to the play, with their elements aligned in excellent timing with Sivewright’s performance and transitions.
The culmination of Beastie is not in answering all of its questions, but in questioning why the unknown and unexplained are so often spun into myth and monster: Corra, Nessie, Morag of Loch Morar, and Beastie himself.
How does an event, a person, a misunderstanding grow to become larger than itself until it is unrecognisable by those who were there to witness it? As Beastie says, “the truth’s just the bit that survives the telling,” and what is lost becomes simply another story.
Running time: One hour and 10 minutes (no interval).
Scottish Storytelling Centre , 43-45 High St, EH1 1SR.
Thursday 11 September 2025.
One performance: 7.30pm.
Run ended.
Flagstone’s ambition for Beastie is to tour it rurally, including to the Morar community, who have been generous in contributing to the company’s oral history project. The current aim is to achieve this in Spring 2026.
Flagstone Theatre Socials:
Facebook: @FlagstoneTheatre
Instagram: @flagstonetheatre
Fraser Sivewright in Beastie. Pic: Andrew Perry.
ENDS
