Common Tongue
★★★★☆ Pure dead brilliant
Studio Theatre: Fri 3 Oct 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Intimate and multi-layered, Common Tongue is a robust – occasionally explosive – exploration of voice, identity and society’s disapproval of those who don’t speak “proper”, playing one night at the Studio as part of a Scottish tour by JGProducing in association with Ayr Gaiety.
Olivia Caw stars as Bonnie McKay, a Scots speaking Glaswegian, navigating life while proud of who she is and how she speaks. From childhood slap-downs at school, to teenage faux pas and a young adult’s incredulity, she becomes increasingly aware of others’ perception of her speech.
Common Tongue written and directed by Fraser Scott, performed by Olivia Caw. Pic: Peter Dibdin.
Caw is outstanding as Bonnie, navigating with ease and specificity each age and event of the story. A teacher correcting her childhood “aye” to “yes”; her mortification as a teenager, bursting out naturally with a “fuck” in front of her middle-class boyfriend’s parents; and, at uni, seeing Scots commodified – then struggling with how to share it.
All the while Caw maintains a firm grip on the present day in which she speaks to the audience.
As Bonnie relates her tale, she periodically embodies other people that are part of it, from a clueless primary school classmate to the gentle figure of support that is Bonnie’s dad. Each is distinct without being overpowering, a testament to Caw’s skill in monodramatic storytelling.
myriad experiences
The script, from Fraser Scott who also directs, encompasses myriad experiences without feeling overstuffed.
Leaping naturally from one to the next in exploring the complexity of its subject matter, Common Tongue is not a simple castigation of a society, a world, that does not recognise Scots for what it is, but a many-layered reflection on the challenges and triumphs of living in a minority language.
Bonnie never seeks to change herself, but she does change. And when that is pointed out to her, a cascade of self-questioning follows. Scott asks his audience to look outward and inward, to see the world in its foibles and potential, and to find the same within themselves.
Common Tongue written and directed by Fraser Scott, performed by Olivia Caw. Pic: Peter Dibdin.
As a director, not all of Scott’s choices make complete sense. Why have fourteen microphones onstage when only a couple are ever used? The early convention that Caw uses a mic when portraying someone other than Bonnie quickly breaks down, so she is left floating in a sea of mics, each waiting distractingly to be used.
If the intention was to make some kind of statement about the amplification of one’s suppressed voice, it has not come through cleanly.
Nevertheless, it is Scott’s triumph of a script and Caw’s captivating performance that are the heart and soul of Common Tongue.
claiming what is rightfully yours
From counting down the audience into a communal shout of “CUNT” to the group rendition of “Auld Lang Syne,” this is a show about community, culture, and claiming what is rightfully yours.
As Common Tongue declares itself, it is a show “fur fowk who huv been telt tae speak ‘proper’ their hale life.” Send anyone who believes speaking Scots isn’t speaking proper to see Common Tongue, and that’s them telt.
Running time: One hour and 15 minutes (no interval)
Studio Theatre, 22 Potterrow, EH8 9BL
Friday 3 October 2025
One performance: 7.30pm.
(Run ended)
Further details: www.jgproducing.com
Common Tongue on tour October 2025
Tue 7 Oct, 7.30pm
Eastgate Theatre, Peebles
Thu 9 Oct, 7.30pm
Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock
Fri 10 Oct, 7.30pm
Lanternhouse, Cumbernauld
Sat 11 Oct, 7.30pm
Byre Theatre, St Andrews
Thu 16 Oct, 7.30pm
Theatre Royal, Dumfries
Fri 17/Sat 18 Oct, 7.30pm
Paisley Arts Centre, Paisley
ENDS
