Head. Heart. Hand.
★★★★☆ Heady, heartfelt, handsome
Traverse Theatre: Thurs 19 – Sat 21 Feb 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Head. Heart. Hand. at the Traverse until Saturday, is a fitting celebration of a local institution but should be of interest to everyone, being an excellent piece of theatre by any standards.
The play commemorates the 150th anniversary of what is now Queen Margaret University. It is written by Stef Smith, who studied at QMU and is only one of many notable figures in Scottish theatre who are graduates of the university. The play itself is performed by QMU Acting and Performance students, who without exception are impressive.
A scene from Head.Hand.Heart. Pic: Robin Mitchell
The play features five main scenes. One in 1875 details the institution’s founding as a cookery school for women; another in 1943 is concerned with the students’ involvement in the war effort; a third is about a student protest against cuts in 1975; the fourth is set during COVID in 2020, and a final scene is about modern-day pressures on university teaching.
This outline might make it sound episodic, but there is a wonderful flow to proceedings. Each of the first four scenes feature three characters (the last involves everyone) but all of the cast also perform linking speeches throughout. These are impressionistic but beautifully judged, knitting the whole thing together and providing an outline of the whole history of QMU in all of its various forms.
passionately committed
Informative without ever becoming heavy going, and passionately committed without preaching, it is an exceptionally fine piece of writing. The descriptions of QMU as a ‘basking shark’ hoovering up other educational establishments, and its subsequent ‘mongrel’ status, are typical, being pithy, humorous, evocative and affectionate but with something of a bite.
There is obviously a huge amount of research involved, but this is always worn lightly. It is also clearly rooted in the experiences of Queen Margaret students but always echoes wider concerns and resists any temptation to rely on in-jokes. It is funny and affecting, with the COVID section being as good as any attempt seen so far to represent that strange and awful time on stage.
A scene from Head.Hand.Heart. Pic: Robin Mitchell.
Smith’s writing is well served by Bruce Strachan’s clear and sympathetic direction, with Stephanie Arsoska’s movement direction providing an arresting start to proceedings.
Emily Moule, Juliet Kelly and Cora Todd are the three nineteenth-century figures, who return at the play’s conclusion. They provide wonderfully defined characters with no hint of the over-emphatic ‘period drama’ element that can bedevil such scenes.
The wartime sequence is equally arresting, with Greg Cross and Joe Holland as two soldiers returning from a POW camp and Jessica Dima as the student who welcomes them.
subtly echoed
Throughout, the language, themes and events of each scene are subtly echoed in others, with a pattern of commitment, hope and a belief in education as important for its own sake as well as for what it can provide.
The 1975 sequence is perhaps less vital in this regard, as its concerns are also addressed elsewhere, but is once again very well acted by Brocas McOwen, Tanya Scott and Sophie Helen Wilson.
A scene from QMU’s Head.Hand.Heart. Pic: Robin Mitchell.
The 2020 sequence, as already mentioned, has the greatest emotional impact, and is very well served by Danny McAllen, Emily Bannerman and Erin Clark.
Some of the performers also play parts of sound designer Matthew Brown’s very fine music. The sound, like Sulie Wood’s lighting, is faultless, while Mary Boyd’s well chosen costumes and Sarah Paulley’s unfussy set also add greatly to the impact.
Gateway theatre
There is the odd moment that is less successful. Once or twice, it does threaten to become formulaic. The script does very occasionally lapse into the self-referential. Smith clearly misses (as do so many) the Gateway theatre that provided a base for drama studies, but its name is probably evoked too often as a metaphor.
However, these lapses are an extremely minor part of a production that is committed, powerful and highly recommended.
Running time: One hour and 15 minutes (no interval)
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED
Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 February 2026
Daily: 7pm; Matinee Sat: 2pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
A scene from Head.Hand.Heart. Pic: Robin Mitchell.
ENDS
