Inexperience
★★★★☆ Human
Pitlochry Festival Theatre: Sat 13 Jun – Sat 4 Jul 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Inexperience, the new play by Douglas Maxwell at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre Studio, is a stimulating production full of life and emotion.
Robin and Iris meet as students at a party in the 1990s. There’s an attraction, but rather than give into it and lose the ‘spark’ you feel in the moments before anything happens, they decide that they can only touch each other once in their lives, after which they must revert to being strangers. A hungover Iris instantly forgets, but Robin keeps the resolution.
Adura Onashile and Sandy Grierson,. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Thirty years later, Robin is a buttoned-up sheriff clerk, sworn to avoid the ‘messiness’ of life; Iris’s life is a self-confessed ‘bin fire’. And of course, they’re going to meet up again.
The play, among many other things, deals with whether experience and wisdom are better gained through quiet contemplation, or by saying yes to everything without considering it (even if you end up in Guatemala). So it’s appropriate that it is both a tightly structured, cleverly plotted affair and a pacy, breezy, funny one. It has elements of the rom-coms of the period where the play starts, as well as nods to earlier screwball comedies. The central conceit may seem a trifle contrived when described in isolation, but in the context of the play it really works.
their interactions are compelling
Sandy Grierson’s repressed Robin and Adura Onashile’s chaotic Iris are both wonderfully human, hugely imperfect and capable of both profundity and stupidity, both empathy and great selfishness. Grierson’s puzzled discontent and Onashile’s blazing dissatisfaction mirror each other superbly and their interactions are compelling.
Sophie Fortune and Alexander Tait play the younger versions of Robin and Iris as well as each playing two other roles. Fortune, who has performed with Strange Town and the Young Lyceum, has a real poise and presence in her professional debut, while Tait’s tremendous comic chops are particularly evident in his portrayal of jury attendant Arthur.
Sandy Grierson and Sophie Fortune. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Sally Reid’s direction, as well as bringing out some excellent performances, makes very good use of the acting space (including entrances and exits) and gives everything real momentum. Jessica Worrall’s design is expertly judged, seeming to fill the space and yet give ample room for movement. Derek Anderson’s lighting and Michael John McCarthy’s sound design are both geared beautifully to the storytelling.
It is refreshing to see a new play that runs to full length (including an interval) that doesn’t even have songs in it. So it is unfortunate to have to report that it is really too long, with sections that simply repeat what has gone before.
extremely convincing
Even if overstretched, however, it is ultimately extremely convincing. It is done with real panache, the themes are lightly worn, and the portrayal of the difficulties of human intimacy is very affecting (big congratulations are due to movement director Vicki Manderson).
There’s also a very fine use of the maxim of Chekhov’s gun, and the final scene works beautifully. This may be slightly too long for its own good, but it’s warm, it’s clever and it’s funny.
Running time: Two hours 15 minutes including one interval
Pitlochry Festival Theatre (Studio), Port-na-craig Road, Pitlochry, PH16 5DR
Saturday 13 June – Saturday 4 July 2026
Tues – Sat: 8pm (not Tues 16, 23); Matinees Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun: 2.30 pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Sophie Fortune and Alexander Tait. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
ENDS
