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OhOn the bare brick wall supporting Jen McGinley’s set – half court, half saloon – is a faded picture of The Searchers, John Ford’s 1956 western. The whiskey strong men who haunt the clubs and dance at The Long Drop might consider themselves cowboys. They are two merchants and nobles, full of foolishness and vanity; sometimes cosplay baddies, acting as tough as John Wayne; sometimes, it is real, beaten by social violence.
But this is not Monument Valley. In fact, it is the very streets of the Gorbals outside the theater where, once upon a time, one of Glasgow’s most famous crimes was played out. Adapted with equal parts wit and horror by Linda McLean from a true crime novel by Denise Minait is an undisputed case of triple murder.
In 1956, Marion Watt, her daughter, Vivienne, and her sister, Margaret Brown, were shot dead as they slept in their beds in the town of Burnside, South Lanarkshire. Police suspect Marion’s husband, William Watt, even though he was 90 miles away at night. He had an alibi, but he was different.
Desperate to escape the charge, Watt followed Peter Manuelan underworld figure who claimed to know the criminal – and gave him a detailed account of the crime. Combined with court testimony, their night of unmasking is as black as a soot-stained city, a line that goes from lawlessness to immorality.
In Dominic Hill’s dream-like paintings melt into each other like melting pieces of reality. Brian Vernel’s Manuel is a doe with dead eyes and a keen eye for children. Somehow his self-delusion drowns out his disgust, as if no one has ever told him how bad he is.
Like Watt, Keith Fleming is a hard-nosed businessman, not managing events the way he wants them to appear. When he is very excited, he compares himself to the business people of the city; The company he keeps – and his endless drinking – shows that he has no color. They have more money than class.
Together, they’re an oddball family in the heart of a city run by spivvy club owners, sharp-eyed workers and lowlifes. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad, but it’s still very compelling.
