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Off the Rails

Òran Mór, Glasgow

Three stars

 

Maggie is going round in circles. It’s the morning of her thirtieth birthday, and she has somehow found herself on a slow train to Aberdeen. As she reflects on how she got here, a series of brief encounters forces her to go beyond her original destination and make connections with what has been on her doorstep all along. 

 

Maggie thinks she is on a one-way trip to  Norway in her search for some kind of sanctuary where she can be alone. From hen parties to handsome himbos to wise old sages, alas, all life seems to be amongst these strangers on a train, as each arrival and departure bestows their unique brand of wisdom on Maggie as they go. 

 

So much for the quiet carriage in Stephanie MacGaraidh’s new solo mini musical, which she performs as part of A Play, a Pie and a Pint’s latest lunchtime theatre season. Part of this, of course, is that Maggie’s story is told largely through MacGaraidh’s canon of indie-folk-pop songs that punctuate Katie Slater’s production, played out on Heather Grace Currie’s pink neon tinged train carriage set.  

 

Doubling up as all the other passengers, MacGaraidh’s one woman band is enabled by the liberal use of a looping device that allows for percussive gasps to do a fair enough impression of a train in motion as well as providing multi tracked choral accompaniment. 

 

This makes for a busy little show, which sees MacGaraidh make her professional playwriting debut with considerable charm. As she multi tasks away in a play about a young woman’s getting of wisdom, Maggie finally learns the importance of making a connection as her impulsive away day brings her all the way back home. 


The Herald, April 23rd 2026

 

Ends 

 

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