The End Is Near

This clever and original play by Melissa Ainsworth is part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe and well worth checking out! Three different women from three different centuries find themselves united as their very personal doomsday clock keeps ticking away. Although from different cultural backgrounds and places they have one thing in common: being women, their thoughts and voices are still suppressed!

The opening song is ‘Gloria’ by Patti Smith and it is a choice that speaks for itself and perfectly sets the tone for what is about to come. It’s surprising what impact can achieve with a minimal set, in this case, three chairs with three different ropes and cords around them. There’s the classic hangman’s rope around the chair reserved for Janet (Lisa McIntyre), a presumed witch from 17th century Edinburgh - 1661 to be precise. Then there’s a multi-coloured rope in purple, white and green (the chosen colours of the Suffragette movement) fixed to a metal chain on both ends. The chair inside the loop belongs to Caroline (Melissa Ainsworth) - married yet a feminist at heart who decided to join the Suffragette movement in 1911 London. Then there’s the third chair, surrounded by red strands of wool and balls of wool with some knitting needles stuck inside. That’s the domain of Lauren, a young woman from the USA who is fighting for her reproductive freedom in 2028. As each of the women proceeds to reveal her story, it becomes clear that for every step forward, women’s rights always seem to take two steps back even nowadays, one just has to look at certain countries in the Middle East like Afghanistan where women are stripped of even their most basic rights. But we don’t have to venture to the Middle East or similar countries to bring a point across, for 17th century Scotland is enough.

Janet’s tale is a tale not just of witch hysteria (her mother got executed as a witch) but it is a tale in which women who harboured thoughts of independence and non-conformity often paid the ultimate price - in Janet’s case, she dared to dream of exploring new territories and taste some freedom with the fella she thought was the one, only to find herself betrayed, thrown into prison, tortured, raped and condemned to end her life at the stake (just like her mother before her). Some elements of Janet’s hopes and dreams in a society where women had no say remind of the harrowing 1943 Danish drama ‘Day of Wrath’ by Carl Theodor Dreyer. “My mother was a good woman, she cared for my father” we hear Janet lament, just as she assures us that she has done no wrong either. The thought of ending her life at the stake is horrid enough, but the thought that she may not get ‘strangled enough’ before the flames consume her fills her (and us) with unspeakable horror. This was a time when women were expected to know their place and woe betide those who dared to speak their minds, as Janet revealed that another imprisoned woman couldn’t defend herself at all as she was forced to wear a scold’s bridle. Charming!


As for Caroline, her fate may not be quite as horrendous as that of Janet but disturbing enough, as she tells us of being force-fed in prison after she got arrested when she chained herself to a fence during a suffragette demonstration. In graphic detail she explains how a plastic feeding tube was shoved down her throat but as deeply unpleasant as the process is, it could not eradicate her ‘radical’ ideas. Of course, her agenda is to secure the vote for women and echoes of Emmeline Pankhurst ring through. Caroline is feisty in spirit and willing to compromise her reputation and her status in order to achieve her goal but ultimately: what is the price she has to pay? Does it spell the end of her marriage? Will her husband support her or will he be ashamed of her actions? When will the time come that women are equal to men, she asks… Indeed!

On to 2028, not that far in the future. We make the acquaintance of Lauren and as she explains, she hails from Indiana originally - a stronghold for the Republican Party, hence the red wool around her chair. “It’s my fault that I voted for him” she confesses and we all know who she means by that. She puts the blame on her conservative upbringing and the fact that everyone in her family is a Republican, thus she didn’t know any better until… she got raped, fell pregnant and thanks to the current anti-abortion laws, fell out with her mother in general over the fact that suddenly, she no longer had the freedom to make decisions about her own body. That changed when she moved to Washington D.C. and realised that she feels more liberated as a lesbian. She proceeds to explain that she lost her job as the member of a board for inclusivity and all that comes with it - a thing of the past in the US of 2028 it would seem. Separated from her loved ones and deprived of her right to decide over her own fate, Lauren’s tale is a cautionary tale of an utopian nightmare unfolding across the pond in front of our very eyes.

The climax sees the three women mysteriously connected to each other and wondering as to how they are thrown together despite coming from different centuries but of course, the message is that although some women’s rights have come true (the right to vote, for example) it’s still a long way to achieve equality. This message is emphasised courtesy of the powerful ditty ‘Bread and Roses’ (composed by Mimi Farina) and golly, can our three dames belt out a tune!

THE END IS NEAR runs until August 22nd and the St. James Church, Leith (11a John’s Place, Edinburgh EH6 7EL.
Tickets can be purchased via https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-end-is-near