The first two plays in Ena Lamont Stewart’s revived trilogy seem peculiarly underdeveloped and creaking period pieces. Towards Evening, which premiered in Edinburgh in 1973, features a middle-aged brother (Robert Hands) and sister (Janette Foggo) who rub each other up the wrong way in a late-night encounter. He is cultured, pompous and feels smothered by her. She is resentful of being looked down on by him. It is rich in ideas but the dialogue is clunky: they speak in backstory, explaining their characters to one another.
The second, Walkies Time for a Black Poodle, is more complex but still led unsubtly by its issues. An insecure mistress of the house (Joanne Gallagher, convincingly rough around the edges) who has been made newly rich through marriage is in conversation with a domestic servant (Foggo) from a higher social class. It is a part confiding, part accusatory encounter but does not entirely convince as either.
