Gunter is a new play co-created by Lydia Higman, Julia Grogan and Rachel Lemon. Quickly selling out it’s run at the Edinburgh Festival in 2023, Gunter was awarded the Scotsman Fringe First Award 2023, Playbill’s Pick of the Fringe, Lyn Gardner’s Pick of the Fringe and production company Dirty Hare were named one of The Stage’s Top Breakthrough Theatre Makers. Due to this phenomenal success, Gunter has now transferred to London and audiences can experience this experimental, performance art style play at the Royal Court Theatre.
Dirty Hare’s new play focuses around Anne and Brian Gunter, living in a small village just outside Oxford in 1604. Two boys have been murdered by local brute Brian Gunter at a football match and their mum wants justice. But Brian is the richest and most powerful man in the village, and has an ego too fragile to tolerate public slander. A nasty feud begins and when Brian’s daughter Anne starts convulsing, vomiting pins and demonstrating strange afflictions, an allegation is made: she has been bewitched. Gunter introduces a harrowing, real-life tale of abuse and fear set in the idyll of a country scarred by witch trials. A disturbing history of murder and witchcraft that all kicked off with a football match.
For Dirty Hare, co-creator Rachel Lemon directs co-creator Julia Grogan (Belly Up, Playfight, Lives at Steak), Hannah Jarrett-Scott (Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), Janis Joplin: Full Tilt, The Taming of the Shrew), Norah Lopez Holden (Our Town, Hamlet, Equs) and co-creator Lydia Higman (actual real-life historian, co-wrote Belly Up and main songwriter for band Iris & Steel).
All four actors Julia Grogan, Hannah Jarrett-Scott, Norah Lopez Holden and Lydia Higman give tour-de-force performances. Often getting very messy onstage, Julia Grogan, Hannah Jarrett-Scott and Norah Lopez Holden play a multitude for characters from maids to courthouse judges. Anne Gunter’s story bursts to life through a captivating blend of song, mask work, mud and fake blood. Grogan, Jarret-Scott and Holden are put through their paces in this physical, experimental theater and performance piece, showcasing a fearlessness that is truly admirable. Throughout the piece, Lydia Higman provides fascinating historical insights into the Anne Gunter story, commenting on the action and weaving the narrative together. Her score and songs resonate with the audience, captivating them and leaving a lasting impression.
When looked at through a modern lens, the 400 year old oppression fueling Anne’s story is still present today. Gunter shines a bright light on it’s audience, including them in Anne’s story and asking when witch trials for woman will really end. With lots of laughs along the way and non-threating audience involvement, Gunter is a fascinating piece of theatre not to be missed.
Reviewed by Stuart James
