Katherine MacAlister and Sarah Mayhew Craddock discover how an old folk tale from the Orkneys harbours lessons for us all today

Sloshing about playfully among a set of several hundred recycled plastic bottles and a heck of a lot of water, Lorraine & Alan is a dynamic production inspired by a Scottish folk story from the far off Orkney Islands.

It was an idea sparked by Bucket cast member Nel Crouch who remembers the tale told as recounted by her father when holidaying on the Scottish island, a myth imbedded deep in the island’s history.

He recalled how a local fisherman had found a woman washed up on the beach next to a seal skin and took her home. He then hid the skin, married her and it’s only when she uncovered the whole story that she returns to the sea forever.

“A cross between The Little Mermaid and Splash then?,” I ask producer and Bucket co-founder Matthew Lister.

“We like to think the Orkney myth came first,” he grins. “But this is about more than that.

“It’s about struggling to find your own identity and about the dangers of women being controlled by men and about relationships as a whole, so it’s not a children’s show by any means.”

Except that Bucket Club has given Lorraine & Alan a modern twist in this unique, live, water-based show. So while there is no escaping the fact that the story is abstract, like all great stories, one can relate to the characters and their struggles, something that the fledgling theatre company seized on when rehearsing its first ever performance.

What instigated the production in the first place then? “Needing to work,” Matthew says, telling me about how six Bristol drama graduates realised that they needed to create their own employment if they wanted to act. Bucket Club was the result and Lorraine & Alan their first work.

The Orkney Selkie myth has since done them proud, thanks to the company’s trademark contemporary slant, soundscape and playfulness. In fact, it was such a success that it sold out at Edinburgh last year and the show is now touring nationally and coming to Pegasus and Banbury’s Mill.

“It has totally snowballed, “ Matthew, 23, agrees. “To the extent that we are currently planning two more shows which we want to bring to rural England, because a lot of us are from villages and we think theatre should be much more accessible.

“But we also want to make folk stories modern in a way that creates a great atmosphere and involves the audience as much as possible.”

SEE IT
Lorraine & Alan is at The Mill, Banbury, today at 7.30pm, www.themillartscentre.co.uk 
And at the Pegasus, Oxford, tomorrow at 7.30pm.
Call 01865 812150, or www.pegasustheatre.org.uk