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Reviews for strangers, babies:
Linda McLean’s powerful new play about penance, redemption, moving on and the price to be paid for past sins... is an emotional night’s theatre that finds a raw nerve at every turn. (Metro)

The play’s heroine, May - played with terrific concentration and grace by Gillian Kearney - is blighted by a crime committed in childhood... in a stylised and beautifully choreographed production by Philip Howard. (The Scotsman)

strangers, babies emotional gear-shifts are cranked up when you least expect them in Philip Howard’s lean, stripped back production. (The Herald)

a truly impressive performance from Kearney (Evening News)

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Find out more about strangers, babies with these feature interviews:
Scotland on Sunday
A feature length interview with the writer Linda McLean where she discusses the creation of strangers, babies.

The Herald
An interview with actress Gillian Kearney who plays the role of May in strangers, babies.


One woman, five men.

When Dan married his wife he knew he wasn’t settling for a simple life and, even now, he keeps a wary eye on her.

Duncan has never been one for easy pleasantries or loose morality. He’s dying and it’s really testing his patience. His day is made worse by the arrival of his daughter looking for forgiveness.

Roy’s first foray onto the internet struck pay dirt and tonight he finds himself face to face with a woman who shares his taste in pain.

If Denis didn’t ever have to meet his sister again it would be too soon but something in her phone call gave him no option.

Abel is young and idealistic so it’s no surprise that he’s become a Child Protection Officer. One mother’s reluctance to give him access to her son sets off Abel’s alarm bell.

May is the woman in their lives. She ties these men together but she’s coming undone as a moment in her life is haunting them all.

Sometimes chilling, frequently hilarious, strangers, babies is the story of one woman’s desperate attempts at a future.


Linda McLean’s previous plays for the Traverse include Shimmer, One Good Beating and the Scots English version of Laura Ruohonen’s Olga (a Playwrights in Partnership commission). Other work for theatre includes the Fringe First & Herald Angel award winning Riddance (Paines Plough), Word for Word (Magnetic North), The Price of a Good Dinner (Derby Playhouse), Happy Yet? (Gate Theatre, London) and the stage adaptation of Like Water for Chocolate (Théâtre Sans Frontières).

Linda is a Board Member of the Playwrights Studio Scotland and was a Mentor for the Traverse’s Cubed Writers Residency in November 2006.

Running Time 90 minutes, no interval
Writers Workshop Sat 17 Mar
Audio described performance & Touch Tour Thu 15 Mar
(7.15pm touch tour/8pm performance)
Sign Language interpreted performance Thu 15 Mar
stagetext described performance Tue 13 Mar (Find out more information on stagetext by clicking here)

Director Philip Howard
Designer Lisa Sangster
Lighting Designer Kai Fischer
Composer Pippa Murphy
Video Imaging Fifty Nine Productions

Cast Liam Brennan, Garry Collins, Gillian Kearney, Gavin Marshall, Iain Robertson, Sean Scanlan

(Image: Laurence Winram)