Selkie performed by Sealionwoman at Vaults 2016.

Selkie leaves me pondering something of a conundrum. You see, I didn’t like it, but not because of what it didn’t succeed in doing. In fact, I feel like it very much realized what it was trying to do. I don’t believe that sealionwoman, the duo musician of musicians who created it made up of vocalist Kitty Whitelaw and multi-instrumentalist Tye McGivern, were amateurish or overly ambitious. By watching the show, I don’t believe there were many aspects of the show that weren’t their express intentions. So obviously, that means that it wasn’t to my taste? Well… not necessarily. Notice how I’ve said that they’ve realized their intentions, but left what those intentions actually are pretty vague? That was intentional. Since, strangely enough for a piece of such assuredness, I haven’t the foggiest idea why it exists.

The problem that this leaves me with here is that what I’m essentially doing is giving a concrete reason as to why people create and perform art, which is obviously the wrong thing to do whatever conclusion I come to. However, having seen a number of other pieces at this year’s Vault Festival, the one thing that unites them all is that they are stories that need to be told. Each and every one of them told profound, engrossing stories that said something unique about the storyteller, and while Selkie created one of the most unsettling and evocative atmospheres I’ve ever felt in a theatre, I was left cold. I didn’t feel like there was any identity or heart to it, and I certainly didn’t feel as if this was a story that would have been much different had it been told by anyone other than McGivern and Whitelaw – undeniably talented and interesting performers though they were.

For those not up on their Scottish folklore, a Selkie is a mythical sea creature that resembles a seal when in the ocean, but take the form of a beautiful human when on land. In the piece, a female Selkie saves the life of an inexperienced fisherman (who was originally a crofter but forced by his circumstances to become a fisherman) who then betrays her by stealing her skin, meaning she’s betrothed to him for as long as he holds it. I should mention at this point that the only reason I was able to follow the narrative was because of the song-list/potted synopsis that was on every seat in the hall, but that had very little to do with the piece itself.

Since going to this year’s Vault festival, this has been the only time in which the venue actively got in the way of my enjoyment of the show. Due to the piece being performed in a brick-walled train tunnel, I couldn’t hear a word of what McGivern or Whitelaw were actually singing in between the words echoing off the walls and the sheer amount of effects put through the microphone. That’s just an unfortunate side-effect of the performance space, and I’m sure that when performed in a traditional theatre, the piece is much easier to follow. With this narrative clarity, the chemistry that McGivern and Whitelaw share would be allowed to shine even brighter as well, but as it is, it’s a swing and a miss in this particular venue.

And I really would like to see it in a different venue. The atmosphere created by the lighting, the creative use of minimal staging and the music, mostly made by McGivern on a double bass heavily treated by several effects pedals, is pretty unforgettable. Combine that with better sound and audible lyrics, then you’ve got something quite special on your hands, however, with such a thin narrative driving the play and a lack of genuine personality in its creation, it smacks of little more than an exercise in sound and fury that ultimately signifies nothing.

Selkie was on at Vaults Festival 2016. Click here for more of their programme.