WE are fast headed into the season of pointy hats, broomsticks and spells as parents conjure up ideas on how to make their progeny look even more frightening than usual.

Yet, Paisley-born playwright Martin McCormick wasn’t thinking of Halloween fun when he began to dabble in witchcraft; or to be specific, a new theatre work that shines a bright line on the dark evils carried out in Scotland against women claimed to be witches.

“I moved up to Perthshire about five years ago and I was fascinated by the Maggie Wall monument,” he recalls of the structure which commemorates the death of a woman tried for witchcraft.

“But when you look at the records, and Calvinist Scotland at the times was very precise about the trials and treatment of those claimed to be witches, there was no record of Maggie Wall.”

Yet, there is the 20-foot-high monument. And it’s claimed her skull was transported to the Saracen Head pub in Glasgow’s Gallowgate. How could there be no records, when anecdotes suggest she lived?

“There could be an explanation in that it’s claimed Maggie was in fact the lover of a local landowner, who was able to pay for the monument and its upkeep.

“The whole story of Maggie Wall is fascinating. There are photographs of [Moors Murderers] Myra Hindley and Ian Brady taken at the monument, who were fascinated by the occult. And a more recent story featured a man who killed his sister, drove her around the country and left her body by the monument.”

McCormick’s monologue, featuring actor Blythe Jandoo, will jar Scotland, and Perthshire, into recalling its murder and torture of innocents.

However, the writer has grasped a modern connection to the story. “It made me think of the recent murder of Sarah Everard, and how women have long been alone, and persecuted. Sarah was killed by a policeman, and witches were killed by the judiciary.

“To add to my thoughts at the time of Sarah’s murder, many women on social media were asking the question ‘What are men doing about this?’ And it made me ask the question of myself.”

Yet, Martin McCormick’s imaginative head hasn’t been confined to thoughts of torture. He’s also been working with Visible Fictions on a piece for young people, Clunk, a wee boy who thinks he may be a robot. “It’s autobiographical,” he says, smiling of the half-truth in comment of the story about marginalisation and fitting in.

“When I was about ten, I had a serious ear infection and one day in school, something heavy and clunky fell out of my ear. I asked my mother what had happened, and she said, ‘That’s because you’re a robot.’”

He laughs; “To be honest, that was probably my first example of existentialist crises, but the idea stuck with me. What I’ve done is develop the story – he’s a wee boy who lives with his gran – who has her own secrets she keeps from the world.”

So, it’s about marginalisation, a sense of isolation so many young people face? “That’s it,” he says, smiling.

And a world away from witchcraft and male control.

The Maggie Wall runs at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, September 9-29.

Play, Pie and a Pint is back

FROM next week, the Earth will be able to spin on its regular axis. We won’t feel abandoned as we have done in recent months. We will feel we matter. Looked after. Comforted.

No, this has nothing to do with which of two people will take their place as political leader of the UK but of course it’s the return of Play, Pie and a Pint, the season set to begin at Glasgow’s Oran Mor.

Artistic Director Jemima Levick brings a themed season, Around the World in A Season of Play.

The opener is Sally, written by James Ley and starring Sally Reid as Sally, and Sam Stopford as Tyler.

It’s a fascinating idea; Sally’s touring production as Sally Bowles in Cabaret as become a hit and is set to transfer to the major theatres. And Sally has been given a personal assistant to help manage her diary.

But then Sally confides in Tyler, telling him of her secret fear; she is afraid that her success in Cabaret is causing the rise of right-wing populism. And she doesn’t know how to stop it.

Is there any truth in her fears? Or is this the story of an actor who’s had one too many G&Ts simply throwing out her daft thoughts?

Tyler tries to reassure her that she is not responsible for the forces of fascism which are descending. But Sally is determined to find out the truth.

The season runs until November 21, with 12 new plays being unleashed to the world.

Don’t Miss:

Pub landlord Al Murray is back, this time with his new show, Gig for Victory. ‘As the dust settles and we emerge blinking into the dawn of a new year, the men and women of this great country will need answers. Answers that they know they need, answers to questions they never knew existed.’

The King’s Theatre, Glasgow, September 11.