WRITTEN BY MADELEINE FARNHILL
DIRECTED BY NATALIE SIMONE
STAG | BRISTOL OLD VIC
TWO WOMEN
CENTURIES APART
GRAPPLE WITH THEIR UNUSUAL DESIRES.
STAG is an epic straddling two storylines in the Scottish Highlands. We follow both a gifted Deerstalker as she tracks an elusive hart, and a GP as she stalks her cadet patient. The two women go to tragic and liberating ends to capture the objects of their strange desires. Slipping between men and deer, the wilderness and the barracks, the play prods at the discomfort of heterosexual power dynamics, with movement blending combat, animality and intimacy.
This piece has undergone a third R&D supported by Bristol Old Vic and is under further development.
“Simone's staging of STAG is poised and militaristic. Bodies twist and morph from cadets to Highland deer in beautiful physical set pieces, marrying with Gaelic singing to conjure unexpected connections across three hundred years, plunging an audience into a world of myth and discovery”
- David Lane. Writer & Dramaturg
“Natalie Simone blends the worlds of 18th century Scotland and the here and now of army training with such confidence and spirit that it made me hungry to see the whole piece. The mix of myth and reality underscored with a sense of unease and dark humour hooked me in, and there are talking deer so what more can you ask for?”
- Ali De Souza. Director of Drama Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
