Most "Plays for Today" only told a single story, but "Orkney" is what might be called a "portmanteau", combining three stories in a single film. All are set in the Orkney Islands, an archipelago off the north coast of Scotland, and are based upon short stories by the Orcadian author George Mackay Brown. Although the islands are politically part of Scotland, they have their own distinct culture, more Nordic than Gaelic, which sets them apart from the Scottish mainland.
The three episodes have been described as involving those two pillars of Scottish culture, alcohol and the Kirk, and the clash between God and the demon drink. I won't waste much time on the 1870s story,"The Whaler's Return", which tells of a whaler returning home to marry, as it is very brief and not very interesting. The 1920s story, "A Time to Keep" is more interesting. There is a powerful performance from Maurice Roeves as Bill, a young man trying to make a living as crofter with his wife Ingi. He suffers a number of setbacks, however, such as losing much of his harvest to bad weather, but he also has a reputation as an atheist and a drunkard, which alienates him from many of his neighbours, and even more from Ingi's puritanical old father.
The modern story, "Celia", is the longest of the three, and probably the best. Even more than "A Time to Keep" it is dominated by a single powerful performance, from Hannah Gordon as the title character, a young woman who prostitutes herself to the local men in order to raise money to feed her alcohol addiction. What most stood out was the lengthy monologue in which Celia explains her past to the local minister- about how she was orphaned, about her difficult relationship with her stepfather, about how she became an alcoholic and how she became alienated from the church I which she was brought up.
Many "Plays for Today" were shot in a studio, but "Orkney" was filmed on location in the Islands themselves, making use of their striking if bleak landscapes and seascapes, providing a mood of what might be called grim romanticism. This isn't the greatest of the "Play for Today" series, but it is nevertheless still well worth watching. 7/10.
The three episodes have been described as involving those two pillars of Scottish culture, alcohol and the Kirk, and the clash between God and the demon drink. I won't waste much time on the 1870s story,"The Whaler's Return", which tells of a whaler returning home to marry, as it is very brief and not very interesting. The 1920s story, "A Time to Keep" is more interesting. There is a powerful performance from Maurice Roeves as Bill, a young man trying to make a living as crofter with his wife Ingi. He suffers a number of setbacks, however, such as losing much of his harvest to bad weather, but he also has a reputation as an atheist and a drunkard, which alienates him from many of his neighbours, and even more from Ingi's puritanical old father.
The modern story, "Celia", is the longest of the three, and probably the best. Even more than "A Time to Keep" it is dominated by a single powerful performance, from Hannah Gordon as the title character, a young woman who prostitutes herself to the local men in order to raise money to feed her alcohol addiction. What most stood out was the lengthy monologue in which Celia explains her past to the local minister- about how she was orphaned, about her difficult relationship with her stepfather, about how she became an alcoholic and how she became alienated from the church I which she was brought up.
Many "Plays for Today" were shot in a studio, but "Orkney" was filmed on location in the Islands themselves, making use of their striking if bleak landscapes and seascapes, providing a mood of what might be called grim romanticism. This isn't the greatest of the "Play for Today" series, but it is nevertheless still well worth watching. 7/10.
