Created and Performed by Lucy Beth

Review by Dominic Corr

The Scottish Storytelling Centre

A bold reclamation of voice, Lucy Beth’s Ma Name is Isabelle offers agency to a woman long silenced in the traditional bothy ballad Bogie’s Bonnie Belle. Told entirely in Doric, the dialect of North East Scotland, Beth’s solo performance is a powerful act of speculative storytelling, imagining the inner life of Isabelle—a young woman impregnated against her will, ostracised, and ultimately separated from her child.

Beth’s storytelling is compelling in its honesty. Beth never shies away from the violence, nor commodifies it, as it’s at the heart of Isabelle’s tale—coercion, violation, and the brutal social consequences of being an unmarried mother in 19th-century rural Scotland. Her delivery is conversational and intimate, often feeling like an intimate chat on a cross-country train, one struck up with a local for visitors, which makes the darker turns of the narrative all the more affecting. There’s a raw resilience in Isabelle’s voice, and Beth’s performance captures both her wit and her pain with striking clarity.

The show’s strength lies in its refusal to romanticise the past. Isabelle is no passive victim; she’s sharp, observant, and determined to tell her side of the story. Beth’s use of Doric adds texture and authenticity and is a firm and necessary side eye to recent major producing houses who utilise Doric in a more comedic, dare we argue, gimmicky manner.

There are issues for audiences who may seek a more flowing movement or pacing, Ma Name is Isabelle falters slightly in these areas of structure. The narrative occasionally meanders, and while the conversational tone is engaging, it can dilute dramatic tension. The show’s minimal staging—performed in the George Mackay Brown Library space—suits the storytelling format, and like anyone who comprehends the space, they are aware that the lack of distraction means they can connect directly with the crowd – something Beth does with precision.

Ma Name is Isabelle is a moving and necessary reimagining. It offers a vital feminist counterpoint to a patriarchal folk tradition, and Beth’s performance is full of heart, grit, and integrity. With tighter dramaturgy and more dynamic variation in tone, the show could evolve into something truly unforgettable, if it so chose to do so. For now, it’s a quietly defiant constellation of truth and trauma, anchored by a performer whose voice deserves to be heard.

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