WHY 'JUSTIFIED SINNERS'? (THE J.S. CONNECTION)

Justified Sinners

Who isn't? The title, taken from the original by James Hogg, a darkly funny Gothic novel set near Edinburgh which examines how hypocrisy and vanity carried to extremes can ultimately be far more destructive to humanity that any of the so-called major vices, was intended as an umbrella name for an ongoing series of works exploring modern moral dilemmas and their potential consequences.

From Angela, in 'Angel', the bag lady who may be an angel or just a deluded old soak who deserves her fate, to Alice, in 'Secrets' the ex-prostitute who rebuilds her life only to find it crashing to the floor one summer evening, we explored two people stranded in the metropolis, struggling with their fates. In 'Whacked!' a good-time girl turns the tables on her powerful lover with horrifying consequences.

This year, under Mike Edwards's hand, we take a much broader, mythical approach to the themes of sexual morality versus 'honour'. Two people, a black American man and an Irish girl, meet and fall in love on a wild holiday -

'Hedonism 3, Jamaica 1986 - that's where we met - it was a Summer Solstice Swinging Singles weekend they were having...'

- but there are powerful voodoo spirits that take more than a passing interest in their relationship and the bones of their marriage are stripped bare by forces they recognise but do not understand...

The style is considerably different from the past two Halyon productions, much more physical than before, and it is a two hander that pits the forces of black man and white woman against one another in love and marriage.

Gilded Balloon Box Office: 0131 226 2151