The Tanner dramatizes what the movie “Braveheart” left out in its depiction of the battle between Scotland and England back in medieval times. “Braveheart,” in typical Hollywood fashion, was all about a swashbuckling hero (Mel Gibson as William Wallace) leading the Scots to glorious victory over the bad Brits. The Tanner deals with the same battle but in a non-glamorous, more truthful way. That’s because it’s told from the point of view of an ordinary soldier, a working-man who has joined up for patriotic reasons only to find himself caught up in the hell of war.
The soldier, a tanner by profession, is played by Alex McSherry. A powerhouse of an actor, McSherry is Scottish and thus brings authenticity to the role. Clad in a ragged uniform, the burly and bearded McSherry recounts in a roaring, profanity-laced monologue what it was like to follow Wallace into battle in 1297. It’s sometimes hard to understand his Scottish accent, but what’s lost in comprehension is more than made up by McSherry’s powerful physical and emotional presence, his charismatic acting skills. You believe him even when you don’t always understand him.
McSherry’s performance is well-honed. He has played the tanner at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (and elsewhere) in the past. It also helps that he wrote the part for himself.
In The Tanner, McSherry looks back on the fateful war for Scottish independence from the vantage point of a survivor. He experienced the war from the inside, was wounded and left shell-shocked when it ended. Now he suffers from nightmares, finds it hard to piss, and can’t stop talking about what he saw and felt.
He is proud to have fought for Scotland as part of a peasant army that for the first time in history defeated a regular army. The Brits, led by King Edward (who until then had never lost a war), were well-equipped, had horses, armor, long bows. The Scots were the underdogs and skimpily armed, but they were fighting for their liberty and land, and had the heart of lions. That was the noble, romantic thing about the war, but all the rest was blood, horror, savagery, brutality, rape, plunder and, as McSherry puts it time and time again, “shite, pure shite!”
Wallace’s hit-and-run tactics–-and his ragtag army’s bravery, of course–-proved successful at first. The Scots defeated the arrogant, supercilious Redcoats, only to be betrayed by the Scottish land-owners. These Lords sold Scotland out (to preserve their own power) and arrested Wallace. They handed him over to the Brits, who proceeded to behead him in London’s White Tower. Any wonder why McSherry seethes with rage and curses injustice with all the spite and fury he can muster?
The Tanner’s honest depiction of war and its aftermath-–and McSherry’s stunning performance–-top the list of attractions at the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
