Review: The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric – Soundhouse Winter Festival 2024

Jenny Gilbertson’s (née Brown) 1933 ‘story documentary’ ‘The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric‘ needs little praise since John Grierson, father of British and Canadian documentary making, described it as “one of the best descriptions of life in the country anybody has yet made”. Arresting and charming in equal measure, this tale of a young couple choosing between a new life in Australia, and remaining on their ancestral crofts, seems to have lost none of its power.

Maybe it’s the beautiful dog Flora, young John’s best friend, and the next best thing to Lassie, maybe it’s the rugged Shetland landscape, or maybe it’s the simple love story between two everyday natives, but there’s a magic to the hour-long film.

Hay is bailed, furrows ploughed, ponies tamed, and potatoes harvested for the evening meal along with the fish which the North Sea so generously supplies back in the 1930’s. It’s a life tied to the land and the seasons, full of hard graft, only made possible with the help of family and neighbours. However, beautiful as sea and sky may be, there’s little adventure on offer to young Enga and her betrothed Johnny. A letter from Australia soon has their hearts yearning for a life down under, but family and their crofts are difficult ties to sever. Throw in an orphaned black sheep, raised to be a pet, and prone to diving hoof-first into sticky situations, and the stakes are high.

“Maybe it’s the beautiful dog Flora, young John’s best friend, and the next best thing to Lassie, maybe it’s the rugged Shetland landscape, or maybe it’s the simple love story between two everyday natives, but there’s a magic to the hour-long film. “

With Enga Stout the only professional actor in the company, the rest recruited from the isle including John Gilbertson, and his family, plus the croft he built, there’s immense authenticity to the movie, despite its being written by Jenny Brown and Aline Gordon, and scripted by the former alone. Gilbertson’s love for the rural life she is trying to snapshot is clear, and if there’s a cute romanticism to the courting couple’s ups and downs, there’s no mistaking the real ground being broken by the ploughshare, and the home-knitted jumpers being sold to the local shopkeeper.

Casting people as themselves has a chequered cinematic history, but it works a treat here – perhaps suggesting silent cinema to be a far more forgiving medium, or at least, taking away the nerves that come with delivering dialogue. Whatever the case, they make for a winning cast and a gripping wee story.

Setting this showing of the film apart is an accompanying musical suite composed and performed by award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer, Inge Thomson, from Fair Isle. She, along with Shetland-born Catriona Macdonald – one of the world’s leading trad fiddle players, offers elegant, rhythmic melodies, alive with Celtic harmony. This is accessible, emotive soundtracking, but entirely without schmalz.

**Catriona Macdonald** and **Inge Thomson** – photo by **Kat Gollock** – click to enlarge.

The movie exists in a time before a saltire-faced Mel Gibson began shouting ‘Freedom’ at everyone. There’s life, love, and happiness in the lives of Gilbertson’s Shetlanders, but also a neverending supply of hard work. Thomson accompanies their factional lives with snippets of toe-tapping reels, honest ballads, and a hint of sea shanty. The movie may be a century old, but there’s a power in live performance which pulls it into the present. We aren’t experiencing the story as something which happened, but which is happening.

“…elegant, rhythmic melodies, alive with Celtic harmony. This is accessible, emotive soundtracking, but entirely without schmalz.”

The Soundhouse Winter Festival audience was also treated to a wee support act before the film thanks to Shetland-born pianist Amy Laurenson. A composer/performer with an exquisite touch at the piano – the kind which can’t be taught. She began with the poignant Mareel, before being joined by frequent collaborator Miguel Girão for a few sets of gorgeous reels, and other tunes plucked from the island’s archives and given new life on Amy’s keyboard. There’s an ethereal quality to whatever Amy touches, and a promise of more to come.

It’s important to appreciate that such an excellent, and original night of music and film was only possible through the tireless work of the Soundhouse organisation – Douglas and Jane–Ann – who made this Winter festival. They saw Inge and Catriona first create this musical movie showing in March at Bo’ness’s silent movie festival, HippFest 2024, where it was commissioned. It’s thanks to Soundhouse that Edinburgh audiences had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy it too. Those of us who love live music would do well to support this new initiative and all it can offer.

Featured Image: A still from The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric directed by Jenny Gilbertson (née Brown)