Bog Standard is probably the sleeper hit of this year’s Edinburgh Tradfest. The debut offering from rookie storyteller – but award-winning journalist – Rachel Pugh plucks an episode from her earliest days in local journalism, transforming it into an engrossing adventure, laced with imagination and good humour.
Of course, it helps that Rachel’s 1984 scoop concerned the discovery of Lindow Man, the first well-preserved ancient body plucked from a British bog. Dating to somewhere in the first century AD, it is considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 1980s. So why, until yours truly edited the Wikipedia for Lindow Man, has Rachel’s name rarely been associated with the find?
“Rachel Pugh plucks an episode from her earliest days in local journalism, transforming it into an engrossing adventure, laced with imagination and good humour.“
An Inventive Opening: From Bog Body to Fictional Prince
Rachel’s story of investigation, discovery and ultimate lack of credit, forms the second part of her first foray into the storytelling genre. Very ambitiously, she opens with something very different indeed: an imagining of Lindow Man in the hours before his death.
So from the desiccated corpse, Rachel summons a young prince wearing only a fur armband (the only item of clothing found in the excavation), and awaiting execution at the hands of his tribe. The Romans are sweeping all before them, and only royal blood can appease the gods and bring peace.
If Pugh’s delivery was a little halting on her first time before a live audience, that’s only to be expected. However, with the help of award-winning harpist Lucy Nolan to gild proceedings with a little musical enchantment, a rich imagination, and a journalist’s knack for effective prose, Pugh’s historical fiction makes for an emotive and gripping opening.
From Scoop to Story: Personal History and Performance
The autobiographical memoir following makes a fine wee tale in itself. A once-in-a-lifetime moment wrapped in youthful investigative journalism, the greatest achievement of Director Marion Kenny lies in keeping Rachel’s voice true to her, and not some imagined performing standard.
Yes, she’ll get slicker at delivering each line with each subsequent performance, but there’s no doubting the inherent weight of the story, or Rachel’s warm sense of self. There are also opportunities for toe-tapping as Nolan’s harp switches from ancient airs to Blondie’s Heart of Glass.
“…the greatest achievement of Director Marion Kenny lies in keeping Rachel’s voice true to her, and not some imagined performing standard.”
A Promising Debut With Podcast-Worthy Potential
Overall, thanks to fine production values, the well-structured tale and effective telling, Bog Standard would make an excellent true-crime podcast episode – well, true-crime of the first century AD. It was a pleasure to see Rachel Pugh breathe life into her tale for the first time.
Let’s hope more audience elsewhere in the country get a chance to see it for themselves – and that more such interesting real-life tales are brought into the storytelling fold.
Details
Show: Bog Standard
Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SR
Date: Friday 9 May 2025
Time: 6:00 PM – 6:50 PM
Run Time: 50 minutes
Age Guidance: 12+
Accessibility: Fully accessible venue
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Thank you so much William for such an interesting and complimentary review. Such a review is a boon at this stage in the Bog Standard journey. Lucy and I hope to be touring in Cambridgeshire and the North East of England soon. All very exciting and no small thanks for the quotable phrases!