The Tailor of Inverness – Dogstar Theatre / Finborough Theatre, London

A father’s story is unravelled in front of our eyes in The Tailor of Inverness, a compelling if detail-heavy one man show by Matthew Zajac.

The Tailor of Inverness

In seeing this play, although this run at the Finborough Theatre is its London debut, I join a cumulative audience of more than 40,000 across at least 12 countries.  An impressive total indeed, and testament to the power of storytelling to draw people in whatever the setting.  But we are here not to enjoy a good story but to consider a work of theatre. So let us do that.

The Tailor of Inverness is written and performed by Matthew Zajac, and tells the story of his father Mateusz Zajac.  In a lot of respects, Mateusz’s story is remarkable for being so extraordinary and yet so common.  Born in Galicia in a village then in Poland and now in Ukraine, his was a life disrupted by war.  It takes an awful lot of exposition and some maps with arrows to explain it to us (projected against a lovely set of period clothing by Ali Maclaurin).  The TLDR is that he was in multiple armies, saw combat, and had a lot of other experiences to boot.  In the end these experiences (and the proximity of a brother) brought him to Scotland. Here he married a local woman and finally settled down with her to raise a family and run a business.

A lot of The Tailor of Inverness, which as well as this play is also a book and the basis for a documentary, comes from a 1988 interview with Zajac Senior.  Zajac Junior acts out a dramatised version as his father tells the story of his life, shares anecdotes, appears to all intents and purposes to be opening up to his son in a way that was often not comfortable for that generation.  To what extent this openness was truthful is something this tailor’s son must unpick.

A Story Memorialised

I have pondered before whether stories which need a lot of exposition are right for the theatrical medium.  If you have to teach your audience so they understand, would a different mode of communication work better?  A book, perhaps, as exists already in this case?  But I think, on balance, that the format works here.  There’s no way I will retain all the detail about who was who and where the borders were.  But taking a step back, The Tailor of Inverness is a reminder of the impact of war on individuals, outside of the geopolitical machinations.  How it disrupts lives, families, relationships, even relationships with the truth for those who are unwilling or unable to talk about what really happened to them.  And in so many cases, how this trauma trickles down, one way or another, to subsequent generations.

In sharing his father’s, his family’s and his own story, night after night, Zajac pays tribute to a complex man. And memorialises one story of survival and displacement among so many.  With so much packed in it is an energetic affair. A little forceful for me, at times, in the small Finborough space. Although director Ben Harrison does a good job of drawing out the light and shade. Violin music played by Jonny Hardie (alternating with Amy Geddes) adds an additional layer. The music flirts with Polish and Scottish folk tunes as well as adding an accompaniment to the action on stage.

Conversations overheard on the way out indicate that The Tailor of Inverness resonates most with those who, like Zajac, had parents with similar stories shared or hidden.  But the events in Ukraine and elsewhere since this work was first performed remind us how so many continue to perpetuate or experience violence, disruption and displacement, and how similar stories are being created even now as a result.  

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

The Tailor of Inverness on until 11 June 2024.  More info and tickets here.