A review of My Lady Judge by Cora Harrison

 

This novel is a sleeper. The Irish author, Cora Harrison, is a former primary school teacher who has written a large number of books for children. Back in 2007, she  changed her spots and produced an adult historical mystery novel set on the wild gray coast of western Ireland in the year 1509. Her heroine is an intriguing and assertive judge named Mara who has been appointed by the King of the area to rule on all activity (from marriage to murder) in accordance with the ancient Celtic traditions. Harrison has given Mara a love of plant and animal life, a sensitivity to  the physical world around her, a young daughter from a marriage that has ended in a divorce, a semi-romance with the King who appointed her, and finally the position as head mistress of a school that teaches young boys how to enter the legal profession.   

 

Each chapter of this “mystery of Medieval Ireland” begins with a listing of a type of law in the ancient canons such as personal worth, marriage, inheritance, thievery, or assault. The development then explores Mara (the judge’s) actions as she deals with the implications and intricacies of that set of laws. This creates a slow start as the reader has to absorb a certain amount of ancient Irish history, but the pace speeds up when one of Mara’s top students is murdered during the celebration of an important community May Day ritual.

 

A murder investigation quickly gets under way and Mara finds herself under pressure to find the culprit. Ultimately, what appears to be her orderly intellectual search to find the killer by determining the opportunity and motivation for the death, puts her into grave personal danger. This, along with a series of twists at the end, kept me wanting to see more of this woman. A quick internet search has revealed several more books by Harrison featuring Mara in what is called “the Burren Mysteries Series.” I look forward to sampling at least a few of them in the future.

 

This isn’t on the list of great books of the early 21^st century, but I give it a 4 out of 5 because the leading character is appealing, the mystery is absorbing and full of twists, and it explores a fascinating corner of the ancient world and the often strange laws that govern its inhabitants.    

 

Jdy 10/26/2023

Clue Review at Theatre Cedar Rapids

 

Clue  (the stage play)

Performed by Theatre Cedar Rapid Friday, Oct. 13, 2023

 Clue, the play, is a farce whodunnit, based on the movie and the venerable board game itself. All the well-known players such as Professor Plum and Miss Scarlet are present along with their associated murder weapons. The plot is strained but who cares when a group of very familiar suspects are gathered together on a dark and stormy night in an old mansion and engaged in seeing who did what to whom and how.

 

Right up front, let me say that I loved this production. I detected a single minded, disciplined commitment by the director and cast to play seriously inside the play without the kind of wink and nod to the audience that I felt was present in CRT’s recent production of the The Play That Went Wrong. The director here, Mic Evans, kept the over the top script from going to the heads of the cast and kept them tightly controlled even when they were literally dancing from room to room during the scenic bridges.

 

Second, the show profited greatly from an ingeniously designed set and superb lighting, music, and sound effects. The rumble of thunder shook the building and right on time lightning flashes accompanied it. Sharp intensified spotlight stabs accompanied the actor’s “takes” at dramatic moments. Kudos even to the stage crew as they smoothly enabled the actors to weave through the moving walls and doors.  A special mention goes to Seth Engen as Mr. Green, who managed a magnificently controlled back bend as a chandelier descended slowly onto him from above. This homage to Phantom of the Opera was worth the price of the ticket all by itself.

 

I also couldn’t but help to think about how almost none of technical artistry on view in the production would have even been possible in the 1950’s when I started my career in the theatre. Today’s computer aided systems were still in the future.  Lighting boards generally only had individually controlled dimmer handles or dials. We created sound and music effects by dropping a needle on a record—it was actually a 78 not a 33 1/3.  Spotlights had one color based on a gelatin slide put in front of the lens. Light movement could happen only as fast as human operators could physically adjust the placement of the instrument or the individual dimmers. Now you can change a single spotlight’s color and change its direction and focus by remote control. 

 

A new problem we didn’t have to face “in the old days” was the pressure that our current technical fireworks puts on actors to rise above glitz. It is a pleasure to report that this cast did just that. Throughout the evening they showed both physical stamina and performance skill. Standouts for me were John Miersen, as the butler, Greg Smith as Colonel Mustard, and  Lauren Galliart as the tarty Miss Scarlet in a flaming red dress that was certainly the knock-out costume of the evening. Belle Caney had multiple roles but made a real mark as the acerbic cook and later as a floppy dead body.

  

I close with my delight at seeing a show that could attract and please an audience composed of all age levels from children to adults. In sum, this play “went right”  and the enjoyment was evident during the curtain call and as the audience left the theatre. Get a ticket. It runs until October 29th.  

 

Jdy