Edinburgh Fringe Review: Horse McDonald in Careful *****

Horse McDonald is one of Scotland’s finest singer / songwriters with a successful career spanning over two decades that has included tours with Tina Turner, Bryan Ferry and BB King to name but a few.

My first Horse experience was back in 1989 in Edinburgh when debut album The Same Sky was met with great critical acclaim. But this is no gig or album review. This is Careful.

Careful is an inspirational play that focuses on Horse’s life where she faced the unenviable task of growing up as a homosexual in 1970’s Lanark.

Over sixty heartfelt / warming / breaking / minutes, Horse takes us on an journey starting with the trial and tribulations of childhood in Lanark, her relationship with parents Dugald and Vicky – who loved a cuppa and wee rich tea biscuit in their respective chairs, the sanctuary of music and her love for Wife, Alanna.

Born as Sheena, a name that still sends shivers down McDonald’s spine as she grimaces at the very thought of mentioning it, this show highlights the prejudices and struggles of realising from an early age that she is ‘different from the other girls’.

It was as a teenager with her fondness of the stables that she ditched her birth name for one which has gone on to be iconic throughout the music fraternity and beyond.

Now, it wasn’t just the prejudices experienced from outside her own front door that appears to affect her as a youth. Being despatched to the school disco in her mother’s Paisley Pattern shirt and two tone loons was a form of cruelty in itself, but, by her own admission, it was “about as experimental as it got in Lanark”!

From the gut-wrenching tale of physical abuse suffered on the way to the hairdresser to the saddening story of the lady on the train recommending a doctor who could ‘help her’ via ECT, it was in music that Horse found a level of escapism that would eventually turn her into a household name.

It was the ethereal voice of Horse McDonald delivering her title tune ‘Careful’ from debut album The Same Sky that brought proceedings to an end. The audience applauded long and loud. There was something in my eye. No, I’m fine. Nothing to see here, folks…

Horse McDonald in Careful is at Gilded Balloon at the Museum (Venue 64), from 12-29 of August. Tickets available from edfringe.com.

If you want to go see Horse in concert, you don’t have long to wait either.  4th November, tickets from venue at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall.