About the work
Swallow (German title: Drosseln) is a play by the Scottish playwright Stef Smith, written as a commission for the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. It premiered there in August 2015 during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, directed by Orla O'Loughlin, and the text was published by Nick Hern Books the same year. The German translation is by Valerie Melichar.
Plot
Three people live in three separate rooms: Anna has not left her flat for two years, Rebecca has just been left by her husband for another woman, and Sam, a trans man, wants at last to live as who he is. Their interior monologues gradually interlock into a conversation. When the three meet, they cautiously come to trust one another, and the encounter changes each of their lives; the play deals with loneliness, fear, hurt and self-destruction as well as the chance of catching one another.
Cultural significance
Swallow received a Scotsman Fringe First Award and the Scottish Arts Club Theatre Award in 2015 and was reviewed mostly with four and five stars in the British press. Under the title Drosseln the play is also performed in German-speaking countries.