Asila’s Song

- a haunting tale of love, loss and revenge

WORDS Suzy Holland IMAGES Jackie Morrey-Grace & Amore du Plessis

You’ll probably recognise the name Jackie Morrey-Grace, a local woman well-known for her performance poetry, her success in the Manx Litfest Short Story and Poetry Slams, her trombone playing in various bands and with Han-FX, JorDMC & the Innuendo Orchestra, and as the founder of charity Without Wings The Manx Autoimmune Arthritis Trust. And this incredibly versatile writer/performer has now committed Asila’s Song, her one-act play for one, in verse, to the page.

“It was written to be performed,” Jackie tells me, “but after its first outing at the Amphitheatre on Douglas Head in 2019 so many people asked me for the words that I realised that for Asila to live on, I had to write it down. Which proved interesting!”

There are just three characters: Asila, Angel Asila and the ‘ex’. To try and summarise, Asila is a ghost, haunting her ‘ex’ who one way or another is probably responsible for her death. Angel Asila haunts Ghost Asila in turn – almost like her conscience - calling on her to forgive her ex so she, Asila, can be reunited with her bones at the bottom of the sea. It is, says Jackie, “a classic battle between light and dark” but whereas in most battles there are clear winners, not so in Asila’s Song: by weaving a haunting, intriguing story with the interaction between the three characters laid out clearly on the page, combined with deliberate ambiguity, when I read the final scene I wondered if there were any winners at all.

The influence of Manx folklore and myth is there but Jackie is adamant that Asila’s Song, like her earlier book of poetry On Ravensdale Hill, is completely fictional. Jackie says she is bound to the earth of the Isle of Man, walking the hills, glens and coastline in all seasons and all weathers. “I call myself an extreme walker,” she tells me. “I love the spooky dead trees in Ballaugh Glen and love nothing more than being out on my own on the hills around the north where I live, or on the coast, preferably in driving rain”. It is this that reverberates in Asila’s Song, echoing the crashing waves and buffeting winds.

Jackie admits that her performance style is often high velocity, and she is fond of intricate rhymes and rhythms which vary in intensity. Capturing the drama of Asila on the page required some thought: “I found the easiest way was to make Asila’s Songinto a one act play, 12 different scenes in different locations,” Jackie explains. “Ghost Asila is the first you see and hear, on the left of the page, Angel Asila is ‘written’ on the right hand side of the page, and the ‘ex’ appears in the centre and has his back to the audience.” The book is a transcription of the performance and the stage directions not only build the momentum between the three characters but also add to what Jackie describes as the ‘incessant din’, spelling out both real and imagined violence. Although I wasn’t able to see the Asila’s Song debut on Douglas Head, there are some advantages to reading the play-poem first, a bit like reading a book before seeing the film: the reader’s own imagination takes over. For me Ghost Asila is a wispy transparent figure who becomes more substantial as her words get louder and the sentiments more violent but read it and make your own mind up – as I say, the story has plenty of ambiguity!

If you’d like to see Asila’s Song performed then there will be a chance soon. For various reasons, not unconnected to Covid, there’s not been a ‘proper’ book launch but that’s now pencilled in for June at the Erin Arts Centre. The exact date is yet to be confirmed, but keep an eye out for details in future issues of Gallery, on social media and the local press. And in the meantime you can buy Asila’s Song for £10 (20% of each purchase goes to Manx Wild Bird Aid) from Bridge Bookshop in Port Erin and Ramsey, from Quirky.im, and direct from Jackie at jackiemorreygrace.weebly.com

“Jackie admits that her performance style is often high velocity, and she is fond of intricate rhymes and rhythms which vary in intensity.”

Asila’s Song has been sponsored by the Isle of Man Arts Council www.facebook.com/jacqueline.morrey1 www.facebook.com/pennyproductionsiom www.facebook.com/withoutwingsiom