WE are in the year 800 AD and on the tiny Scottish island of Eilean Nam Ban, next to Iona.

Only two people live on the island, mother and daughter Ronnat and Brigid, who work with the cattle, providing milk and butter for the monastery on Iona.

We discover that Ronnat has been banished to the island because she became pregnant.

But we come to learn that Brigid, (Alison McFarlane) now on the verge of womanhood, could in fact be the daughter of the late Abbot.

Mischief, a new play by Ellie Stewart and running at Oran Mor this week, is a story about hypocrisy.

But it’s also about questioning whether the developing new faith Christianity had any greater moral value than the paganism it was set to remove.

“The story is set at time of writing the Book of Kells, the beginnings of Christian scripture,” says Elspeth Turner, who plays Ronnat.

“The women can’t read and haven’t been exposed to the word of God. And the play presents a conundrum; does Christianity improve things – does it stamp out women’s ability to be in charge of their own lives and bodies and being equal in the eyes of their gods?”

The women come to question their lives and values when a stranger is washed up on shore, played by David Rankine.

“He is also a pagan, but he feeds back to the women these new ideas of God and a new morality structure.

“And we get to delve into a world that is pre-Christian.”

Elspeth adds; “As actors, we realise our sense of morality has been formed by Christian values. What if we didn’t know of those values? How would we behave?”

Writer Ellie Stewart developed the idea for the play when she came to hear of this ‘Island of Women’.

“Ellie has brought a huge amount of research to the project, and we use a lot of factual speculation.”

Elspeth Turner brings a great deal of life, and theatre experience to the role, as a performer and a writer.

Growing up in Dunfermline (she attended the same high school as Alison McFarlane), Elspeth was “really academic” at school and expected to follow her parents into medicine.

“At eighteen however I didn’t feel it was right for me to go into the world of academia. So I decided to study dance and musical theatre.”

Elspeth moved to London where she won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.

“It was great, and fantastic experience,” she says of the five-year stint in the States.

“New York is a great place to develop. I didn’t have much confidence at the time and studying theatre was in some ways a way to find some.

“When I went to New York there were no pre-conceived notions of how I should behave. And I realised you are celebrated for your Scottishness, which wasn’t the case in London.

Elspeth had always planned to return to Scotland.

“I arrived back at an amazing time when things have been happening politically,” she says.

In the five year period since returning she certainly hasn’t been slow to make the most of opportunity.

“When I came back I landed an agent but felt a little 'unmoored' and began to write,” she explains.

“I was living with my parents at the time and writing was a great outlet.”

Elspeth formed a theatre company, Stoirm Og, which staged her first play, The Idiot At the Wall, at the Fringe and toured it in Scotland.

It was a huge success. “We were then given a residency at Cumbernauld Theatre for my second play, Spectre Town, which premiered at the Fringe and also toured.

“I found I loved the experience of writing. Not more than acting; it’s just a different muscle. But great, nonetheless.”

Right now, the actress-writer is being backed by NTS to create a new Gaelic project.

“I’m learning to speak Gaelic,” she says with a pleased expression. “My dad is from Harris so I’ve been speaking quite a lot with him and doing an on-line course.”

Her new project Trouble The Water looks at the connection between Gaelic psalm singing and African-American blues, but the real story is the connection with Gaels and slavery.

There were Gael slave owners. “And some Gaels became white slaves, who went to America and taught their slaves Gaelic.

“It’s only recently Scotland has begun to acknowledge its connection with slavery. It’s painful. But we do have an obligation to explore this history and its remnants.”

Elspeth however doesn’t need to be in her own productions. “As a writer it’s better to be able to watch,” she says smiling.

“But I still get to act. And right now I’m in a play which is written beautifully and tells a great story.”

• Mischief, Oran Mor, until Saturday.