So says freelance writer Barry Gordon in his review of Fields of Barley, published in the HI-Arts online journal Northings.

But the tone of his remarks sparked a backlash in Caithness this week. Playwright George Gunn described the piece as an insult to the culture of the county.

The new play was well received by audiences in Wick and Thurso recently when it was the highlight of the Caithness Arts Drama Festival.

Set in 1943, it centres round a local lass, played by up-and-coming Caithness actress Sheila Smith, and her love affair with a young American pilot stationed nearby.

In his online review, Barry Gordon – himself from Thurso, but now living in Hawick – said: "Set, as ever, in his native Caithness, Gunn's dialogue is so heavily soiled in broad Caithness dialect, even those from nearby Sutherland and Ross-shire would struggle to identify the Caithness brogue, in-jokes and quirks that littered the play's (hand-held) pages. Then again, this is perhaps Gunn's point: to keep it local."

He goes on to say: "While Gunn rightly deserves credit for drawing worthwhile attention to a section of Scotland so often ignored by modern writers, you can't help feel that the Fields of Barley is a Caithness play aimed squarely at Caithness people. Which is just like the play itself: brave, but limited."

Caithness Arts co-ordinator John Cairns said this week: "The reviewer totally missed the point of the evening, which was a joint venture between three arts organisations in Caithness – Caithness Arts, Grey Coast Theatre Company and the Thurso Players – and completely ignored the strong contribution of the Thurso Players to the evening's entertainment.

"However, the worst aspect of this review is a direct attack on the use of Caithness dialect in Fields of Barley.

"The reviewer actually seemed to like the play, complimented the director and the actors, and called the play 'endearing'.

"His main problem was that the play was 'so heavily soiled in broad Caithness dialect' that it would be incomprehensible to anyone from outside the county. He describes it as 'a Caithness play aimed squarely at Caithness people' as if that were somehow a fault.

"This is an insult to the people of Caithness. At a time when the promotion of Gaelic in the county is such a controversial issue, it is especially inappropriate to discourage the use of Caithness dialect by a Caithness writer for a Caithness audience in Caithness itself."

Mr Cairns added: "This isn't just a disgruntled arts gonk complaining about a bad review. On the whole, it is quite a good review. It's the fact that publishing this kind of opinion seems to indicate that a Victorian approach to Caithness dialect is still acceptable in Inverness when the expression of a similar approach to Scots or Doric would cause howls of outrage elsewhere."

Playwright George Gunn told the John O'Groat Journal this week: "The main gripe I have is that for the last 200 years we've been told that the way we speak is inferior to the way they speak in the south of England. That's why people in the theatre, until about 40 years ago, used received pronunciation – which no-one in real life actually spoke.

"The point about the theatre is that it's a universal language that anyone can understand. I was just disappointed that the linguistic debate, which I thought had moved on, doesn't seem to have moved on at all."

He continued: "Professionally-produced theatre pieces with an actress speaking in a Caithness accent are rare, to say the least, so it should have been celebrated. But instead of that it was decried, and I think that's insulting to the culture of the county.

"John Cairns gave the editor of Northings a bit of an ear-wigging and he changed it from 'heavily soiled in broad Caithness dialect' to 'deeply rooted'. But I don't really care about that. The point is that a Caithness writer writing in Caithness dialect is somehow seen as limiting."

Gunn added: "The play was all about language and communication, but this reviewer seems to have missed that. The fact he comes from Thurso just makes it even worse. He should have more sense.

"Almost all the audience loved the fact that here was a young Caithness actress belting out their own tongue to them and, instead of that being celebrated, it's been knocked. That's what disappoints me."

Northings editor Kenny Mathieson said: "As soon as John Cairns pointed this out to me I realised an error had been made, without any question. I checked with the writer and what he was trying to convey was the sense of being 'rooted in the soil' rather than 'soiled' – he just put it very badly. I accept full responsibility for that as editor. I should have picked it up and changed it at the time."

He added: "The reviewer was not attacking Caithness dialect as such. He was trying to make the point that it may hamper reception of the play elsewhere, just like plays in Gaelic, or Shetland dialect, or Doric.

"I think that's an issue that any writer writing in dialect has to face up to. Are you writing for a specific constituency or do you want your work to be able to travel further, and, if so, how much do you dilute the language to enable it to go further? It's an interesting issue."

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