BELONG SEASON
January to June 2015
THE National Theatre of Scotland is looking forward to offering up exciting new contemporary drama, international new writing and tours, major new adaptations of Scottish books and award-winning revivals, taking the company from Shetland to Los Angeles, in the first six months of 2015.
From January to June 2015, the company will produce nine world premieres including new plays and adaptations from lead artists and writers Douglas Maxwell, Iain Finlay Macleod, Laurie Sansom, Cora Bissett, Yusra Warsama, Kai Fischer, Graham McLaren and new adaptations of books by literary legends, Muriel Spark and Compton Mackenzie.
Laurie Sansom, artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland, says: “Most of us want to belong. The bosom of the family might make us feel safe, or like running to the hills. Sometimes, it’s not always easy to fit in. The embrace of community can protect and it can stifle.
“Tribes, families, clans and gangs have their joys and their challenges; we’ve taken that as our touchstone for our 2015 season of work. In this diverse season, we meet families ferociously fighting for survival, witness national loyalties challenged, confront cultural customs and observe a woman with no ties, recreating herself before our eyes. These are stories of communities under pressure from within, friends and family rallying round, and people making incredible journeys to escape and invent new identities. This year we hope you will join us to explore what it means to feel part of a gang or out there on your own…”
THE YEAR IN BRIEF
January and February 2015
The National Theatre of Scotland’s award-winning and cult theatre version of Let the Right One In heads to New York, following success in London’s West End. Young teenage vampiric love comes knocking at the door of St Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn from 20 January to 15 February 2015. By arrangement with Bill Kenwright and Marla Rubin Productions Ltd. John Tiffany directs Jack Thorne’s adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel. A US premiere.
Dunsinane continues to occupy the major international theatrical stages, with a US tour in 2015, visiting North Carolina, Chicago, Washington DC and Los Angeles from 29 January to 12 April 2015. Siobhan Redmond’s Gruach (Lady Macbeth) is reunited with Darrell D’Silva’s Siward in this Royal Shakespeare Company co-production. An US premiere.
March 2015
The National Theatre of Scotland collaborates with A Play, A Pie and A Pint for the fifth time, bringing the current Crimean conflict to theatrical life with three new plays by Russian and Ukrainian writers. Davey Anderson, Peter Arnott and Sacha Dugdale adapt plays by Natalia Vorozhbyt, Mikhail Durnenkov and Yuri Klavdiev, in association with the University of Edinburgh, at Òran Mór from 23 March, 4 May and 25 May 2015, respectively and at the Traverse from 30 March 2015. Three world premieres.
April 2015
The National Theatre of Scotland and the Tron Theatre support Kai Fischer’s Last Dream (On Earth), offering audiences a journey across borders, into space and beyond ,with live music and an immersive soundscape. Touring to Glasgow, St Andrews, Paisley, Shetland and Inverness, from 1 to 18 April 2015. A world premiere.
The National Theatre of Scotland teams up with A Play, A Pie and A Pint, and new Gaelic theatre company, Robhanis to serve up a new Gaelic version of Compton Mackenzie’s legendary liquor classic Whisky Galore/ Uisge-Beatha Gu Leòr. Adapted by Iain Finlay Macleod, and directed by Guy Hollands, this lively, up-close production tours throughout Scotland from 9 April to 9 May 2015. A world premiere.
May 2015
Acclaimed Scottish theatre-maker Cora Bissett, and Mancunian performance poet Yusra Warsama sensitively explore the issue of Female Genital Mutilation from the perspective of the communities involved. Rites is an important and unflinching new piece of documentary drama theatre. The National Theatre of Scotland’s first co-production with Contact, touring to Glasgow, Manchester and Edinburgh from 5 to 23 May 2015. A world premiere.
A bold and riotous new comedy, adapted by popular Scottish playwright, Douglas Maxwell, set in a Scots-Italian family fish and chip shop, Yer Granny, is a new adaptation of Roberto La Cossa’s La Nona, Argentina’s favourite play. Touring to Scotland’s large theatre stages from 19 May to 4 July 2015, visiting Greenock, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Belfast and Dundee. A world premiere.
June 2015
Fresh from the success of The James Plays, National Theatre of Scotland Artistic director, Laurie Sansom, returns to the Scottish stage with his new version of Muriel Spark’s favourite novel, The Driver’s Seat, in a darkly comic production with award-winning set design from Ana Inés Jabares Pita, in Edinburgh and Glasgow from 19 June to 4 July 2015. A world premiere.
Throughout the year
The National Theatre of Scotland is delighted to be working alongside the Scottish Book Trust to engage a community in exploring their stories, urban myths and fairytales, and turning them in to compelling sensory theatre experiences. The project will be led by the National Theatre of Scotland’s associate director, Simon Sharkey, and his team.
This association with the Scottish Book Trust, as well as with other organisations, will continue to develop over the next few years as the National Theatre of Scotland delves into Scotland’s world-class literary canon, creating a strand of programming around books, adaptations and the alchemic theatrical transformation from page to stage.
In the first six months of 2015 this strand will include productions of Compton Mackenzie’s Whisky Galore and Muriel Spark’s The Driver’s Seat.
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US PREMIERE
The National Theatre of Scotland with St Ann’s Warehouse,
by arrangement with Bill Kenwright and Marla Rubin Productions Ltd,
in association with piece by piece productions, present
Let The Right One In
A stage adaptation by Jack Thorne based on the Swedish novel and screenplay of the film
by John Ajvide Lindqvist, directed by John Tiffany, with associate direction/ movement by Steven Hoggett, featuring music by Ólafur Arnalds, set design by Christine Jones, lighting design by Chahine Yavroyan, sound design by Gareth Fry and special effects design by Jeremy Chernick.
At St Ann’s Warehouse, New York from 20 January to 15 February 2015
The National Theatre of Scotland is delighted that St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn will present the American premiere of its critically acclaimed South Bank Sky Arts award-winning production Let the Right One In from 20 January – 15 February, 2015.
The production, which had its world premiere at Dundee Rep in 2013, will reunite Tony and Olivier award-winning director, John Tiffany, with the National Theatre of Scotland for whom he was associate director until 2012.
The American premiere is presented by St. Ann’s with the National Theatre of Scotland, by arrangement with Bill Kenwright and Marla Rubin Productions Ltd, in association with piece by piece productions.
Let The Right One In, adapted for the stage by writer Jack Thorne from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Swedish novel and screenplay of the film of the same name, has garnered great critical acclaim with successful runs at Dundee Rep, the Royal Court Theatre and the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End. In 2014 it won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best Theatre.
Let the Right One In is the National Theatre of Scotland’s sixth presentation of work in New York. Previous productions include Black Watch and Beautiful Burnout at St. Ann’s Warehouse, as well as The Bacchae (Lincoln Center Festival), Macbeth (Lincoln Center Festival and Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre) and The Wolves in the Walls (New Victory Theater).
Let the Right One In is a tender, funny and brutal love story following the burgeoning relationship between Oskar, a lonely, bullied teenage boy and Eli, a centuries-old, young vampire who befriends him.
Rebecca Benson will reprise her critically-acclaimed role as Eli and the role of Oskar will be performed by original cast member Cristian Ortega, who previously played the role of Micke. Other cast members include Cliff Burnett, Graeme Dalling, Andrew Fraser, Gavin Kean, Gary Mackay, Angus Miller and Susan Vidler.
Writer, Jack Thorne, says: “I am hugely excited that Let The Right One In is getting its American premiere this winter, giving me the chance to go to New York in the darkest month of the year to celebrate vampires in love. I can’t wait to see it again.”
Join the conversation: #LTROI
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US PREMIERE
The National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company present
Dunsinane
By David Greig and directed by Roxana Silbert
Supported by the Scottish Government International Touring Fund
Touring USA in Spring 2015
The National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production Dunsinane, David Greig’s majestic sequel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is touring to North Carolina, Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles in 2015. First premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Hampstead Theatre in 2010, this tour marks the American premiere of Dunsinane after a highly successful recent tour to East Asia and Russia in Spring 2014.
Dunsinane is the setting for Greig’s play, the Scottish garrison town where the English occupying army is ready to commence battle and historically believed to be where Malcolm defeated Macbeth in 1054. Greig has taken Scotland’s real history and dramatically mixed it with the setting of Shakespeare’s play, one of the most famous landscapes in literature, even though Shakespeare himself never set foot on Scottish soil.
Siobhan Redmond will reprise her role as Gruach, (Lady Macbeth) and she will be joined by leading British stage and screen actor, Darrell D’Silva, in the role of Siward. Other cast members include George Brockbanks, Helen Darbyshire, Ewan Donald, Keith Fleming, Tom Gill, Toyin Omari-Kinch, Arthur McBain, Matt McClure, Alex Mann and Mairi Morrison.
The production is touring to Carolina Performing Arts, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (29 to 30 January), Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC (3 to 21 February ), Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago (February 26 to March 22), Wallis Annenberg Centre for Performing Arts, Los Angeles (27 March to 12 April).
Writer, David Greig, says: “I’m delighted that Dunsinane is having its American premiere. Wherever Dunsinane goes, new audiences seem to bring new context and light the play up in a different way. I can’t wait to find out how the story comes over in the different cities in America.”
Full performance schedule and cast details to follow.
Join the conversation: #Dunsinane
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WORLD PREMIERES
A Play, A Pie and A Pint, in association with National Theatre of Scotland
and the University of Edinburgh, presents
A Play, A Pie and A Pint: International Plays from Ukraine and Russia
Three new plays from Ukraine and Russia
Curated by Nicola McCartney
Take the Rubbish Out, Sasha by Natalia Vorozhbyt (Ukraine)
Translated by Sasha Dugdale
Directed by Nicola McCartney
Òran Mór, Glasgow, week commencing 23 March 2015
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, week commencing 30 March 2015
Presented in collaboration with the Traverse Theatre
The War Hasn’t Started Yet by Mikhail Durnenkov (Russia)
Literal translation by Alexandra Smith
Adapted and directed by Davey Anderson
Òran Mór, Glasgow, week commencing 4 May 2015
Thoughts Spoken Aloud From Above by Yuri Klavdiev (Russia)
Literal translation by Alexandra Smith
Adapted by Peter Arnott
Òran Mór, Glasgow, week commencing 25 May 2015
“Nothing in the history of Russia or Ukraine is ever simple.”
Collaborating on their fifth international season, A Play, A Pie and A Pint, in association with the National Theatre of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh, presents new work from three of Russia and Ukraine’s most established and respected writers of ‘Novii Drama’ or ‘New Drama’.
The writers were asked to respond to the conflict that has escalated between the two countries over the last 18 months. The result is the three new plays forming this season; a timely blend of comedy, tragedy and farce.
Novii Drama is a relatively new form of theatre in Russia and Ukraine, where, traditionally, social realism and the plays of playwrights such as Chekhov have dominated the scene. These exciting new pieces will be adapted and directed by acclaimed Scottish theatre-makers, Peter Arnott and Davey Anderson.
Curator, Nicola McCartney, says:
“Four years ago, David MacLennan asked me to travel to Moscow to find out if anyone there might be interested in A Play, A Pie and A Pint; he was keen to commission a season of Russian work.
“There was a lot of interest – and also some consternation at the idea of great art such as theatre being mixed with alcohol and pies. Shortly after that trip, the hostilities between the two countries commenced and we knew the time was ripe.
“The three playwrights I have chosen for this season come from both nations involved in the conflict, are well-established and enormously respected, not just in Russia and Ukraine, but the world over. What is even more special is that they are best friends. We asked them to respond to what has been happening over the last 18 months. Nothing in the history of Russia or Ukraine is ever simple…”
Susannah Armitage, producer of A Play, A Pie and A Pint, says:
“Both A Play, A Pie and A Pint and the National Theatre of Scotland are particularly excited to be presenting new work from both Russia and Ukraine in Spring 2015. It feels like a prescient time to be turning a cultural spotlight towards that part of the world and to dIscover artists’ responses to what has been happening in their countries. It is also the realisation of a long-term ambition of both David MacLennan and Nicola McCartney to see contemporary Russian and Ukranian work as part of the A Play, A Pie and A Pint programme.”
With thanks to the University of Oxford for translation support.
Full performance schedule and cast details to follow at www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
Join the conversation: #UkRuPPP
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WORLD PREMIERE
Kai Fischer, in association with the National Theatre of Scotland and Tron Theatre, presents
Last Dream (On Earth)
Created and directed by Kai Fischer
Music contributor Gameli Tordzro and Sound Design by Matt Padden
Touring Scotland from 1 to 18 April 2015
Opening performance on 2 April 2015 at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow
A traveller stands on a beach in North Africa, with a small group of friends. Tonight, they are going to try it. Tonight, they are getting ready, for a journey that might change their lives.
Here, we will never know their names.
Decades earlier, a young man is being strapped into a tiny sphere, on top of a powerful rocket.
He is ready for his mission, trying to become the first Human Being in Outer Space.
His name will soon be known all over the world: his name is Yuri Gagarin.
As if out of nowhere, a musical dialogue starts. Words are spoken, the story of the trip of a lifetime emerges. It is a story of hope, dreams and beauty – and of sheer inhumanity.
The National Theatre of Scotland is delighted to support, in association with the Tron Theatre, Kai Fischer’s world premiere of Last Dream (On Earth) on its Scottish tour in April 2015.
Kai Fischer is a multi-talented German artist working as a director, writer and designer in Glasgow. His most recent work as a theatre-maker, Entartet, was inspired by the 1937 exhibition in Munich of Degenerate Art. He is an artistic associate with Vanishing Point and has recently collaborated with the National Theatre of Scotland, as set and lighting designer, on the award-winning co-production The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler (winner of a CATS Award, 2014) and as a lighting designer on The Tin Forest, the Company’s large-scale Commonwealth project celebrating Glasgow’s industrial past and creative future.
Last Dream (On Earth) interweaves a driving live music score with accounts of those who risk their lives for a distant dream. It draws on extensive interviews and historic documents to explore journeys beyond the imaginable, and quests to find a better future in faraway places.
Kai Fischer’s research took him on his own journey to seek out interviewees, travelling to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a refugee centre in Malta and onto Rabat and Tangier in Morocco. His research also led him to study the actual transcripts of radio communication during Gagarin’s flight and official NASA documents, in relation to their early manned space program.
Audiences will experience the immersive sound world of Last Dream (On Earth) on headphones, as it is created and performed on stage in front of them.
The production includes a live soundtrack with collaboration from Ghanaian musician and storyteller, Gameli Tordzro (drums) and sound designer Matt Padden.
Kai Fischer, director, says:
“For me, Last Dream (On Earth) is not about outer space, or North Africa or Spain, or Finland even… or the Moon. For me, it is about the spaces in between. It is about the frontiers. It is about what we are prepared to do to reach the unknown and why. And so it is also about conversations between two people who are worlds apart.
“It is also about sounds and music. I like to create spaces where not everything is explained, but where an audience can imagine, and where a soundscape or a piece of music can create a powerful image or memory that is just yours. So Last Dream (On Earth) is a collaboration – with you. It is, very much, about the space in between, between our performance and your imagination.”
Full performance schedule and cast details to follow at www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
Join the conversation: #LastDream
Touring to:
The Tron Theatre, Glasgow (1 to 4 April); The Byre Theatre, St Andrews (9 April); Paisley Arts Centre (11 April); Mareel, Shetland (14 and 15 April); One Touch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness (18 April).
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WORLD PREMIERE
The National Theatre of Scotland, Robhanis and A Play, A Pie and A Pint present:
Whisky Galore/Uisge-Beatha Gu Leòr
By Compton Mackenzie
Adapted for the stage by Iain Finlay Macleod
Directed by Guy Hollands
Touring village halls and art centres in Scotland from 9 April to 15 May 2015
Opening Performance: 10 April at the Sunart Centre, Strontian
A new Gaelic version of the novel Whisky Galore by Compton MacKenzie.
Adapted for the stage by Iain Finlay Macleod.
Based on the true story of the S.S Politician and its wrecking on the Hebridean island of Eriskay.
This adaption of Whisky Galore/Uisge-Beatha Gu Leòr, Compton Mackenzie’s popular novel, marks a key moment in the evolution of Gaelic drama within the National Theatre of Scotland’s programme, as the company’s most fully-realised Gaelic language theatre production to date.
The production will be surtitled for non Gaelic -speaking audiences. The production also marks the launch of a new Gaelic theatre company, Robhanis. Artistic Director of Robhanis, Iain Finlay Macleod, has also written this new version.
During the production’s Scottish tour, the show will appear in Glasgow to be part of Glasgow’s wildly popular A Play, A Pie and A Pint season. A Play, A Pie and A Pint also co-produce.
World War II, and the island of Todday is suffering from a very serious drought – a distinct lack of whisky. It casts a long shadow over the island and, worst of all, it means that Sergeant Odd cannot marry his beloved sweetheart Peggy, for, as everyone knows, a rèiteach (wedding party) cannot happen without a dram. The only person happy with the situation is the local jobsworth, Captain Waggett of the Home Guard, always on the look-out for any loose talk on the island in these perilous times.
However, things change dramatically for the better when the islanders’ prayers are answered and the S.S Cabinet Minister runs aground off the island with 50 thousand cases of whisky in its hold. The canny islanders quickly decide to claim this bounty rather than have it be carried to the bottom of the sea or, even worse, back to the mainland by punctilious customs officials.
There’s a problem though. Captain Waggett is incensed by this ‘salvage’ and he vows to put an end to these shenanigans and calls in the big guns from the mainland. A hilarious race against time now ensues. Can the islanders hide the whisky in time? Will Sergeant Odd get to marry his beloved? Will anyone on Todday ever be sober again?
Audiences will be seated at tables, up close to the action, with the chance to become fully immersed in this charming production with colourful characters, music and, naturally, whisky galore.
Compton MacKenzie was a prodigious writer of fiction, biographies, history and memoir. He is best known for Whisky Galore! and Monarch of the Glen, both adapted successfully for the screen, with the 1948 Ealing Comedy version of Whisky Galore! and the recent TV series of Monarch of the Glen.
Iain Finlay Macleod is the National Theatre of Scotland’s Associate Artist (Gaelic). He is a successful novelist, playwright and writer for film and radio. He comes from the Isle of Lewis. He has had four novels published, all in the Gaelic language. Previous plays include: Homers, I was a Beautiful Day, The Pearlfisher, Alexander Salamander or The Story of a Teenage Pyromaniac, all at the Traverse Theatre. Other theatre work includes St Kilda – A European Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009.
The National Theatre of Scotland previously collaborated with Iain as part of the Company’s Reveal season in 2011, showcasing emerging Scottish theatre talent. The Company premiered his play Somersaults at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 2011. The play was subsequently produced by the Finborough Theatre in London. Also as part of the Company’s development of Gaelic theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland previously toured Fiona J Mackenzie’s A Little Bird Blown Off Course, in partnership with Blas Festival, in the Highlands and Islands and in Glasgow at Celtic Connections in 2013/2014.
Robhanis is a new Gaelic language theatre company based on the Isle of Lewis. The Company’s aim is to produce new work in the language, develop new writing and create accessible and relevant theatre for audiences in Scotland and beyond.
Guy Hollands is Associate Director of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. He directed the critically- acclaimed Yellow Moon and The Monster in the Hall, by David Greig, which were Citizens Theatre productions, subsequently toured by the National Theatre of Scotland. As a director of Gaelic theatre, Guy Hollands directed three professional touring shows for Tosg, all of which were new Gaelic writing, including two written by Gaelic writing duo Calum MacKinnon and Seonag Monk.
Adapter, Iain Finlay MacLeod, says:
“I am delighted to be working in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland and my new Gaelic theatre company Robhanis on bringing this great novel to the stage. Slàinte mhath.”
Susannah Armitage, producer, A Play, A Pie and A Pint, says:
“A Play, A Pie and A Pint is a celebrated lunchtime theatre programme based in Òran Mór in Glasgow. We produced our first Gaelic language production (Doras Duinte by Catriona Lexy Campbell) in 2013 in a co-production with CoMar and are delighted to build upon this platform by collaborating with the National Theatre of Scotland and Robhanis on this new adaptation of such a well-loved Scottish story.”
Full performance schedule and cast details to follow.
Join the conversation: #WhiskyGalore
Touring to:
Sunart Centre, Strontian (9 and 10 April); A Play, a Pie and a Pint at Òran Mór, Glasgow (13 to 18 April); St Columba’s, Edinburgh (20 April); Corran Hall, Oban (22 April); Castlebay Community Hall, Barra (24 April); Eriskay Community Hall (25 April); Carinish Village Hall (27 April); Leverburgh Village Hall (29 April); An Lanntair, Stornoway (30 April); Ullapool Village Hall (2 May); Uig Village Hall (5 May); Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Isle of Skye (6 May); Plockton Village Hall (8 May); Strathpeffer Pavilion (9 May); McLean Room, Eden Court, Inverness (11 May); Aberdeen Arts Centre (13 May); Strathearn Arts Space, Crieff (15 May).
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Ciad Taisbeanadh Cruinneil
Tha Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba, Robhanais agus A Play, A Pie and A Pint (Pleidh, Paidh agus Pinnt) a’ toirt thugaibh:
Whisky Galore/Uisge-Beatha Gu Leòr
le Compton MacChoinnich
Air atharrachadh airson àrd-ùrlar le Iain Fhionnlaigh Macleòid
Air a stiùireadh le Guy Hollands
A’ dol air chuairt tallachan baile agus ionadan ealain ann an Alba bho 9 Giblean gu 15 Cèitean 2015.
A’ Chiad Taisbeanadh: 10 Giblean ann an Ionad Shuaineirt, Sròn an t-Sìthein.
Dreach ùr Gàidhlig den nobhail Whisky Galore le Compton MacChoinnich.
Air atharrachadh airson àrd-ùrlar le Iain Fhionnlaigh Macleòid
Stèidhichte air sgeulachd fhìor an S.S Politician agus mar a chaidh i fodha dheth Eilean Èirisgeigh ann an Innse Gall.
Tha an ath-riochdachadh seo de Whisky Galore/Uisge-Beatha Gu Leòr, an nobhail chliùiteach le Compton MacChoinnich, a’ comharrachadh àm sònraichte anns a’ mhean-fhàs air dràma Gàidhlig an taobh a-staigh prògram Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba, mar an làn-riochdachadh de dhràma Gàidhlig as cudromaiche a thug an Companaidh gu buil gu ruige seo.
Bidh fo-thiotalain air an riochdachadh seo do luchd-èisteachd aig nach eil Gàidhlig. Tha an riochdachadh cuideachd a’ comharrachadh an fhoillseachaidh air a’ chompanaidh ùr dràma Gàidhlig, Robhanais. Tha an Stiùiriche Ealanta air Robhanais, Iain Fhionnlaigh MacLeòid, air an tionndadh ùr seo a sgrìobhadh cuideachd.
Air chuairt ann an Alba, bidh an taisbeanadh a’ nochdadh ann an Glaschu mar phàirt den t-seusan fìor-ainmeil de A Play, A Pie and A Pint, a tha a’ co-riochdachadh.
An Dàrna Cogadh Mòr agus tha Eilean Thodaigh a’ fulang bho thiormachd a tha fìor throm-chuiseach – dìth mòr air uisge-beatha. Tha sin a’ cur sgàil dhorch thar an eilein air fad agus nas miosa na sin, tha e a’ ciallachadh nach urrainn don t-Seàrdsaint Odd a leannan ghràdhach, Peigi, a phòsadh, oir mar a tha fios aig a h-uile neach, chan urrainn don rèiteach a dhol air adhart às aonais drama.
Is e an an leisgeadair, an Caiptean Waggett bho Fhreiceadan na Dùthcha, an t-aon neach a tha toilichte leis an t-suidheachadh seo, agus e an-còmhnaidh a’ coimhead a-mach airson clabaireachd sam bith a chluinneas e air an eilean sna h-amannan cunnartach sin.
Ach, tha cùisean a’ dèanamh grad-thionndadh chun na dòigh as fheàrr, nuair a tha ùrnaighean nan eileanach a’ faighinn èisteachd agus a tha an S.S Cabinet Minister a’ dol air ghrunnd dhen an eilean le 50 mìle ceas de dh’uisge-beatha na broinn. Tha na h-eileanaich ghleusta gu luath a’ tighinn gu co-dhùnadh an tasgal seo a dhleasadh dhaibh fhèin seach a leigeil gu grunnd na mara, no fiù nas miosa na sin, a leigeil air ais gu tìr-mòr le oifigich mion-chùiseach a’ chusbainn.
Ach tha duilgheadas ann. Tha an Caiptean Waggett leis an dearg chuthach mun ‘t-sàbhaladh’ a rinn iad agus tha e a’ toirt bòid gun cuir e crìoch air a’ mhiastadh seo agus cuiridh e fios air na ‘h-uracharan mòra’ bho thìr-mòr. Mar sin, tha rèis abhcaideach an aghaidh tìm a’ gabhail àite. An urrainn do na h-eileanaich an t-uisge-beatha a chur air falach ann an àm? Am faigh an Sàirdseant Odd air a ghaol gràdhach a phòsadh? Am bi neach sam bith air Eilean Thodaigh sòbarra gu bràth tuilleadh?
Bidh an luchd-èisteachd nan suidhe aig bùird, dlùth do na tha a’ dol air adhart air an àrd-ùrlar le cothrom aca air a dhol am bogadh gu h-iomlan san riochdachadh tharraingeach seo, le caractaran dathtach, ceòl agus gu nàdarrach – uisge-beatha gu leòr.
B’ e sgrìobhadair anabarrach ealanta air ficsean, eachdraidh-beatha, eachdraidh fhèin agus cuimhneachain beatha a bh’ ann an Compton MacChoinnich. Is fheàrr a dh’aithnichear e airson Whisky Galore agus Monarch of the Glen, na dhà sin air an atharrachadh gu h-ealanta airson na sgriona, leis an tionndadh comadaidh Ealing 1948 de Whisky Galore! agus an t-sreath TBh de Monarch of the Glen.
Is e Iain Fhionnlaigh MacLeòid an Co-phàirtiche Ealain (Gàidhlig) aig Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba. ’S e sgrìobhadair soirbheachail a th’ ann air nobhailean, deilbh-chluich agus film is rèidio. Tha e à Eilean Leòdhais. Tha e air ceithir nobhailean fhoillseachadh cheana, iad uile ann an Gàidhlig. Am measg nan deilbh-chluich aige tha: Homers, I was a Beautiful Day, The Pearlfisher, Alexander Salamander agus The Story of a Teenage Pyromaniac, iad uile air an taisbeanadh ann an Taigh-cluiche an Traverse. Am measg an obair theatar eile aige tha St Kilda – A European Opera aig Fèis Eadar-nàiseanta Dhùn Èideann ann an 2009.
Bha Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba a’ co-obrachadh cheana le Iain Fhionnlaigh mar phàirt de sheusan Reveal a’ Chompanaidh ann an 2011, a’ mòr-thaisbeanadh tàlant theatar Albannach a bha a’ tighinn am bàrr. Chuir an Companaidh an dealbh-chluich aige Somersaults air àrd-ùrlar airson a’ chiad uair ann an Taigh-cluiche an Traverse an Dùn Èideann ann an 2011. Chaidh an dealbh-chluich a riochdachadh às dèidh sin ann an Theatar Finborough ann an Lunnainn. Cuideachd, mar phàirt de leasachadh a’ Chompanaidh air dràma Gàidhlig, chaidh Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba air chuairt le A Little Bird Blown Off Course (Eun Beag Chanaigh) aig Fiona J NicChoinnich, ann an com-pàirteachas le Fèis Blas, air a’ Ghàidhealtachd agus sna h-Eileanan, agus aig Celtic Connections ann an Glaschu ann an 2013/2014.
Is e companaidh dràma Gàidhlig a th’ ann an Robhanais, stèidhichte ann an Eilean Leòdhais. ’S e amas a’ Chompanaidh obair ùr sa chànan a thoirt gu buil, sgrìobhadh ùr a leasachadh agus dràma ruigsinneach is buntainneach a chruthachadh do luchd-èisteachd ann an Alba agus taobh a-muigh Alba.
Tha Guy Hollands na Cho-Stiùiriche air Taigh-cluiche an Citizens ann an Glaschu. Bha e na stiùiriche air Yellow Moon agus The Monster in the Hall le Daibhidh Greig, a fhuair mòr-mholadh agus a bha nan riochdachaidhean den Citizens Theatre, às dèidh sin air an toirt air chuairt le Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba. Mar stiùiriche air dràma Gàidhlig, stiùir Guy Hollands trì taisbeanaidhean proifeiseanta air chuairt dha Tosg, iad uile air nan sgrìobhadh Gàidhlig às ùr, a’ gabhail a-steach a dhà air an sgrìobhadh leis an dithis sgrìobhadairean Gàidhlig, Calum MacFhionghain agus Seonag Monk.
Tha an neach-atharrachaidh Iain Fhionnlaigh Macleòid ag ràdh:
“Tha mi air leth toilichte a bhith ag obair ann an com-pàirteachas le Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba agus an companaidh ùr dràma Gàidhlig agam Robhanais, ann a bhith a’ toirt an nobhail ainmeil seo chun an àrd-ùrlair. Slàinte mhath.”
Susannah Armitage, A Play, A Pie and A Pint/Pleidh, Paidh agus Pinnt ràdh:
“Is e prògram dràma aig àm lòn a th’ ann A Play, A Pie and A Pint, air a bheil mòr-mheas agus stèidhichte ann an Òran Mòr ann an Glaschu. Thug sinn a’ chiad riochdachadh Gàidhlig againn gu buil (Doras Dùinte le Caitrìona Lexy Chaimbeul) ann an 2013 ann an co-riochdachadh le CoMar, agus tha sinn air leth toilichte togail air a’ bhunait seo le bhith a’ co-obrachadh le Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba agus Robhanais air a’ chruth-atharrachadh ùr de sgeulachd Albannach air a bheil a leithid de mheas”
Thigibh a chòmhradh: #WhiskyGalore/# UisgeBeathaGuLeòr
A’ dol air chuairt gu:
Ionad Shuaineirt, Sròn an t-Sìthein (9 agus 10 Giblean); Òran Mòr, Glaschu (13 gu 18 Giblean);
Eaglais Naomh Cholm Cille, Dùn Èideann (20 Giblean); Talla a’ Chorrain, An t-Òban (22 Giblean); Talla Coimhearsnachd Bhàgh a’ Chaisteil, Eilean Bharraigh (24 Giblean); Talla Coimhearsnachd Èirisgeigh (25 Giblean); Talla Baile Chàirinis (27 Giblean); Talla Baile an t-Òib (29 Giblean); An Lanntair, Steòrnabhagh (30 Giblean); Talla Baile Ulapuil (2 Cèitean); Talla Baile Ùige (5 Cèitean); Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach (6 Cèitean); Talla Baile a’ Phluic (8 Cèitean); Pàillean Shrath Pheofhair (9 Cèitean); Seòmar MhicIlleathain, Cùirt Eden, Inbhir Nis (11 Cèitean); Ionad Ealain Obar Dheathain (13 Cèitean); Ionad Ealain Shrath Èireann, Craoibh (15 Cèitean).
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WORLD PREMIERE
The National Theatre of Scotland and Contact present
Rites
Created by Cora Bissett and Yusra Warsama
Directed by Cora Bissett
Sound Design/Composition by Patricia Panther
Video Design by Kim Beveridge
Supported by the Scottish Refugee Council and Dignity Alert Research Forum (DARF)
Touring to Glasgow, Manchester and Edinburgh from 5 to 30 May 2015
Opening performance 6 May at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Rites is a powerful and provocative new production exploring the deep-rooted cultural practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), created by Olivier award-winning director, Cora Bissett (Roadkill, Glasgow Girls) and acclaimed Mancunian theatre-maker Yusra Warsama.
Rites is based on current, true stories from girls affected in Scotland and the rest of the UK, mothers who feel under pressure to continue the practice, and the experiences of midwives, lawyers, police officers, teachers and health workers trying to effect change in communities. The show weaves different perspectives into a powerful drama which explores the pressures and misconceptions existing within this deeply complex practice.
Rites reunites leading Scottish theatre-maker Cora Bissett with young contemporary artists Patricia Panther, (performer and composer on Glasgow Girls) and Kim Beveridge (video designer on Road Kill), who provide an electronic musical soundscape and visuals.
Yusra Warsama is a multi-talented performance poet, writer and performer. She is currently writing for Newcastle’s Greyscale theatre company, is filming Critical for Sky and is developing a project around the UK Government’s Violent Extremism Strategy with Fin Kinndy and Naylah Ahmed. Yusra was also a co-founder of Contact Theatre’s acclaimed Future Fires project
This is the National Theatre of Scotland’s first co-production with Contact, the award-winning theatre and arts venue on Manchester’s vibrant Oxford Road Corridor.
FGM, often referred to as ‘female circumcision’ or ‘cutting’ within cultures that practise it, is an ancient ritual that has been performed for centuries, and is one to which millions of girls worldwide are still subjected. The reasons are complicated and myriad. It depends who you are, and it depends what you’ve been taught. FGM is illegal in the UK, however a recent campaign in 2013 by a young British-Somali student (Fahma Mohammed) has increased awareness of the practice and turned a global issue into an UK political policy priority and headline news.
Director, Cora Bissett, co-creator and director says:
“Theatre is an extremely powerful medium to explore complex stories, put cultural practice under the spotlight and to find sensitive ways of portraying traumatic human experiences. Through extensive research and interviews across the UK, with women affected in diverse communities, we are hoping Rites will be a piece of theatre which doesn’t seek to demonise any one culture. We hope to ask questions of practices contained within many cultures and give space to discuss those very sensitive areas where cultural practice and human rights come into direct conflict.”
Yusra Warsama, co-creator, says:
“What we hope is that Rites will express, articulate and explore the complexities of F.G.M. The grey areas where we are too scared to look at because it sits in the realm of cultural differences? One of the few realms where these complexities can be explored, such as culture, understanding, pain, body image, social injustice, race, and sexual control, is theatre.”
Full performance schedule and cast details to follow. Join the conversation: #Rites
Touring to:
Mayfesto at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow (5 to 9 May); Contact, Manchester (week of 16 May); Bristol (week of 18 May) and the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (week of 25 May).
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WORLD PREMIERE
National Theatre of Scotland presents
Yer Granny
From the original Argentinian play La Nona written in Spanish by Roberto Cossa
In a new English version by Douglas Maxwell
Literal translation by Kathy Khorrami
Directed by Graham McLaren
Touring to Greenock, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Dundee and Belfast
from 19 May to 4 July 2015
Opening performance at the King’s Theatre Glasgow on 27 May, 2015
Scotland, 1977. The Minerva Fish Bar has been shuttered and empty for a long time.
Out of business. Bust. But not for sale! Never!
One day – so the family credo has it – she shall rise again and all will be well….
Yer Granny is a riotous new comedy, about a diabolical 100-year-old granny who’s literally eating her family out of house and home. She’s already eaten their fish and chip shop into bankruptcy and now she’s working her way through their kitchen cupboards, pushing the Russo family to desperate measures just to survive.
As proud head of the family, Cammy is determined that The Minerva Fish Bar will rise again and that family honour will be restored – and all in time for the Queen’s impending Jubilee visit. But before Cammy’s dream can come true and before Her Maj can pop in for a chat, a single sausage and a Royal seal of approval, the family members must ask themselves how far they will go to solve a problem like Yer Granny…
Yer Granny is the first Scottish adaptation of Argentina’s biggest smash-hit comedy.
Yer Granny has been adapted by award-winning playwright Douglas Maxwell (A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity, Miracle Man, If Destroyed True) from Argentina’s most popular and provocative play, and is directed by National Theatre of Scotland Associate Director Graham McLaren (In Time O’ Strife, The Tin Forest, A Christmas Carol).
La Nona premiered in Buenos Aires in 1977. In the UK, the play was first produced for the stage by Attic Theatre Company at Wimbledon Studios, London in 1995. A BBC TV version of La Nona was broadcast in 1991 as part of the Performance series, starring Les Dawson as the granny, in a cast that also featured Liz Smith, Jane Horrocks, Jim Broadbent and Timothy Spall.
Director, Graham McLaren, says:
“When I first read Douglas Maxwell’s version of Argentina’s greatest comedy, I laughed so violently that my ten year old daughter rose from her bed, convinced I was being attacked. If you imagine the satire of Dario Fo with the humour of Rab C Nesbitt, you will get a feel for Yer Granny.”
Full performance schedule and cast details to follow.
Join the conversation: #YerGranny
Touring to:
The Beacon, Greenock (19 to 21 May, 2015); The King’s Theatre, Glasgow (26 to 30 May, 2015);
The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh (2 to 6 June, 2015); Eden Court, Inverness (9 to 13 June, 2015); Lyric Theatre, Belfast (23 to 27 June, 2015); Dundee Rep , Dundee (30 June to 4 July, 2015).
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WORLD PREMIERE
National Theatre of Scotland presents
The Driver’s Seat
A novel by Muriel Spark
Adapted and directed by Laurie Sansom
Designed by Ana Inés Jabares Pita (winner of the 2013 Linbury Prize for Stage Design)
Touring to Edinburgh and Glasgow from 19 June to 04 July 2015
Opening performance at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on 23 June 2015
“You look like Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. Do you want to eat me up?”
Adapted and directed by the National Theatre of Scotland’s Artistic Director Laurie Sansom, The Driver’s Seat is the first theatrical presentation of Muriel Spark’s psychologically thrilling 1970 short novel.
In its first adaptation for the stage, Lise’s journey to an unnamed European city and the ever curious people she encounters, merge with the urgency of a police incident room on the hunt for a killer.
This is one of Spark’s most unique, gripping and disturbing books, telling the story of one woman’s mission to leave her mark on a world that is becoming increasingly alien to her, and asking whether we are ever in control of our lives. The Driver’s Seat is also a taut thriller and a darkly comic tale that displays Spark at the height of her powers.
The Driver’s Seat was nominated, posthumously, for a ‘Lost Man Booker Prize’ and was also adapted into 1974 film, Identikit, starring Elizabeth Taylor. Muriel Spark referred to it as her favourite novel.
The production is designed by Ana Inés Jabares Pita, overall winner of the 2013 Linbury Prize, the UK’s most prestigious award for stage design, offering graduating designers the unique opportunity to work with some of the country’s leading theatre, opera and dance companies. The Prize is sponsored by the Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts.
Laurie Sansom adapts and directs. This is his first production for the National Theatre of Scotland after the success of his productions of Rona Munro’s epic historical trilogy, The James Plays in Edinburgh and London, in 2014. He previously directed an acclaimed production of Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009.
Laurie Sansom, adapter and director, says:
“I’m thrilled to be adapting the work of one of Scotland’s finest writers, and The Driver’s Seat is one of her most perfect and idiosyncratic books. It combines her razor sharp wit and crisp narrative voice with an enigmatic central figure that slips in and out of focus until its final, shocking conclusion. Capturing Spark’s voice on stage is always a challenge, but this has to be one of her most dramatic and mysterious stories, lending itself to theatrical reinvention. I’m proud that the National Theatre of Scotland can help to bring people’s attention back to her wonderful body of work and this book in particular.”
Muriel Spark, born in Edinburgh in 1918 was a prolific and highly successful novelist. She also wrote plays, biographies and poetry. As well as The Driver’s Seat (1970) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) her extensive body of work includes The Abbess of Crewe (1974), The Girls of Slender Means (1963), The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) and Memento Mori (1959). Her personal archive is held by the National Library of Scotland.
Full performance schedule and cast details to follow.
Join the conversation: #DriversSeat
Touring to:
Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (19 to 27 June 2015) and Tramway, Glasgow from (2 to 4 July 2015).
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NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND
LEARN PROJECTS
January to June 2015
Following on from a trail-blazing year, which saw the National Theatre of Scotland reaching over 13,000 people in 2014 through the mighty Tin Forest project, the Learn team is back engaging with communities across Scotland.
In 2015, National Theatre of Scotland’s Learn Department will be seeking out communities and individuals across the country who will invite the Company into their spaces to share their local folklore and urban myths. Joining forces with the Scottish Book Trust to find these stories, the National Theatre of Scotland will also work alongside local artists and groups to bring these stories to life as compelling new pieces of theatre for local audiences
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NOTES TO EDITORS
The National Theatre of Scotland is dedicated to playing the great stages, arts centres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations of Scotland, the UK and internationally. As well creating ground-breaking productions and working with the most talented theatre-makers, the National Theatre of Scotland produces significant community engagement projects, innovates digitally and works constantly to develop new talent. Central to this is finding pioneering ways to reach current and new audiences and to encourage people’s full participation in the Company’s work. With no performance building of its own, the Company works with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. Founded in 2006, the Company, in its short life, has become a globally significant theatrical player, with an extensive repertoire of award-winning work. The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government. nationaltheatrescotland.com
Through its signature multi-artist concerts and groundbreaking music/theater collaborations, Ann’s Warehouse has become the artistic home for the American avant-garde, international companies of stature and award-winning emerging artists. Highly acclaimed landmark productions include Lou Reed’s and John Cale’s Songs for ‘Drella; Marianne Faithfull’s Seven Deadly Sins; Artistic Director Susan Feldman’s Band in Berlin; Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers’ Theater of the New Ear; The Royal Court Theater’s 4:48 Psychosis; The Globe Theatre of London’s Measure for Measure; Druid Company’s The Walworth Farce, The New Electric Ballroom and Penelope; Enda Walsh’s Misterman, featuring Cillian Murphy; Lou Reed’s Berlin; the National Theatre of Scotland’s acclaimed Black Watch; Kneehigh Theatre’s Brief Encounter and The Wild Bride; Yael Farber’s Mies Julie; Dmitry Krymov Lab’s Opus No. 7; the Donmar Warehouse all-female Julius Caesar; Kate Tempest’s Brand New Ancients; and Tricycle Theatre’s Red Velvet. St. Ann’s has championed such artists as The Wooster Group, Mabou Mines, Jeff Buckley, Cynthia Hopkins, Enda Walsh, Emma Rice, and Daniel Kitson. St. Ann’s Warehouse has been awarded the Ross Wetzsteon OBIE Award for the development of new work. The OBIE Award Committee honored St. Ann’s for “inviting artists to treat their cavernous DUMBO space as both an inspiring laboratory and a sleek venue where its super-informed audience charges the atmosphere with hip vitality.”
Contact is an award-winning theatre and arts venue on Manchester’s vibrant Oxford Road Corridor with young people at the heart of everything they do. They present professional theatre, dance, spoken word, music, cabaret, live art and comedy across their spaces, surprising places, and online. Contact is also a creative space for young people aged 13 to 30, providing workshops and opportunities, mostly for FREE for the next generation of diverse artists, entrepreneurs and young leaders. Contact is an arts charity dependent on the support of valued funders, a range of Trusts and Foundations, and the generosity of individual donors. Contact is funded by Arts Council England, Manchester City Council, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities and the University of Manchester.
A Play, a Pie and a Pint is the UK’s largest commissioner and producer of new drama. Founded in 2004, it has mounted over 330 productions in the last ten years. We seek to produce and promote high quality, tourable new plays from Scotland, the UK and the rest of the world and to present them at an affordable price to the people of Scotland. Plays from a Play, a Pie and a Pint at Òran Mór have been produced in England, Ireland, Sweden, Holland, Italy, Spain, Russia, Australia and the USA. Previous international collaborations with the National Theatre of Scotland have included plays from Jamaica, Syria, Morocco, China and Latin America. playpiepint.com
Robhanis is a new Gaelic language theatre company based on the Isle of Lewis. The company’s aim is to produce new work in the language, develop new writing and create accessible and relevant theatre for audiences in Scotland and beyond. For any press enquiries in English or Gaelic, please contact: Iain Finlay Macleod (Artistic Director) at 07900 496 360 or info@iainfmacleod.com
The Royal Shakespeare Company is the world’s most famous theatre company. We create theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. Everyone at the RSC – from actors to technicians, milliners to musicians – plays a part in creating the world you see on stage. All our productions begin life at our Stratford workshops and theatres and we bring them to the widest possible audience through our touring, residencies, live broadcasts and online activity. So wherever you experience the RSC, you experience work made in Shakespeare’s home town.We encourage everyone to enjoy a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre. We produce an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context, alongside the work of his contemporaries and today’s writers. We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. We reach 450,000 children and young people annually through our education work across the UK, transforming their experiences in the classroom, in performance and online.
The Tron Theatre Company is currently under the artistic leadership of Andy Arnold, who took up the position of artistic director and chief executive in 2008. The Tron Theatre presents the people of Glasgow and the West of Scotland with outstanding professional productions of the finest new writing and contemporary classics, with an emphasis on world, UK and Scottish premieres; as well as staging co-productions and collaborations with other theatre companies and supporting the work of new and emergent artists. Recent productions include the critically acclaimed Ulysses, which toured Ireland in 2011 and will be restaged in Beijing in 2015; Three Sisters, Scenes Unseen, Stones in His Pockets, Staircase, Valhalla, Sea and Land and Sky (world premiere and winner of the Open.Stage writing competition), Like the Rain (Scottish premiere), Bliss (Scottish premiere) and Mud. This is in addition to our justly celebrated pantomimes – most recently Peter Panto and the Incredible Stinkerbell, Aganeza Scrooge, Mr Merlin’s Pure Magic Panto and Flo White, which have acquired something of a cult following. The Tron Theatre was established as a theatre club in 1979 (going fully public in 1989), rising from the ashes of the destroyed Close Theatre, based at the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow.The Tron is also an established receiving theatre on the small-middle scale, as well as a major venue for many of Glasgow’s festivals including Celtic Connections, Glasgow International Comedy Festival, the Merchant City Festival and Glasgay!
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NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND ARTISTS 2015
Davey Anderson – adapter and director of The War Hasn’t Started Yet (part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint Russia/Ukraine season)
Davey has previously worked for the National Theatre of Scotland on Enquirer (as composer and associate director), Peter Pan and Be Near Me (as musical director), Architecting (as collaborating writer), Rupture (as director) and Black Watch (as associate director – Music). Davey has also curated a season of New Writing from China, in which he adapted and directed Thieves and Boy. He was dramaturg on Ménage à Trois and Falling, was co-director of Transform Orkney – Mixter Maxter and associate director for Home: Glasgow. In 2006-07 he was the company’s director-in-residence and associate director during 2014.
As a writer, Davey’s plays include; The Static (ThickSkin), Blackout (NT Connections), Playback (Ankur), Clutter Keeps Company (Birds of Paradise), Liar (TAG/ Citizens Theatre), Wired (Òran Mór) and Snuff (Arches), which he directed as winner of the Arches Award for Stage Directors 2005. Davey has recently written a number of short plays for Theatre Uncut and collaborated wth a collective of writers making topical agitprop for A Play, a Pie, and a Pint. He has also worked as composer and sound designer on Dublin Carol (Donmar Warehouse), musical director on Cinderella, Aladdie, Weans in the Wood (Tron Theatre) and as assistant director on House of Murders and Court of Miracles (Citizens Theatre).
Peter Arnott – adapter of Thoughts Spoken Aloud From Above (part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint Russia/Ukraine season)
Peter has worked as a playwright, principally in Scotland, since 1984. He has also written songs and screenplays. Peter recently worked with the National Theatre of Scotland on Dear Scotland at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
He is the winner of UK Theatre, Creative Scotland and Fringe First Awards.
He was writer-in-residence at the Tron Theatre in 1990, the National Library of Scotland in 2008-2011, and at the Genomics Forum and Traverse Theatre at University of Edinburgh in 2011-12.
Recent successes include his plays with music, Why Do You Stand There in the Rain, Janis Joplin: Full Tilt and Propaganda Swing.
He is currently under commission to Mull Theatre and to the University of Edinburgh for Ensemble, an exploration of theatre and censorship in the former German Democratic Republic.
Cora Bissett – associate director of National Theatre of Scotland and co-creator/director of Rites
Cora is a director, actor, songwriter and artistic director of her company Pachamama which she launched in 2010 with the multi-award winning Roadkill (Pachamama/ Ankur Productions). Roadkill won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 2012, as well as various other awards including an Amnesty International Award for Freedom of Speech.
Cora has previously worked with the National Theatre of Scotland as co-creator/director of Glasgow Girls (Theatre Royal Stratford East, Citizens Theatre, Richard Jordan Productions Ltd and Pachamama Productions, in association with Merrigong Theatre Company) winner of Best New Musical 2013 at the Off West End Theatre Awards and as an actor with The Wolves in the Walls.
Other artistic co-creating/directing credits include Whatever Gets You Through the Night (The Arches) and Janis Joplin: Full Tilt (Òran Mór) and GRIT-The Martyn Bennett Story (Pachamama Productions), a large scale cross-form production for the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme which celebrated the life of the late Scottish musical maverick.
Other acting credits include Midsummer (international tour), Slick (Vox Motus) and Sub Rosa (Fire Exit/Citizens, Glasgow). Her television work includes High Times and Rab C. Nesbitt. Feature films include God Help the Girl, You Instead and Red Road.
Sasha Dugdale – translator of Take the Rubbish Out, Sasha (part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint Russia/Ukraine season)
Sasha is a translator and poet. She has translated many plays from Russian for theatres around the world, including the Royal Court Theatre, the Traverse Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and BBC Radio Drama.
She also translates poetry and short stories, and her translation of the poet Elena Shvarts’ Birdsong on the Seabed (Bloodaxe) was a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation and shortlisted for Popescu and Rossica prizes.
She has published three collections of poetry, most recently Red House (Carcanet) and she is currently editor of Modern Poetry in Translation magazine.
Mikhail Durnenkov – writer of The War Hasn’t Started Yet (part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint Russia/Ukraine season)
Mikhail is a lecturer, screenwriter and member of the ‘New Drama’ movement of young Russian playwrights. His work includes KHLAM! (Center for Playwrights and Directors Theater, Moscow/the ILKHOM Theater, Tashkent) Last Summers Day, (Moscow Art Theater) and The Drunks, a new play by the Durnenkov brothers premiered in August 2009 at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The play was one of four specially-commissioned works in a series that the Royal Shakespeare Company calls Other Russia.
Iain Finlay Macleod – Gaelic associate at National Theatre of Scotland/adapter of Whisky Galore/Uisge-Beatha Gu Leòr
Iain is a successful novelist, playwright and writer for film and radio from the Isle of Lewis. He has had four novels published, all in the Gaelic language.
Iain has previously worked with the National Theatre of Scotland on Somersaults.
Other plays include: Homers, I was a Beautiful Day, The Pearlfisher, Alexander Salamander or The Story of a Teenage Pyromaniac, (the Traverse Theatre) and other theatre projects including St Kilda – A European Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009.
Kai Fischer – director of Last Dream (On Earth)
Kai is a multi-talented German artist working as a director, writer and designer in Glasgow. He has recently worked with the National Theatre of Scotland as set and lighting designer for The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler (with Vanishing Point) and Somersaults, as well as lighting designer for The Tin Forest, Riot of Spring