Spring 2009 | National Theatre of Scotland season brochure

Spring/Summer 2009

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Contents

Accessibility The following symbols are used throughout this brochure:

British Sign Language interpreted

Captioned performance

Audio Described perfomance

Touch Tour For a BSL signed version of this brochure, visit www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

Welcome

Be Near Me

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Peer Gynt

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Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off

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Our Teacher’s a Troll

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Exchange 09

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Exchange 09 Groups

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Transform Fife

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Transform Dumfries

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Transform East Renfrewshire

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Transform Moray

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Transform Orkney

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Transform Caithness

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Developing New Talent

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growing New Talent

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New Work

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Support Us

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Get more from the National Theatre of Scotland

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Touring Theatre

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Calendar

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I hope you will enjoy reading our brochure. We thought it would be exciting to try to tell you about what we have on offer in the coming months in a slightly different way: to open up our background thinking to you, and to join up the dots a bit more.

I would like to thank all the contributors who have been part of that.

Making theatre should always be a challenging balancing act between a great respect for the past as well as a healthy disregard of it; an attempted understanding of where we are now and an ambitious imagining of our future. The work in here attempts to do that.

This season, with our Transform projects, we are working with young people and communities in 6 Scottish local authority areas to create and engage in theatre, opening up possibilities which may not otherwise exist. We are lucky to have a team of wonderful, Scottish-based directors leading those life-changing processes.

The work on stage is testament, I believe, to our great Scottish theatre. Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off tours extensively around Scotland with Dennis Kelly’s Our Teacher’s a Troll – a wild and boisterous play for anyone who goes, or has ever been, to school. Both plays promise to give 16 communities the best theatre that we know how to make. There are many ways to connect with the tour, including opportunities to hear about the processes of creating the work, and to meet the people who make it happen, so look out for events in your area.

I am very proud to be part of bringing Dundee Rep’s co-production with us of Peer Gynt to a wider audience. Directed by Dominic Hill, Peer Gynt is a real allegory for our times, but this production is anything but worthy – its anarchy, sense of fun and passion sum up exactly what the National Theatre of Scotland believes great theatre to be. We follow Peer’s desperation for adventure, success and fame only to realise it has all been a sham and that fulfilment was there to find at home all along. The play rings a sorry bell for our times.

And finally, Be Near Me, with its thrilling cast, music and storytelling, embarks on its tour of Scotland and England. If the enthusiastic opening reactions of our wonderful audiences in Kilmarnock are anything to go by, you are in for a treat.

I hope this appeals to you. I hope you choose to be part of one or more of these experiences. And I hope you can take advantage of the fact that Scotland was wise enough to create the ground-breaking model of a National Theatre without walls.

Vicky Featherstone Artistic Director National Theatre of Scotland

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THE Scotsman

Daily Telegraph

Metro

A dark adapting eye Colin Clark talks to Ian McDiarmid about his new role – as a first-time playwright.

A stage version by Ian McDiarmid from the novel by Andrew O’Hagan Directed by John Tiffany

Ian McDiarmid’s career in theatre is legendary. He’s been an actor since his teens, graduating with distinction from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and honing his craft at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in the 1970s.

He ran his own theatre, the Almeida, for twelve years with artistic partner Jonathan Kent, where he occasionally took on directing duties. And in London and beyond, his performances routinely draw appreciative notices and passionate audiences.

Now, with his adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s novel Be Near Me, McDiarmid takes on a new role: that of first-time playwright. What inspired him?

“I loved Be Near Me. It struck me as inherently dramatic, and I thought, what a pity it’s not a play because that would be a wonderful part. I like playing characters who are full of classic contradictions. I like having that relationship between the character and the audience – it’s almost a reason for being an actor in the theatre.”

Perhaps one of the attractions lay in the fact that, as McDiarmid recognised, Father David was himself an actor: “He was performing his life rather than living it. He had taken refuge in a role in the Church that maybe he really didn’t want to play – but he’d been cast, or rather he’d cast himself, so he had to go through with it. I thought, ‘What a completely fascinating character’.”

McDiarmid found himself talking more and more about O’Hagan’s book, handing out copies as Christmas presents, championing it wherever he could. A friend encouraged him to have a go at writing an adaptation.

Hiding himself away at his retreat on the Scottish east coast, McDiarmid worked steadily for about two and a half months to produce a draft. Uncertain how to proceed, he sought advice from John Tiffany, whose direction on Black Watch he had admired. A meeting was soon arranged and McDiarmid nervously handed over his script. For Tiffany and the National Theatre of Scotland’s Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone, it proved irresistible.

financial times

THE Guardian

The project quickly began to take shape, with Ian McDiarmid in the lead role and John Tiffany on board to direct. After the initial rehearsed readings, Tiffany made some suggestions for slight changes to the script – scenes that could have different emphases, elements that might be missing. This seemed daunting at first for McDiarmid.

“I had a sort of inner panic of not being able to behave like a writer,” he says. Initially, it helped him to return to O’Hagan’s book and to look for different ways of approaching different scenes, until he was asked for a scene that wasn’t in the novel.

“I totally panicked. I thought, ‘No, I can’t do that if Andrew hasn’t written it’. I had started it off and now I didn’t know how to shape it! Because I knew the book so well, I had no problem about there being another scene – but how could I write it?”

Travelling back by train from that workshop, he found himself in a predicament familiar to many writers: the ideas were coming but he had nothing to record them with. “I didn’t have enough paper so I had to write it on scraps. I even had to borrow a pen from someone – then I did feel like a writer.”

If adding scenes posed one set of challenges, how did he decide what to leave out of the novel? “It is a vast canvas”, he admits. He thought he’d agonise over what to leave out but in the end it didn’t cause much of a problem.

“When I could identify Be Near Me as a story about a man who’s having a battle with himself and the community – who are also having internal battles – I knew that was what the audience had to see.”

Does he have any ambition to repeat the success of his first adaptation? “I had a personal reaction to the material and the character of this play. I’m not going to say it hasn’t given me the taste to write more because it was a very exciting process, but it would have to be the right thing – I would have to feel like there was a play there to be uncovered.”

Colin Clark is the National Theatre of Scotland’s Web & Publications Editor.

Be Near Me is at the Donmar Warehouse, London, until 14th March, then touring.

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THE Scotsman

THE herald

THE TIMES

Peer pressure Colin Teevan discusses the challenges in adapting Ibsen’s rambunctious epic.

By Henrik Ibsen in a new version by Colin Teevan Directed by Dominic Hill

Making the classics work as living breathing theatre, rather than animated literary criticism, reinventing the shock of the new these works had when first performed, and making them accessible to everyone with all their complicatedness, is something I have long believed in and strived to do in my theatre work. This reinvention is also something Peer Gynt’s director Dominic Hill had built his work with the Dundee Rep Ensemble upon. So to move beyond received thinking is how Dominic urged me to approach the adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play. To make it living. To make it now. To give the audience the true dramatic and emotional experience of its author Henrik Ibsen’s radical vision. To create Peer Gynt as a working class anti-hero.

On one level, everything would appear to be against such an interpretation: Peer Gynt is written in verse; it takes place partly in a world inhabited by trolls and Christian demons that are laughable if represented in any naturalistic way; it even has a troop of apes! But on another more important level, Peer Gynt tells of the journey of the soul in the modern world, the mistaking of celebrity and riches for fulfilment and salvation,

SUNDAY HERALD

THE Guardian

the loss of love and the fragmentation of the self. Nothing could be more modern. Yet these recurring arguments and motifs are often missed from nostalgia-tinged readings of Peer Gynt.

In early discussions, we asked ourselves who would Peer Gynt be if he was alive today? What would he dream of? How would he encounter the trolls of the mind who eventually dash his dreams of soaring success and celebrity? How would the Christian, and not so Christian, demons appear to him? Our intention was not to rewrite the play but to recontextualise it so that the audience could experience the radical force of Ibsen’s vision in the present, not preserved in a kind of Nordic aspic. In this way the verse of Ibsen’s original script became the rhythmical language of football terrace chants, the banter at a drinking session, or the taunts at a brawl; the demons and the apes became the monsters and mobsters of the modern mind; Peer Gynt’s self in the ‘difficult’ Act Four is dismantled on camera, the contemporary means of examining and dismantling the ego; and the ship in a storm in Act Five became a crashing EasyJet flight.

Of all the positive responses the show received on its premiere at Dundee Rep in Autumn 2007, the most gratifying for me was the dignified middle-aged lady who attended a writing workshop I subsequently gave at the Rep. She told me she knew of the play’s reputation and would not have gone to see it had the writing course not required her to. However, she enjoyed it so much she ended up going four times. Indeed, so much had she enjoyed it that she found herself mortified at being stopped by a security guard in Tesco’s, when she was packing her bags. She had been unconsciously singing Peer’s refrain, “Peer Gynt, the fucking Emperor”. “No football chants in here, darling,” he told her.

Classic, as they might say. And they’d be right. “Peer Gynt, the fucking Emperor” is sung to the tune of the classic football chant “You’re shit and you know you are”, the air of which derives from Pet Shop Boys/ Village People classic “Go West” which in turn, Paddy Cunneen, our composer, pointed out is itself lifted from that classic of classical classics Pachelbel’s Canon. Now that’s what I call a classic on every score.

Colin Teevan is a playwright and translator. His adaptation of Peer Gynt co-produced by Dundee Rep Theatre and the National Theatre of Scotland,directed by Dominic Hill, premiered in 2007.

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Photography, programme and playtext from original production directed by Gerry Mulgrew for Communicado in 1987.

ith On tour w Troll er’s a Our Teach — See over

Drama Queens Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off is among the landmark works of modern Scottish theatre.

Now, twenty-two years after its premiere, Alison Peebles, the original Queen Elizabeth and director of this production, and playwright Liz Lochhead join forces once more. Anna Burnside finds out why there’s still something about Mary.

By liz lochhead directed by alison peebles

Eavesdropping on Liz Lochhead and Alison Peebles discussing Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, it is a shock to realise that it was first performed in the Lyceum Studio Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on August 10, 1987.

Peebles played Elizabeth I in that original production. Now she finds herself on the other side of the curtain, directing a revival. Lochhead has been involved in other productions of the play and, for this run, has gone back over the script to make a definitive version, paring down here and there, adding one new short but, she feels, vital scene.

For Peebles, however, this is the first time she has considered the Virgin Queen since Mrs Thatcher was Prime Minister. “When I got the phone call [asking me to direct this revival], I was really thrilled,” she recalls. “Then, the next day, I thought, Oh God, I can’t do that, it’s still so present in my mind.

I’ve never seen another production. I hadn’t read Liz’s script since it was first published. I found my script from the revival at the Lyceum, with rewrites in Liz’s handwriting. It brought back the original production so strongly, I could hear each person’s voice saying the lines. I could remember the process.”

Lochhead wrote Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off for Communicado Theatre Company in the way that a choreographer creates a ballet on the specific dancers in a troupe. What has become a set text, performed and studied all over the world was, at its inception, a hair-tearing nightmare designed for the singular talents of Peebles, Gerry Mulgrew and the rest of the group.

Lochhead reckons that they started rehearsals with 75% of the final script, in an unrecognisable order. “The opening speech, which is now a famous opening speech, drama students do it, wasn’t at the beginning. It was page 20 or something.” She snorts. “Pathetic.” Her original beginning also became the end.

Mulgrew, Communicado’s director, was the driving creative force behind the production. “In fact,” says Lochhead, “he was the sole instigator of the project, hiring me as writer, and he was its producer as well as the director. Playing Knox was something he sort of did on the side!” It was Mulgrew who found the voice that gave the show its backbone. Peebles adds, “We were tearing our hair out and he came bounding in one morning saying, ‘I’ve got it, I’ve got it! It’s a bear pit, it’s the gadges who work the waltzers, the travelling circus.’ And we all said, ‘Right, it’s a gang of tinks telling a story’.”

For Peebles, the challenge for the revival is to keep the original’s rough magic while addressing an audience with a different political context, preoccupations and expectations.

In the 1980s, Mary’s story was told as never before: in a rich Scots dialect by vagabond players who eschewed ruffs and tights, but included a typewriter and a talking crow who keeps the narrative moving.

“Scottish culture was at a different stage then,” Lochhead recalls. “There was frustration in Scotland, a need for us to tell our own stories and find our own language to tell it in. And for it not to be a numpty old language. We had a bit of a mission about that.”

Peebles adds: “There are so many other things in that story. I see it as much more universal now – I keep thinking of feuding Albanian gypsies, for instance, or the brutality in Zimbabwe. It’s about these people in a certain part of the world at a certain moment in their history. But it’s also a story about the world as it is now, about tribal warfare and people vying for position.”

“When I look at it now,” says Lochhead, “it is about the passion of these women to be able to have sex and love and marriage without losing power. How do you have a full life as a woman and your full independence? Do you have children or do you not have children? All the things that were worrying the two of us most at that time.” She looks at her old friend and grins.

“All these things women are still struggling with. It’s not as if these things have been solved.”

Anna Burnside is a feature writer at the Sunday Times Scotland.

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off is on tour throughout Scotland from April 15 – June 6.

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By Dennis Kelly Directed by Joe Douglas

ith On tour w of een Mary Qu r Head t He Scots Go d Off Choppe — See over

Master of Trolls Dennis Kelly has written plays about terrorism, family dysfunction, infanticide, alcoholism and the end of the world. This is his first play about a troll.

Did you ever have a Troll for a teacher?

I don’t know if I had any Trolls but I certainly had some I was scared of. I hated school, so I think I must have been a real pain. I remember I had a French teacher who was so annoyed with me that in the end she took me aside and made a deal with me that if I would just shut up and sit at the back reading (not French, it could be anything) I wouldn’t have to sit any exams as we both knew I wasn’t going to pass them.

What’s your best memory of school?

I remember making a really nice brontosaurus out of plasticine when I was six . . .

What did you most want to be when you were older?

Variously, I wanted to be a stand-up comedian, an actor, a writer, a doctor and some kind of hero, but I was never sure what. I remember for a long time saying to people that I wanted to be an architect, but I had no idea what they did.

I just knew it was something to do with drawing (which I’m terrible at, by the way).

How did your career as a writer begin?

I was in youth theatres as an actor and I just decided to write a play. I think I thought there were no plays around for people of my age or about people like me (I was wrong, there were tons, I just didn’t know it). I wrote the play and I put it on with a friend and I loved the whole process, I just felt alive in a way I didn’t at any other time.

What do you enjoy most about being a writer?

One of the greatest things is to see an idea become a character. You might’ve had an idea and thought, “Nah, that’s rubbish” but you give it a go and six months later it’s a person, moving around and talking and annoying other people. It’s incredible. The other thing I love is the bit before you’ve given it to anyone else, before you find out all the things that are wrong with it. It’s a strange intimate moment, just you and the play. The early parts of writing a play are sometimes the most delicate and intense but the important thing is to write: to create new works, new characters, new worlds.

What is it that thrills you about working in theatre?

I have had some amazing experiences, like doing a play called Deoxyribonucleic Acid for the UK National Theatre’s Connections project. What was incredible about doing that is that it was written for schools and youth theatres to perform. I wrote them quite a hard play and yet everyone really rose to the challenge. Actors are extraordinary, they’re the only people I know who love it when you make their job really, really hard – the harder it is the more they love it and generally this is true for amateurs, professionals, kids or stars.

Do you find it easy to connect with young people through your writing?

Well, I’m not specifically a writer for children so I probably have a different outlook. I think you have to be a little careful of trying to stay in touch with young people because it can lead to desperate attempts to write plays about DJs or texting or Facebook because that’s what some writers think young people are into. When I was a kid, I didn’t want people to tell me what I thought. I already knew what I thought. I wanted them to take me somewhere else, I wanted their ideas.

Audiences young and old are capable of going to all sorts of places, incredible, different, unusual and frightening places, so why take them to the place they’re already in?

Dennis Kelly’s work for theatre includes Osama the Hero, After the End and Taking Care of Baby. He is co-writer, with Sharon Horgan, of the award-winning BBC series Pulling.

For performance dates and venues please view details of the tour on previous page insert or see Calendar on page 34

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Think global, act local The National Theatre of Scotland’s Exchange programme, has always asked what it means to be young, Scottish and international. This year, with groups from Belgium and India spicing the creative mix, David Pollock finds out how Exchange is going truly global.

in partnership with

exchange 09 An annual celebration of youth theatre

Thinking out of the box: Catrin Evans (National Theatre of Scotland Creative Partner), with EAYT’s Louise Brodie (Group Director), Jodie McMonagle, Gemma O’Brien, Rebecca Haire and AD Boyle find out what their Exchange partners have sent them.

On a Thursday night late in November 2008, ten members of East Ayrshire Youth Theatre are getting their first taste of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Exchange programme for the year. The group’s director, Louise Brodie, has handed over control of the meeting for the evening to the National Theatre of Scotland’s Creative Partner Catrin Evans, who is relaxing the group members with some spirited practical exercises.

For EAYT, who have been involved in Exchange since it was founded four years ago, the evening is all building up to the big reveal: the moment when the young participants will open the box of ideas they have been sent by their partners in Exchange, Stirling’s Macrobert Young Company.

Some weeks later, this time on a Tuesday in midDecember, Catrin brings Macrobert their own box in return from EAYT. The sense of expectation is already tangible.

The comparison is striking: where Macrobert filled a large cardboard box with toy props and hats, EAYT have delivered a simple matchbox. Within is written a Bebo address, where Macrobert can find out about and interact with their partners.

In each case, the sense of curiosity and excitement is the first step on the way to the Exchange festival in summer 2009 when both of these companies, five others from around Scotland (St Andrews’ Byre Youth Theatre, Bo’ness Youth Theatre, Lochaber Youth Theatre, Knightswood Youth Theatre and East Kilbride’s Vertigo) and, for the first time, two from overseas (Kopergietery in Ghent and Tin Can in Kolkata) will come together for a residential week of workshops and performances at Macrobert. Each of the Scottish groups and the Belgian one have been paired off with each other for a period of bonding and inspiration in the lead-up to the festival, while the group from India will communicate with all the others via the internet.

“The objective of Exchange is to get young people to create theatre themselves,” says the National Theatre of Scotland’s Learning and Outreach Manager Gillian Gourlay.

“The idea is for them not to rely on a text that’s been written by somebody five times their age or on ideas that are fed to them by a director. It’s very much about fostering a spirit of collaboration between young artists from around Scotland and now around the world.”

Groups aged between 16 and 25 – numbers are limited to ten – are chosen through an open application process which must be engaged in by the members as well as the leaders. After all, the demands on participants’ time is such that they’ll have to be committed to give up evenings and

weekends from November to June, as well as the Exchange week in July. The programme is aimed at a wider spectrum of interests than just theatre.

“We’ve had school groups,” says Gillian, “and an application from one college. Vertigo is a youth club with enough members who want to be involved in theatre, while Knightswood Youth Theatre consists of young asylum seekers and refugees as well as local children. Any group of young people interested in theatre can apply to Exchange.”

There are four Creative Partners who are each tasked with mentoring one or more of the participating groups throughout the year. Following an initial meeting with their Creative Partner, each of the Scottish-based groups will have a monthly return visit from them until the start of summer.

They will be encouraged to keep in contact and share ideas with their paired group as everyone prepares for the final performances at Exchange09.

Since the first Exchange in 2005, each year has had a theme – this year’s theme is ‘Who Are You?’. But behind that there has always been the objective of allowing those involved to examine what it means to be “young, Scottish and international”. This year, particularly with the inclusion of the groups from Belgium and India, is the first time that all three goals have come close to being achieved.

“ Exchange 09 is about a spirit of collaboration between young artists from Scotland and around the world.”

The whole Exchange project has been designed to have artistic, educational and social benefits for all of those involved. “I found out about Exchange from the National Theatre of Scotland’s website”, says Stephanie Arsoska, corunner of Bo’ness Youth Theatre, which is participating this year for the first time. “It sounded like a good opportunity for everyone in the group to step outside of their comfort zone, to think about new ways of creating theatre and eventually perform to a wider audience. It’s definitely a new experience for me as well – a chance to see how other people work and hopefully learn new methodologies”.

Creative Partner Fiona Miller, who has been with Exchange since the beginning and is working with Bo’ness this year, agrees. “My role is to encourage,” she says, “to push those involved to try something new, because the opportunity’s there for them to do that. It shows them there’s a wider creative world out there, and introduces them to a much broader social mix than they’re used to encountering on their own doorstep”.

The Exchange 09 festival of youth theatre runs from 7th – 11th July at Macrobert, Stirling.

You can read more about the Creative Partners on page 23

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Macrobert Young Company is based at the Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling and, with participants aged 16 and above, has the oldest age range of Macrobert’s many in-house youth groups. Based around projects and performance, the group explores different styles of theatremaking and is introduced to new writers, new styles of performance and professional practice. Previous productions include Vanishing Point’s Lost Ones, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good and Exchange 07. In February 2009, the group had the honour of staging the Scottish premiere of

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Tin Can is a performa nce and visual arts com pany based in South India, which aims to pre Kolkata, sent an honest pictur e of what young people feel about their everyd in India ay situations. Since its inception in 2006, ove students and young pro r sixty fessionals have becom e part of the Compan theatre productions inc y. Past lude: Intro in 2006, Vid eo (awarded Best Dir Best Production Desig ector and n at Thespo X, India’s Premiere Youth Theatr in Mumbai) and Onko, e Festival performed at the pre stigious Vodafone Od Festival in Kolkata in eon Theatre 2008.

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Knightswood Youth Theatre is a group where young asylu m seekers, refugees and local Glaswegians can dev ise and perform drama. Muc h of the work is about breaking down barriers and addressing prejudice, usua lly done through the use of comedy. In the past year the group has received two Awards – the Young Scottish Ethnic Minority Award and a Philip Lawrence Award. For the latter, the group travelled to London where Mrs Frances Law rence and the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, gave the presentation for serv ices to the group’s community. Knightsw ood Youth Theatre offers mem bers a mix of theatre visits, retreats and wee kly workshops and everything is free.

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TRANSFORM FIFE

You Tell Us What Was We Tell You What Is Directed by Ben Harrison and Jemima Levick Assistant Director: Molly Taylor Created in partnership with Woodmill High School, AttFife, Fife Council and the Dunfermline community

TRANSFORM dumfries

Location: Pilmuir Works, (Old Dunlop Factory) Pilmuir St, Dunfermline KY12 Dates: 10th - 12th March Times: 5pm and 7.30pm (No 5pm performance on 10th March) Tickets: available from Carnegie Hall Box Office, East Port, Dunfermline KY12 7JA Tel:Â 01383 602302 Email: boxoffice.carnegie@attfife.org.uk

Do a dance no-one can see you do and put it in a little bag Directed by Simon Sharkey and Gareth Nicholls Assistant Director: Brian Ferguson Created in partnership with Dumfries Academy, the Creative Education Arts Team (CREATE) Schools Services and the Dumfries community.

Location: Central Garage, Watling St. Dumfries DG1 1HF Dates: 18th - 20th March Times: evenings 7.30pm; matinee Fri 20th 1.30pm Tickets: available from Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association Ltd, Gracefield Arts Centre, 28 Edinburgh Road, Dumfries DG1 1JQ Tel: 01387 253383

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TRANSFORM east renfrewshire

One All Created in partnership with Barrhead High School, East Renfrewshire Council and the Barrhead community.

Location: Arthurlie Football Club, Dunterlie Park, Carlibar Road, Barrhead Dates: 1st & 2nd April Times: 8pm start/ 7.15pm doors Tickets: available from Barrhead Sports Centre, Main Street, Barrhead G78 1SW Tel: 0141 580 1174

TRANSFORM moray

Title to be confirmed Directed by Graham McLaren Created in partnership with Elgin High School, Moray Council and the Elgin community.

Location: An unusual location in Elgin Dates: Performances during week of 8th June Performance dates, times and ticket booking procedures were unavailable at the time of this brochure going to print. For up to date information on this event, please visit our website and look out for announcements in local press.

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TRANSFORM orkney

Mixter Maxter Directed by Davey Anderson and Liam Hurley Created in partnership with Kirkwall Grammar School, St Magnus Festival and the Orkney community.

Location: An unusual location in Kirkwall Dates: 19th - 21st June Tickets: From 1st June available from St Magnus Festival, 60 Victoria St, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1DN Tel: 01856 871445 www.stmagnusfestival.com

TRANSFORM caithness

Performance times and tickets were unavailable at the time of this brochure going to print. For up to date information on this event, please visit our website and look out for announcements in local press.

Hunter Directed by John Tiffany Associate Director/Choreographer: Steven Hoggett Created in partnership with Thurso High School, Highland Council and the Thurso community. Part-financed

by Highland Leader, Highland 2007 Legacy Fund and Caithness Wards Discretionary Funds.

In association with Frantic Assembly www.franticassembly.co.uk

Location: an unusual location in Thurso Dates: 24th - 26th June TIMES: to be confirmed BOX OFFICE: www.thebooth.co.uk or in person from Thurso Service Point.

Further information (01847) 895 782 For up-to-date information on this event, please visit our website or look for announcements in local press.

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Developing

new talent The National Theatre of Scotland has always sought to support, develop and nurture Scotland’s new and emerging theatre talent. A pilot initiative in 2006 gave way to the yearlong Emerging Artists scheme in 2007 which offered four newly graduated theatre makers a chance to explore their medium through integration with major National Theatre of Scotland projects such as Transform. One year on, all four participants in the Emerging Artists programme have reconnected with the Company as they continue their development as professional theatre practitioners.

Jennifer Edgar During her time as an Emerging Artist, Jen worked as assistant director to Alison Peebles on Transform East Ayrshire. Jen’s artistic development focused on devising for physical theatre, using her workshop time to experiment with four dancers: “It was,” she says, “a really helpful few days in terms of building my confidence as an artist.” Earlier this year, Jen worked as movement director on Walls, devised in Alexandria, Egypt, by Catrin Evans (see below) and she is a Creative Partner on Exchange09 (see page 13).

Gareth Nicholls, Creative Partner with Byre Youth Theatre, conducts a workshop as part of Exchange 09.

Catrin Evans During her seven months as an Emerging Artist, Catrin travelled to Alexandria in Egypt to work as an assistant director on Babylon Tower for I-Act (International Association for Creation and Training). In early 2009, Catrin returned to Alexandria with Walls, a devised piece for I-Act, created in collaboration with international artists from The Babylon Troupe and artists from the National Theatre of Scotland. Catrin is a Creative Partner on this year’s Exchange programme.

Liam Hurley Liam has used his time as an Emerging Artist to develop as a director of his own work, and as a playwright. But it was for his skills as a dramaturg that he was enlisted by Hong Kong’s Theatre du Pif for The Will to Build, their verbatim piece about the city’s architectural heritage. Having worked as assistant director on Transform Inverclyde as an Emerging Artist in 2008, Liam is codirector with Davey Anderson of this year’s Transform Orkney (see page 20).

Gareth Nicholls Gareth’s principal interest is the direction of devised contemporary performances. The piece that he was able to experiment with in the studio through the National Theatre of Scotland has since been performed at Arches Live! as Violent Night. He is currently co-director of the Transform Dumfries project, he is a Creative Partner on this year’s Exchange programme, and is researching his own production on amazing coincidences.

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25 Members of Transform Dumfries creative team, left to right: Brian Ferguson, Simon Sharkey, Gareth Nicholls and Lynda Radley.

Growing new talent The National Theatre of Scotland’s New Work and Learn departments have a number of training initiatives to provide support and practical advice to directors, performers and writers, helping them to develop their artistic practice and to grow in confidence. We talk to some of the artists involved.

One of the earliest training programmes set up at the National Theatre of Scotland was the Director in Residence scheme.

Davey Anderson was appointed in 2006 and given his first role as Associate Director on Home Glasgow. “It was like getting chucked straight in at the deep end,” he says, “working on this incredibly complicated piece with John Tiffany, learning as much as I possibly could about how a very experienced director juggles all the strands involved in creating a large scale theatre event.”

Initially, Davey was uncertain whether he was the right person for the post. “I’m a slightly unusual director in that I consider myself more of a theatre-maker with different strands to the work that I do: writing, directing and creating music.” But he was quickly reassured: “The National Theatre of Scotland is very supportive of theatre artists, giving them a platform to create the work they think is good and worth sharing with an audience.”

The Director in Residence position was an early version of the Trainee Director post that Joe Douglas later took up.

A successful application to the ITV Directors’ Award Scheme led to his appointment within the New Work department.

His placement took many forms: “I had a really broad remit.

Basically, I took it as an opportunity to get involved in as many things that would make me the best director I could possibly be.”

His training partly involved assisting in different capacities on shows that Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany, among others, were directing. “Working as assistant director on The Bacchae formed the first three or four months of my placement.

I was able to observe and learn from the artists on the creative team, people who were absolutely at the peak of their abilities.

Seeing the way John works, how he is able to infuse a whole company with an iron confidence, has encouraged me to be incredibly honest as a director – with performers and other collaborators you just have say what you see.”

Joe was also given time to develop his own ideas through the National Theatre of Scotland Workshop, receiving practical support from Workshop Director Caroline Newall. “Being in the New Work department taught me how to produce for theatre, how to make things happen behind the scenes: how to do payroll, how to book rehearsal space, how to put together a really interesting creative team.”

For Davey, his role gave him the confidence to experiment.

“It was such a phenomenal experience to get at such an early stage in my career, just to know that other folk have belief in what you are doing and who support you and say ‘We have faith in you, go and make it happen’”.

It’s important for the Company that as well as giving artists the freedom to develop, they aren’t left high-and-dry at the end of their training. After finishing his traineeship, Joe Douglas was hired to direct the touring production of Dennis Kelly’s Our Teacher’s a Troll. “The opportunity I have with this, the faith that the National Theatre of Scotland has put in me, the belief that I can direct this play on tour across Scotland – it really means a lot to me.”

“The post changed me a lot and I don’t feel that process is over,” says Davey Anderson, who also continues to have a very close relationship with the Company, working as Musical Director on Be Near Me, and as co-director of Transform Orkney.

“It feels like there’s an on-going dialogue there that started with the residency.”

The Associates programme is a strand of National Theatre of Scotland Learn’s activity which has been designed to allow established artists to diversify in their practice. “The Associates programme is about more than working with emerging artists,” says Simon Sharkey, Associate Director: Learn. “What we want are theatre practitioners who are looking for a change in direction so that we can assist them to build a portfolio and engage them in ways of working which they might not have considered before.”

The Associates’ affiliation with the National Theatre of Scotland lasts for nine months and has three distinct strands. An exchange of skills and ideas will occur, first of all, as each of the three Associates carry out an assistant director’s role with one of the community-focused Transform projects around the country.

The Associates also become closely involved with a major National Theatre of Scotland production by preparing a public workshop and resources programme to accompany it. In return, they are given development time which allows them to explore their own projects.

Read about the National Theatre of Scotland New Work department’s support for new writers on page 27.

National Theatre of Scotland Associates Brian Ferguson joined the Associates programme to look at theatre from a different angle. He trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and established a career as a stage actor in a range of challenging roles, particularly with site-specific specialists Poorboy.

But it was his decision to leave the lead role in the National Theatre of Scotland’s hugely successful Black Watch which caused him to re-evaluate his career. “I spent a while analysing why I did that,” he says, “I was getting to a point where I wasn’t feeling creatively challenged. I felt that I had to take that jump.”

The Associates programme has allowed him to expand upon ideas for his own project as a director with writer Claire Duffy and various performers.

Brian has also helped devise workshop support aimed at young people in care for Be Near Me, and is assistant director on Transform Dumfries with Simon Sharkey and Gareth Nicholls.

Gary McNair also studied at the RSAMD and has performed his one-man show Outside of a Pod at Battersea Arts Centre and the National Review of Live Art, as well as a new solo piece entitled Equal and Opposite at Arches Live!

Gary has already travelled to Poland in his role as an Associate, and is currently developing a package of online educational resources to accompany the touring production of Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. Gary is also assistant director on Transform East Renfrewshire, working with Tashi Gore and Jess Thorpe of Glasgow-based production company Glas(s) Performance.

“Being an Associate is such a big step from being freelance,” says Gary, “because you go from just chasing your next job to feeling part of something much bigger.”

Molly Taylor has worked predominantly in theatre education since graduating in Theatre Studies from the University of Glasgow. She has also performed in shows like the Fringe First-winning The Caravan at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008.

Molly joined the Associates programme having previously worked with the National Theatre of Scotland devising workshops for The Wolves in the Walls, and went on to devise a similar series of workshops for college students to run alongside the Debuts plays at the Traverse in 2008. Molly is also assisting Ben Harrison and Jemima Levick with directing duties on Transform Fife, based in Dunfermline.

Her own development time has been spent with dramaturg, and former National Theatre of Scotland Writer on Attachment, Rob Drummond, in piecing together her self-performed script.

“I’m not a writer,” she says, “I’ve never written before, but this is the perfect opportunity to perform my own words and see if it’s something I can do”.

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All play and New Work From emerging writers to fully-fledged dramatists, the National Theatre of Scotland is committed to nurturing writing talent at every level. Lesley Hart meets some of Scotland’s most exciting new writers.

Andy Gray, left, and Scott Fletcher in a scene from The Dogstone by Kenny Lindsay, performed as part of the Debuts season in co-production with the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in November 2008.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s New Work department exists to develop Scotland’s most talented theatre artists, from directors and designers to choreographers and performers. In the past twelve months, since the appointment of Literary Manager, Frances Poet, a range of new initiatives and projects has been launched to scout out and support the work of Scotland’s playwrights.

In April 2008, New Work began to invite submissions of unsolicited plays from Scottish and Scotland-based writers.

“It’s a really brave thing for people to do – to set out on that journey of wanting to write plays and develop as dramatists.

We take that very seriously,” says Frances. “We value every submission that we get. We want to read your work.”

New Work’s flagship project of 2008 was the Debuts season, which premiered four new plays at the Traverse Theatre through October and November. Debuts evolved from an informally titled ‘writers’ jamboree’, held in early 2008, which gave ten emerging playwrights the chance to workshop their plays with three of Scotland’s leading theatre directors: Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany from the National Theatre of Scotland, and Dominic Hill Artistic Director of the Traverse, plus a crop of top quality actors.

The jamboree brought playwrights into contact with actors and directors for the first time. Bringing The Dogstone to the stage gave its writer Kenny Lindsay a vital boost in the right direction. “Frances and Dominic could see the play that I wanted to write and through discussion, rewriting and working with actors they helped me realise it.” For Andy Duffy, whose first play Nasty, Brutish and Short was given a place on the Debuts bill, the experience was enormously educational: “Just hearing actors read the play taught me so much,” he explained.

Stepping into a new role as playwright, acclaimed actor Paul Higgins, who was among the original cast of Black Watch, saw his play Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us get the full production treatment in the Debuts season. “It was great to sit down with properly paid actors and a director like John Tiffany, and to be a paid writer. It’s a feeling of ‘this is a serious proposition’.”

Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us won Paul a bursary from the prestigious Pearson Playwright Scheme, which affords him a year’s in-house development with the National Theatre of Scotland. Another of the Debuts plays, Cockroach, also won writer Sam Holcroft a Pearson Playwright bursary, in attachment with the Traverse Theatre.

The Debuts season put Sam on the professional fast track. “It’s given me that leg up into the industry that means

I’m not starting from scratch any more,” she says. “I was treading new ground, but having done that work I know that when someone asks me to do it again, I will, with more confidence, be able to deliver.”

One scheme, piloted last year by the National Theatre of Scotland and now in its second phase, is a two-month writer attachment. So far, this has given two writers, Rob Drummond and Lynda Radley, the chance to think big and branch out.

“Creatively, practically and financially I have found being on attachment to the National Theatre of Scotland a massive help at this important point in my career,” says Rob. “I am sure I am a better writer now as a result.”

Lynda adds, “I’m at the start of a writing attachment which affords me time and space to write big and ambitious, but in the knowledge that when I stand back from my work, the New Work department will be there to help me shape it.”

Now, in an exciting new venture, New Work are offering writers in the Shetland and Aberdeenshire areas an opportunity to connect with a major National Theatre of Scotland production. See below for full details and how to get involved.

Lesley Hart is a freelance writer based in Glasgow.

Your chance to write for the National Theatre of Scotland From April to June 2009, a company of 8 actors will be touring across Scotland presenting Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off and Dennis Kelly’s Our Teacher’s a Troll. For one night only, your short play could be the“curtain raiser” to an evening performance of Liz Lochhead’s contemporary classic.

The National Theatre of Scotland is offering an opportunity for writers of all levels of experience to connect with us through a day long workshop in Shetland and Aberdeenshire led by our Literary Manager, Frances Poet.

The workshops are open to all (age 16+) and will be focussed on the creation of a short play. At the end of the workshop, you will have a first draft and this, or a more developed draft, can then be submitted for consideration.

Two selected writers will then have the opportunity to spend a day with the actors and a professional director developing and rehearsing their play for a reading to open the evening’s entertainment at Weisdale Hall, Whiteness and Lonach Hall, Strathdon.

Workshop Aberdeenshire 28th March, 2009 Linklater Rooms, King’s College

Workshop Shetland 4th April, 2009 Garrison Theatre, Lerwick

Email frances.poet@nationaltheatrescotland.com to guarantee your place.

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Support Us

Great theatre has the power to move, influence and transform The National Theatre of Scotland is innovative and unique in that it is building-free. This allows us to perform in a huge variety of theatres, halls and found spaces. Equally importantly, it allows us the freedom to collaborate with a richly diverse mixture of companies, festivals and individuals to fulfil our key aim of producing world-class theatre for the people of Scotland and beyond.

The commitment to take the best possible theatre experience to the widest possible audience is at the heart of everything we do. Whether you are an individual wishing to become a patron or make a donation, or a company seeking sponsorship opportunities, your support is invaluable to our continuing efforts to deliver exceptional work to the widest possible audience.

Corporate Partners We wish to develop long-lasting, mutually valuable relationships with a small number of corporate partners.

Through these new partnerships your organisation will have the opportunity to contribute to the National Theatre of Scotland’s artistic and educational outreach programs while enhancing your company’s involvement in the community and building your visibility among targeted audiences.

Our customised partnership program can help add value to your business through a variety of acknowledgment and marketing opportunities.

Individual Donors By making a donation to the National Theatre of Scotland you will play a vital role in helping us to develop and deliver exceptional work, nurture a new generation of theatergoers, bring Scottish excellence to an international stage and create access to a wide range of experiences so theatre can touch and enhance the lives of all.

For ways to support your National Theatre of Scotland or to donate online go to www.nationaltheatrescotland.com Trusts and Foundations Support from charitable trusts and foundations is invaluable to both our ongoing work and groundbreaking new projects.

We look forward to continuing to develop new relationships to build and sustain this area of support.

Contact us For information on ways to support us and enjoy a rich and rewarding relationship with Scotland’s national theatre, contact Stella Litchfield in the Development Department direct on 0141 227 9236 or email: stella.litchfield@nationaltheatrescotland.com

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get more from the national theatre of scotland

Discover more about our productions The National Theatre of Scotland Learn Department creates a range of exciting opportunities for audiences of all ages to connect with the work on stage, providing workshops and activities for schools, families and community groups. Whether you are a teacher or a pupil, a connoisseur or new to theatre, there will be a way for you to discover more about each production in a way that suits you.

There will also be a range of materials produced that teachers may find useful including teaching packs, cast and creative team interviews and digital resources.

Please take a look at each page for more information on the accompanying workshops or resources, visit www. nationaltheatrescotland.com for upto-the-minute information or speak to someone in person by calling the Learn Department on 0141 227 9232.

Digital Resources If you are the kind of person that likes to discover more about what you see, our online home is packed with features and bonus material on every production. Resources include interviews, short documentaries, trailers, reviews, photos and audience responses, so you can get clued up in advance or go back to find out more.

Creative Conversations From post-show discussions to one-off events, we are offering you the chance to engage with the key creative minds involved in bringing our work to the stage. This season Andrew O’Hagan, Ian McDiarmid, Blythe Duff, Liz Lochhead, Dennis Kelly, Alison Peebles, Dominic Hill and Colin Teevan will all be taking part in free discussions and Q&A sessions. Check out the production and calendar pages in this brochure, or go online for more information and how to book.

Backstage Tours The National Theatre of Scotland Technical Department is offering audiences the chance to get a rare glimpse behind the scenes. Backstage tours, led by the Company Stage Manager, will be available on selected productions. Tours are free but ticketed, and for logistical reasons numbers will be limited – contact the venue Box Office to book a place. There will be tours at selected venues on Be Near Me, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off and Our Teacher’s a Troll.

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off The National Theatre of Scotland’s Learn team will provide a full educational package to accompany the tour of Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. In Schools A practical theatre workshop for S3 and S4 school pupils.

Aims: to explore the themes of politics, leadership, gender and religion in the play and to link these themes back to modern day Scottish society.

The workshop will also explore the set and design of the production, enabling pupils to gain a clearer visual understanding of the play.

In the Community A practical theatre workshop for community drama groups, youth theatre groups, historians and writers’ groups.

Aims: to explore the use of language and song within the text and examine the historical background in which the play is set. The workshop will investigate the relationship between Scotland and England by exploring the characters in the play.

Our Teacher’s a Troll The National Theatre of Scotland’s Learn team are providing pre-show workshops to primary school pupils and families who have booked tickets for Our Teacher’s a Troll.

In Schools A participatory drama workshop for P5 to P7 school pupils.

Aims: to introduce storytelling through drama and prepare a young audience for a theatre visit. Also, to explore children’s themes such as having fun, playing tricks, telling the truth and being listened to.

In the Community A fun-based family workshop for parents and children.

Aims: to explore themes from Our Teacher’s a Troll and prepare the children for a theatre visit.

The workshop will use objects and materials that appear in the production to generate excitement and anticipation for the show.

Be Near Me The National Theatre of Scotland’s Learn team are providing workshops to accompany the Scottish tour of Be Near Me. In Schools and in the Community A practical theatre workshop for Standard Grade School pupils and groups of young people in the community.

Aims: to explore the themes, characters and plot of Be Near Me. To book a place or to find out more about these events, contact: Alana Brady Tel: 0141 221 0970 alana.brady@nationaltheatrescotland.com

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What’s the story? (Tobermory) This spring, the National Theatre of Scotland takes Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off and Dennis Kelly’s Our Teacher’s a Troll on an extensive tour of Scotland.

That’s 36 performances of 2 shows over 8 weeks, taking in 16 venues and a distance of about 2000 miles . . . Production Manager Gemma Swallow (insert, right) describes theatre without walls in action.

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Dunfermline

Pilmuir Works

Transform Fife Be Near Me

Leicester Sleat, Skye London Leicester Sleat, Skye Leicester

London London

Curve Sabhal Mor Ostaig Barbican Curve Sabhal Mor Ostaig Curve

Barbican Barbican

Be Near Me Our Teacher’s a Troll Peer Gynt Be Near Me Mary Queen of Scots Be Near Me

Peer Gynt

Sat 16

Fri 15

Thu 14

Truro London Truro Wick London Truro

Wick London Truro Drumna -drochit London Truro Drumna -drochit

Hall for Cornwall Assembly Rooms Barbican Hall for Cornwall

Assembly Rooms Barbican Hall for Cornwall Craigmonie Centre Barbican Hall for Cornwall Craigmonie Centre

Be Near Me Our Teacher’s a Troll Peer Gynt Be Near Me

Mary Queen of Scots Peer Gynt Be Near Me Our Teacher’s a Troll Peer Gynt Be Near Me Mary Queen of Scots

Be Near Me

Hall for Cornwall

Mary Queen of Scots

Barbican

Strathy

Village Hall

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

London

Barbican

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Tue 12

Wed 13

Strathy

Village Hall

Peer Gynt

Mon 11

Sat 9

Fri 8

London

Barbican

Peer Gynt

Thu 7

Leicester

Curve

Be Near Me

Wed 6

Glasgow

Citizens Theatre

Be Near Me

Tue 31

Glasgow

Citizens Theatre

Be Near Me

Sat 28

Glasgow

Citizens Theatre

Be Near Me

Fri 27

Glasgow

Citizens Theatre

Be Near Me

Thu 26

Glasgow

Citizens Theatre

Be Near Me

Wed 25

Dumfries

Central Garage, Watling St.

Transform Dumfries

Dumfries

Central Garage, Watling St.

Fri 20

Dumfries

Central Garage, Watling St.

Transform Dumfries

London

Donmar Warehouse

Thu 19

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Transform Dumfries

London

Donmar Warehouse

Wed 18

Dunfermline

Pilmuir Works

Transform Fife

Be Near Me

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Sat 14

Dunfermline

Pilmuir Works

Be Near Me

London

Donmar Warehouse

Transform Fife

Fri 13

Thu 12

Wed 11

Tue 10

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Mon 9

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Sat 7

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Fri 6

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Thu 5

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Wed 4

London

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Tue 3

7.30pm

2.30pm [TT, AD] & 7.30pm

2pm [BSL] & 7.15pm

11am

7.30pm

7.15pm

7.30pm [BSL]

2.30pm & 7.30pm [BSL] + Talk

7.15pm + Talk

10.30am [BSL]

7.30pm

7.15pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.15pm [CAP]

10.30am

7.15pm

7.15pm

2.30pm [AD, TT] & 7.45pm

8pm

7.45pm [CAP]

7.15pm

11am

2.30pm & 7.45pm

7.15pm [AD]

7.45pm + Talk

7.30pm

2.30pm & 7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm [BSL] 1.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

2.30pm & 7.30pm

7.30pm

2.30pm & 7.30pm

5pm & 7.30pm [BSL]

7.30pm

5pm & 7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

2.30pm & 7.30pm

7.30pm

2.30pm & 7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

[BSL] British Sign Language

London

Key:

Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me

Mon 2

MARCH

DIARY March — July 2009

Mary Queen of Scots Our Teacher’s a Troll

Fri 22 Sat 23

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Thu 28

Whiteness, Shetland

Weisdale Hall

Inverurie

Nairn Aberdeen Nairn

Community Centre His Majesty’s Theatre Community Centre

Mary Queen of Scots Peer Gynt Our Teacher’s a Troll

Nairn

Community Centre Our Teacher’s a Troll

Sat 6

Aberdeen

His Majesty’s Theatre Peer Gynt Fri 5

Peer Gynt

Aberdeen

Strathdon

Lonach Hall His Majesty’s Theatre

Strathdon

Lonach Hall Our Teacher’s a Troll

Aberdeen

His Majesty’s Theatre

Dundee

Newtonhill

Mary Queen of Scots

Dundee Rep Theatre

Bettridge Centre

Dundee Newtonhill

Bettridge Centre

Dundee Dundee Rep Theatre

Dundee Rep Theatre

Inverurie

Dundee

Dundee Rep Theatre Town Hall Town Hall

Dundee

Buckie Dundee Rep Theatre

Royal British Legion

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Whiteness, Shetland

Weisdale Hall

Buckie

Unst, Shetland

Leisure Centre

Royal British Legion

Unst, Shetland

Thu 4

Wed 3

Tue 2

JUNE

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Sat 30

Mary Queen of Scots

Peer Gynt

Fri 29

Peer Gynt

Mary Queen of Scots

Peer Gynt

Wed 27

Peer Gynt

Mary Queen of Scots

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Wed 20

Tue 26

Mary Queen of Scots

Leisure Centre

Helensburgh

Victoria Halls Our Teacher’s a Troll

Tobermory, Mull

Druimfin

Mary Queen of Scots

Tobermory, Mull

Druimfin

Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Traverse

Traverse

Tobermory, Mull

Druimfin

Edinburgh

Traverse

Tobermory, Mull

Tobermory, Mull

Druimfin

Druimfin

Tobermory, Mull

Edinburgh

Inverness

Inverness

Inverness

Inverness

Druimfin

Traverse

Eden Court

Eden Court

Eden Court

Eden Court

Inverness

Glasgow

Citizens Theatre Eden Court

Glasgow

Citizens Theatre

Be Near Me

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Be Near Me

Mary Queen of Scots

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Be Near Me

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Mary Queen of Scots

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Tue 19

Tue 21

Sat 18

Fri 17

Thu 16

Wed 15

Sat 11

Fri 10

Tu 9

Wed 8

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Tue 7

Be Near Me

Barrhead

Arthurlie Football Club

Transform East Renfrewshire

Sat 4

Glasgow

Barrhead

Glasgow

11am

7.30pm [AD, BSL]

7.30pm + Back Stage Tour

11am

7.30pm

7.30pm

6.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

2.30pm [AD, BSL] & 7.30pm

7.30pm

12noon

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm [BSL]

10.30am [BSL]

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm

10.30am

10.30am

7.30pm

10.30am

7.30pm [backstage tour]

11am

8pm

2.30pm & 8pm

10.30am

8pm

8pm

10.30am

8pm [TT, CAP, AD]

10.30am (preview)

8pm (preview)

8pm [BSL] + Talk

2pm [TT, CAP, AD] & 7.30pm

7.30pm [BSL]

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.30pm + Talk

2.30pm [TT, AD] & 7.30pm

7.30pm [CAP]

8pm

7.30pm [BSL] + Talk

8pm [BSL]

7.30pm

[TT] Touch Tour

Citizens Theatre

Arthurlie Football Club

Citizens Theatre

[CAP] Captioned Performance

Be Near Me

Transform East Renfrewshire

Be Near Me

Fri 3

Thu 2

Wed 1

APRIL

[ AD] Audio Described

Kirkwall, Orkney Edinburgh Kirkwall, Orkney Kirkwall, Orkney Glasgow

A secret location Royal Lyceum Theatre A secret location A secret location Theatre Royal

Peer Gynt Transform Orkney Peer Gynt Transform Orkney

Exchange Exchange Exchange Exchange Exchange

Wed 8 Thu 9 Fri 10 Sat 11

Stirling Stirling Stirling Stirling Stirling

Macrobert Arts Centre Macrobert Arts Centre Macrobert Arts Centre Macrobert Arts Centre

Glasgow

Theatre Royal

Macrobert Arts Centre

Thurso

venue tbc Transform Caithness Peer Gynt

Glasgow

Theatre Royal Peer Gynt

Thurso

venue tbc Transform Caithness

Tue 7

JULY

Sat 27

Fri 26

Glasgow

Transform Caithness

Theatre Royal

Peer Gynt

Wed 24

Peer Gynt

Thurso

venue tbc

Peer Gynt

Tue 23

Thu 25

Glasgow

Theatre Royal

Transform Orkney

Sun 21

Sat 20

Edinburgh

Royal Lyceum Theatre

Peer Gynt

Edinburgh

Royal Lyceum Theatre Fri 19

Edinburgh

Royal Lyceum Theatre Thu 18

Inverness

Eden Court Peer Gynt

Inverness

Eden Court Peer Gynt

Inverness

Eden Court

Wed 17

Inverness

Eden Court

Sat 13

Inverness

Eden Court

Elgin

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Transform Moray

Peer Gynt

Venue tbc

Nairn

Community Centre Mary Queen of Scots

Aberdeen

London

Barbican

His Majesty’s Theatre

Fort William

Nevis Centre Mary Queen of Scots Peer Gynt

London

Fort William Barbican

London

Peer Gynt

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Peer Gynt

Nevis Centre

Salford

Lowry, Quays Theatre Barbican

Salford Be Near Me

London Lowry, Quays Theatre

Fri 12

Thu 11

Wed 10

Tue 9

wk begin Mon 8

Wed 6

Tue 5

Sat 2

Fri 1

Barbican

Peer Gynt

Be Near Me

London

Barbican

Peer Gynt

Salford

Lowry, Quays Theatre

MAY

Salford

Lowry, Quays Theatre Be Near Me

Salford

Perth

Be Near Me

Lowry, Quays Theatre

Perth Theatre

Thu 30

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Dunoon

Dunoon

Queen’s Hall Queen’s Hall

Perth

Perth

Rothesay, Bute

Rothesay, Bute

Perth Theatre

Perth Theatre

Rothesay Pavilion

Rothesay Pavilion

Perth Perth

Perth Theatre

Helensburgh

Perth Theatre

Victoria Halls

Wed 29

Tue 28

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Sat 25 Mary Queen of Scots

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Mary Queen of Scots

Our Teacher’s a Troll

Be Near Me

Be Near Me

Fri 24

Thu 23

Wed 22

Mary Queen of Scots

7.30pm & 9pm

7.30pm & 9pm

7.30pm & 9pm

7.30pm & 9pm

7.30pm & 9pm

7.30pm [AD]

times tbc

7.30pm [BSL]

times tbc

7.30pm [CAP]

times tbc

7.30pm

7.30pm

times tbc

times tbc

2pm [AD] & 7.30pm

times tbc

7.30pm

7.30pm [CAP]

7.30pm [BSL]

7.30pm [CAP]

7.30pm

7.30pm [ AD]

7.30pm [BSL]

7.30pm

dates tb c

7.30pm

7.30pm

7.15pm

7.30pm [BSL]

7.15pm

1pm [BSL]

7.15pm

2pm [AD, TT] & 8pm

8pm

7.15pm

7.15pm (preview)

2pm & 8pm

8pm [CAP]

8pm

2.30pm [TT, CAP, AD] & 7.45pm

7.30pm

11am

7.45pm [BSL]

7.45pm

7.30pm

10.30am

7.45pm

7.45pm + Talk

7.30pm

FOR MORE DETAILS www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

34 Information correct at time of going to press and subject to change. Please check venue Box Offices for full up-to-the-minute details

National Theatre of Scotland Civic House 26 Civic Street Glasgow G4 9RH E. info@nationaltheatrescotland.com T. +44 (0) 141 221 0970 F. +44 (0) 141 331 0589 The National Theatre of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity SCO33377 To join our mailing list visit: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

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