Celebrating Scottish Theatre

STUART BROWNLEE sets the scene for this month’s inaugural Dràma Na h-Alba showcase in and around Inverness

WHY DID we call it Dràma Na h-Alba, the Drama of Scotland? Because we wanted to celebrate the liveliness, the creativity, the sheer joy that drama can bring. And just now drama in Scotland is full of lively creative energetic folk.

Why did we choose a Gaelic title for the festival? Because we wanted to mark this festival as forward-looking, respecting the various cultures that make up Scotland. And the Gaelic word Dràma highlights the fact that, while the roots of ‘drama’ may be ancient Greek, the word is found in every European language and many others.

It’s an ancient art form, but one at the cutting edge of thousands of cultures, at the heart of tens of thousands of communities and where millions of people go to celebrate the very meaning of being a human being.

Why launch Scotland’s first ever general theatre festival in the Highlands and Islands and not further south? Because we know Scotland is rediscovering itself, and the Highlands and Islands are as central to the meaning of the new Scotland as anywhere in the so-called central belt. We wanted to mark the new energies of the Highlands, too, from UHI through to the new city status of Inverness.

Dràma Na h-Alba is a project of the Highlands and Islands Theatre Network, the collaborative grouping of 28 theatre enterprises from all over the Highlands and Islands. But it is also supported by the wider Scottish theatre community through the input of seven major Scottish theatre organisations. This October Dràma Na h-Alba will be at the centre of Scottish theatre.

So what are we bringing to the festival? Work from all over. Celebrating the historic and cultural links between the Highlands and Scandinavia, we present three major shows by companies from Sweden with shows for kids, for adults and for folk of all ages.

Celebrating the nations and cultures of Britain we have Tara Arts version of ‘The Tempest’, the innovative Welsh company Volcano’s ‘A Few Little Drops’ and two plays by the National Theatre of Scotland.

Celebrating more Scottish theatre, we have a whole range of companies from the Highlands and beyond, including Mull Theatre, TheatreHebrides, Birds of Paradise, Fish and Game and Reeling and Writhing, all with exciting shows, while Right Lines and Grey Coast Theatre will give readings of new work.

And we have a wide-ranging programme of industry seminars and workshops and discussions with leading figures and ‘Meet the Artist’ sessions with leading international artists including our own John Byrne. This is not just a theatre festival; it’s a feast of theatre.

The programme includes 25 companies performing 74 shows in 15 venues. A number of the shows are particularly suitable for children and younger audiences. These include ‘The Box It Came In’, Arts in Motion’s brand new follow-up to the acclaimed ‘The Perfect Spot’’ the NTS Touring Ensemble’s ‘A Sheep Called Skye’’ Volcano’s unusual ‘A Few Little Drops’; and shows from Sweden’s Profilteatren and the Nicolson Institute Drama Club.

Dràma Na h-Alba runs from 18-22 October.

Stuart Brownlee is the Marketing & Information Co-ordinator for the Highlands & Islands Theatre Network

© Stuart Brownlee, 2007

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