TWO YEARS ago Matthew Zajac enjoyed a major success at the Edinburgh Fringe with The Tailor of Inverness, and he will be hoping that Dogstar Theatre can do it again when they take Caithness-born writer Henry Adam’s Jacobite Country to Edinburgh this year, with Zajac directing.

They won’t be hitting the Fringe cold, however. The play will have a pre-Edinburgh run at Eden Court in late July, giving Inverness audiences a first chance to see new work from their local company. We will also have a first chance to see the National Theatre of Scotland’s major Edinburgh co-production with the International Festival, Caledonia, at Eden Court in August.

It is good to see these opportunities coming to the Inverness theatre. Right Lines also used the facilities there to prepare their recent touring production of Whisky Kisses, and plan B have regularly done the same for their dance shows.

Given that Eden Court is not in a position to function as a producing house, these are productive ways in which it can help in the direct creation of significant new work, and give audiences here – where we have mostly had to settle for being down the pecking order – a chance to get in first.

The theatre has also worked assiduously to build up its grassroots support for drama and dance through its various outreach projects and the Higher Drama and Dance courses which it offers, uniquely in a British theatre.

Actress Karen Gillan (of Dr Who fame, as if you didn’t know, and a former participant in Out of Eden herself) was on hand in late June to present LAMDA certificates to this year’s batch of drama students, but Colin Marr was unable to say with any certainty whether this very successful course will go ahead next year. It is one of the projects potentially under threat from the Highland Council’s budget cuts, and would represent a considerable loss if it falls under the axe.

However, with a bit of summer sunshine appearing at last after a long hard winter and fairly chilly spring, I’m not going to bang on again this month about the financial misery in store, inevitable though it is. The festival season is now well under way, with the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway heading this month’s list of events. You can check out the full roster of festival action by clicking on the Festival Guide tab in our menu bar.

We have two contrasting features to open July, in the shape of interviews with Balintore-born musician Olivia Ross and Shetland-born poet and artist John Cumming, the latter talking about his involvement in the Hansel Cooperative Press. As usual, we will also have reviewers out and about around (and occasionally furth of) the region.

Right, time to nip out and soak up a bit of that aforesaid nice weather while the going is good ….

Kenny Mathieson
Commissioning Editor, Northings

Kenny Mathieson lives and works in Boat of Garten, Strathspey. He studied American and English Literature at the University of East Anglia, graduating with a BA (First Class) in 1978, and a PhD in 1983. He has been a freelance writer on various arts-related subjects since 1982, and contributes to the Inverness Courier, The Scotsman, The List, and other publications. He has contributed to numerous reference books, and has written books on jazz and Celtic music.