On the eve of the referendum on Scottish Independence, National Theatre of Scotland is leading a live twelve-hour celebration of Scottish music and spoken word, read and sung between midday and midnight. Featuring invited artists, actors, politicians, journalists, sportspeople, singers and scientists.
The one day event is "a moment to celebrate Scotland's contribution to the world through its written word".
Blabbermouth is curated and conceived by Graham McLaren, an Associate Director of the National Theatre of Scotland. McLaren says:
On the eve of the independence referendum, I want to create a moment for us to simply celebrate Scotland and its contribution to the world, in its own words, read by its own people
Over a twelve hour period, more than 100 of Scotland’s greatest texts will be read live by some of the country's politicians, sportspeople, schoolchildren, journalists, teachers, workers, students, novelists, janitors and performers. The only proviso they have been given is that whatever they choose to read, it has to have been written by a Scot.
More than 60 people will be taking part in this one-off event and reading their favourite pieces of Scottish writing.
Names currently confirmed include Amal Azzudin, Tam Dean Burn, Sir Harry Burns, Juliet Cadzow, Morven Christie, Emma Clifford, Janice Galloway, Stephen Greenhorn, David Greig, Scott Hames, Gerry Hassan, Kathleen Jamie, Paul Laverty, Gary Lewis, Liz Lochhead, Lorraine MacIntosh, Joyce McMillan, Aonghas Macneacail, Ewan Morrison, Ian Pattison, Lesley Riddoch, Anneika Rose, Ricky Ross, Gerda Stevenson, MC Soom T and Jonathan Watson. Also taking part are Rory Docherty, Nathan Epemolu, James Kane, Annie Lennox and Margot Smith who are members of BBC Scotland’s Generation 2014 project.
Alongside the spoken word contributions there will be live music featuring guest musicians and an in house Blabbermouth band. This band will include well-known Scottish musicians Annie Grace, Neil McDermott, Cat Myers, Karine Polwart, Inge Thomson and Sarah Hayes & Joe Rattray of Admiral Fallow.
From royal correspondence between Queens in the early 1600s to contemporary Scottish song lyrics, famous comedy routines and inflammatory polemics, ecstatic sports commentaries and inspirational speeches, social comment and romantic poetry, Blabbermouth will provide an alternative and wide ranging, mosaic-like presentation of Scotland’s cumulative written word legacy on a remarkable day of readings and live music performances.
The event will be divided into four, two and a half hour sessions and every session will feature live music. As well as tickets for the individual sessions there is also a special ticket available for those who want to join the Company for the full 12 hours.
Blabbermouth is curated and conceived by Graham McLaren. Graham is currently an Associate Director of the National Theatre of Scotland.
Alongside the spoken word and music there will be a pop- up food and drink festival in the Quad of the Assembly which will include stalls from some of the country's finest food producers and drinks tailored to reflect the occasion. The food and drink will be provided by Wild Dining and LA Events.
Blabbermouth is part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Dear Scotland 2014 season of theatre, debate and celebration. The Company is inviting audiences to take part in Dear Scotland, not only by coming to events but also through sharing their thoughts about Scotland in 2014.
National Theatre of Scotland audiences are being given a postcard with the greeting line, Dear Scotland on which they are encouraged to share their rants and regrets, love letters or break-up sentiments, advice or demands, hopes and dreams, and then to send the postcard back for free to the National Theatre of Scotland. The responses will be interlaced to create a living record of this momentous year. www.dearscotland.net
Tickets
Blabbermouth 1 - 12.00pm – 2.30pm
Blabbermouth 2 - 3.00pm – 5.30pm
Blabbermouth 3 - 6.30pm – 9pm
Blabbermouth 4 - 9.30pm – 12am
Each performance is approx 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Tickets are £10/£8 (concession)/ Concessions - Senior Citizen, Student, Disabled, Companion, Unemployed, Under 16s, Equity/Bectu/Scottish Society Playwright.
Book for all 4 - Get a day ticket for £30 (£20 concession)
Age Guide: 14+
Tickets available from The Hub