In April 2014, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery was host to two sets of guided promenade performances from the National Theatre of Scotland in a unique combined celebration of the written word and visual art named Dear Scotland. Twenty widely different artworks held in the SNPG were brought to life by twenty of Scotland’s leading writers whose words were dramatized by ten Scottish actors over the two tours, a brave undertaking in such a close and intimate setting. The words are strong, bold and at times quite cheeky and gallus, making comment from the past to reflect the future while touching on subjects of immigration, colonialism and reflections on effects of the Union with a good helping of satire, sadness and anger thrown in. In this creative melding of past and present, the broad messages are those of positive aspirations and ideals of openness, justice and acceptance.
The accompanying book from Luath Press is not only a fine collectible companion piece but a beautifully produced text in its own right featuring photographs of the portraits and busts with the monologues they inspired. Somewhere between a hardback and a paperback, the book is compact yet suitably weighty as befits its content. It allows a leisurely read of the variety of writing styles that were brought together for the project. Their range is wide and voices varied - fanciful, rude, stylish, sad, angry, tender, poignant, political, poetic. Something for everyone no matter what side of the political fence the reader may be on.
The eyes of the world is on Scotland not only for the momentous Referendum in September, but for major events like the Commonwealth Games, the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn and of course the 100th anniversary of the First World War. In the book’s foreword, NTS Artistic Director, Laurie Sansom, explains his unenviable role in taking on this brief in a year of such significance for the country. Succinctly he hopes that Dear Scotland will “… provide a unique snapshot of both Scotland’s past and imagined futures, often surprising, nearly always irreverent, and always expressed with intelligence and passion.”
The Dear Scotland slogan ‘Looking Backwards – Imagining Forwards’ could not be bettered to describe these fanciful texts that help explore the complexities of the country’s identity.
Dear Scotland is part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Dear Scotland 2014 season of theatre, debate and celebration and a selection of the performances can be viewed online at www.thespace.org. Audiences are invited to take part in Dear Scotland, not only by coming to events but also through sharing their thoughts about Scotland in 2014 by 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. They should then to send the postcard back for free to the National Theatre of Scotland and responses will be brought together to create a living record of this momentous year. For more information on this and for other ways to get involved please visit www.dearscotland.net or join the conversation at#DearScotland
The twenty writers and the artworks are:
AL Kennedy writes Robert Louis Stevenson; David Greig writes
The Cromartie Fool; Ali Smith writes Michael Clark; Zinnie Harris writes Gallery 9; Peter Arnott writes Sir Walter Scott; Iain Finlay Macleod writes James Boswell; Louise Welsh writes Mary Queen of
Scots; Jo Clifford writes Unnamed Woman in ‘Poets’ Pub’; Jackie Kay writes Michael McGahey; James Robertson writes Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham; Janice Galloway writes Muriel Spark; Johnny McKnight writes The Queen; Linda McLean writes Clementina Stirling Graham; Liz Lochhead writes Robert Burns; Nicola McCartney writes a bystander in a portrait of James
III; Iain Heggie writes James VI + I; Rona Munro writes Jackie Kay; Rob Drummond writes Three Oncologists; Stuart Hepburn writes Chic Murray; Hardeep Singh Kohli writes Jimmy Reid
ISBN: 978-1-910021-49-1
Format: Paperback Price: £9.99
Available from all good bookshops, UK distributor Harper Collins, Waterstones, Amazon and Luath Press Ltd