HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE | ABERDEEN presents

Adapted by Alastair Cording

For days now the windhas been in the south,shaking and playingin the moors and danderingup the Grampians,quivering the rushesabout the loch.But it only brings more heat. All the parks are fair parched,sucked dry, the red clay soil gaping open for the rainthat seems never coming.Some say the North, up Echt way where we used to bide,has had rain enough. But here the roads you walk downare fair blistering, thick with dust. Any motor car you seegoes shooming through it like kettles under steam.

Lewis Grassic Gibbon

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foreword

Sunset Song is generally considered one of the greatest Scottish novels of all time.Written by Lewis Grassic Gibbon (real name Leslie Mitchell) the novel came to

be known and loved by many through a 1970s’ television adaptation of the book –starring Vivien Heilbron in the lead role of Chris Guthrie - and through later stageproductions.

James Leslie Mitchell was a prolific writer in his own name but is perhaps betterknown for the Scots Quair trilogy he wrote under the pseudonym of Grassic Gibbon– comprising Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite.

The storyline of Sunset Song follows the life of Chris Guthrie from her teenage yearson a small farm in the Howe of the Mearns, exploring her relationships with herbrother and their domineering father. After the death of her mother and father, thestory moves on to her relationship with her first love and later husband EwanTavendale, and then to others following his death.

The novel and the adaptation for stage by Alastair Cording conjure up the feel oflife in the Mearns with the sights, sounds and language of the area south ofStonehaven. It gives a wonderful feeling of rural life in Scotland in the early part ofthe 20th century, and of the impact of the First World War on the young men whowent to war and on the families left behind.

This new stage production, directed by Kenny Ireland and designed by HaydenGriffin, features further development of Cording’s stage adaptation and introducessome additional scenes from the book.

Duncan HendryChief ExecutiveAberdeen Performing Arts

director’s note

Why this play? I suppose because it is a gripping story that also asks the kindof questions that any serious work of art should.

Sunset Song, with its range of unforgettable characters caught up in the forces muchbigger than themselves, depicts the steady decline of the small farm. At the centre,is Chris Guthrie, as she develops from child into woman, experiencing the paradoxof loathing the hardship and coarseness of farming life and yet aware of the spiritualrewards of living so close to nature.

This tension in how she feels about the land – ‘I love it and hate it in a breath’– iswhat makes this play relevant, especially now when a devolved Scotland is askingitself: ‘Who are we? How do we feel about being Scottish?’

I was also attracted by the storytelling challenges that such a rich novel poses – theopportunities for a skilled ensemble company to take the audience through this tale,at breakneck speed, playing lots of different characters and not lose the claritynecessary for storytelling.

So there you are; for me this is a play about a story and a landscape and I hope thatthe design of the production reflects this.

Kenny IrelandDirector

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synopsis

An important Scottish classic, Sunset Song was almost out of print when the BBCtelevision series in the 70s revived interest in Lewis Grassic Gibbon and his work

and put this novel on the school curriculum.

It is the first in his A Scots Quair trilogy and follows Chris Guthrie throughout herlifetime, using flashbacks to important moments, realistically describing life in TheMearns in the early 20th Century with an insider’s understanding of the issues facingrural Scottish communities around the time of the First World War.

The focus of Sunset Song is her relationships with her family and the land which theyfarm. Her mother commits suicide and poisons her two young twins, leaving Chris,her father and elder brother Will to manage the farm. Her brother’s strainedrelationship with his father forces Will to emigrate, and after her father suffers adebilitating stroke, Chris has to take over. She avoids his attempts to force her intoan incestuous relationship and yet, when he passes away, she cries for him and forthe hardships he had to endure for the family. At this point, Chris has to choosebetween a life of education and books with a job teaching in the city, or remainingon the land she both loves and hates, tied to a rural lifestyle.

She chooses the land and settles down with her young husband, farmer EwanTavendale, giving birth to their son. However, the First World War reaches into eventhe quiet rural corners of Kincardineshire, and its young men, including Ewan, arecalled to join the war effort.

He returns a changed man, treating Chris badly on a short home leave, and laterdies in battle. Chris discovers only later that he was shot as a deserter, trying to gethome to her.

In the epilogue, while summing up the lives of those in The Mearns, Chris is on the brinkof a new chapter in her life, as the wife of the new minister, and the novel endspoignantly with him dedicating a war memorial to those lost in the war, including Ewan.

Sunset Song is an insight into the life of a young woman growing up in a ruralScottish community in the 20s and 30s. Her story, and that of those around her,reflect wide-reaching issues - the affects of the war, national identity and the impactof modern ways on rural life are dealt with strongly and unflinchingly.

The personal connection with Chris, combined with this development of relevantthemes, makes Sunset Song an enduring and significant novel. �

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lewis grassic gibbon AUTHOR

Lewis Grassic Gibbon, otherwise known as JamesLeslie Mitchell, is one of the most remarkable figures in

Scottish Literature.

Born in February 1901, he grew up in the rural communitiesof the North-East of Scotland. These early years, spent inthe crofting communities around Aberdeen, were to shapeand colour his writing, especially the Scots Quair trilogy.

He spent his childhood between Auchterless in Buchan andArbuthnott in the Howe o’ the Mearns. Educated at MackieAcademy, Stonehaven, he struggled to gain the recognitionof his abilities from his teachers and his parents. Disillusionedby this lack of acknowledgment, he left school at 16 tobecome a journalist in Aberdeen and later Glasgow.

He spent the depression years in the Army and the RAF. He found the experience oflife in the forces unpleasant, however it gave him the opportunity to travel to theMiddle East and the time to write a series of short stories and articles. Theirpublication allowed him to leave the forces and settle with his wife RebeccaMiddleton, a former neighbour from Arbuthnott.

They moved to London and later Welwyn Garden City, where they had two children:daughter Rhea Sylvia, born in1930 and son Daryll Allan Leslie, born in 1934.

He was a happy family man who managed to balance his home life with his work.He enjoyed six successful and productive years in which he produced 17 books,including novels, short story collections, novels, a biography and historical works.

Peritonitis led to his early death at just 34, in 1935.

However, his short life has left an enduring literary legacy - with A Scot’s Quair beinghis greatest accomplishment. �

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interesting facts

When Sunset Song was first published, some readers were shocked by its realistictreatment of sex and childbirth, and its sometimes negative portrayals of family

life. Some wondered if it had been written by a woman using a male pseudonym.Women have been known to refuse to believe that the description of childbirth atone point was written by a man.

In 2005, Sunset Song was voted Best Scottish Book of All Time. It received morethan 400 votes from the public over a six-month period. The result, announced at

the Edinburgh International Book Festival, saw Sunset Song 80votes ahead of the second placed work, The Game of Kings. Morethan 5000 emails and text messages were received by theorganisers of the competition.

In 1971, BBC Scotland produced a highly-acclaimed mini seriesbased on Sunset Song, making a significant change from the

novel in turning Chris into the narrator. The TV series made a starout of Vivien Heilbron (pictured right) who played Chris, and wasa significant factor in putting the novel on the school curriculum.Before then, Sunset Song was in danger of going out of print.

International tourists visiting the Grassic Gibbon Centre in Arbuthnott are oftensurprised to discover the life and times of a celebrated author when they are

expecting apes! �

kenny ireland DIRECTOR

Kenny Ireland is a producer, director and actor who has worked in the Britishtheatre for over 40 years.

His directing career started at The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in 1972,training with Bill Bryden and Sir Richard Eyre. There he became Artistic Director ofThe Young Lyceum company, a highly successful studio company dedicated tocreating work for young people. After that as a freelance director he worked withvarious British theatre companies including The Traverse, Joint Stock, ContactTheatre and the Royal National Theatre.

In 1988, with the playwright Howard Barker he founded The Wrestling School, atheatre company set up to explore Barker's theories of performance in contemporarytheatre.

In 1993 he came back to Scotland, to The Royal Lyceum where over the next 10years he produced exactly 100 plays. His own productions during that time includeGuys & Dolls, A View from the Bridge, Romeo and Juliet, Phaedra, Macbeth, Lovers,The Anatomist, Clay Bull, Mother Courage, Much Ado About Nothing, Of Mice andMen, Private Lives, Oleanna, The Gowk Storm, Waiting for Godot, Dancing atLughnasa, Oedipus Tyrannos and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

He commissioned 15 new plays and produced 10 of them culminating with PeterArnott’s The Breathing House which received five star reviews and won the 2003TMA best new play award.

In 2003 he left the Lyceum better than he found it and returned to a freelance career.Since then his directing credits include Treasure Island at The Belgrade Theatre,Coventry, and The Sundowe – an astonishing new musical at Eden Court, Invernessand his acting includes playing Dame in pantomime in Belfast (a lifetime ambition),touring in Brian Friel’s Translations for the Royal National Theatre, and he is nowpreparing for the third series of ITV’s BAFTA-nominated comedy series Benidorm. �

hayden griffin DESIGNER

Set and costume designer Hayden Griffin was born and grew up in South Africa.He came to London in 1966 and trained at the Sadlers Wells Design Course

in 1966 under Margaret (Percy) Harris and from 1968 ran the Motley DesignSchool, with Percy, as her co-director for the next 25 years.

A designer of considerable repute, he has designed for the Royal National Theatreof Great Britain, including seven world premiere productions such as Glengarry GlenRoss and Pravda.

He has also designed extensively for the Royal Shakespeare Company and theRoyal Court Theatre among others, and for opera, musicals and ballet. In theUnited States, his theatre credits include the world premiere of The Day RoomRockerfeller & the Indians, Players, A Map of the World and Money and Friends.

Hayden regularly designs internationally including the USA, the Netherlands, Austria,Germany, Denmark, Australia and the former Yugoslavia. In Australia he designedthe premier of David Hare’s A Map of the World. In Italy, he has designed manyproductions (mostly working with director Marco Sciaccaluga of the Teatro di Genova,on productions such as Ivanov, A Month in The Country and Lady Windermere’s Fan)including several productions for the festivals of Verona and Taormina.

His film and television credits include the award-wining feature films Intimacy,Wetherby and Syrup, as well as Shaftesbury Films’ Conquest, and Painted Angelsstarring Kelly McGillis and Brenda Fricker and the BBC film Food for Ravensstarring Brian Cox. �

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alastair cording DRAMATIST

Born and brought up in Glasgow. Co author and co director of The Golden City,(Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, 1974). Collaborative work includes

Tempest Now, for TNT in 1986; and children’s plays for Masque Theatre, Norfolk,and Theatre at Work, Glasgow. Adaptations include Sunset Song, Cloud Howeand Grey Granite for TAG Theatre at the Edinburgh International Festival in1993; Wild Harbour and Gay Hunter for BBC Radio; David Copperfield (EasternAngles, 1995); Lanark (TAG Theatre, awarded Critics’ Drama Award, EdinburghFestival 1995), and Wilkie Collins’ No Name (Eastern Angles).

Original plays include Mrs.O’s Saturday Nights (Covent Garden Festival, 1998,and – revised for a larger cast – again in 2000); Margaret Catchpole (EasternAngles, 2000); Fatale (Basingstoke Haymarket, 2001); and The WalsinghamOrgan (Eastern Angles, 2002); Margaret Down Under, (Eastern Angles, 2004).Eastern Angles have commissioned a new play, Martyrs, based on the martyrdomof St. Edmund and set in modern Eastern Europe. David Copperfield is soon to bepublished by Nick Hern Books.

Alastair is also an actor: on television Skins, Fallen Angel, Cold War, The Bill, BombayBlue, Eastenders, Bad Boys, Roughnecks, Taggart, Lovejoy, Aliens, Leaving, Help andOpen Season; theatre includes Hobson’s Choice (Manchester Royal Exchange),The Madness of George lll (WYP/Birmingham Rep), The Reader (Borderline),Hellbent (Traverse), Dead Dad Dog (Traverse), The Alchemist (CambridgeTheatre), Macbeth (Red Shift), Cabaret Faust (TNT), The House with The GreenShutters (Communicado), and Fugitives (ICA),The Television Programme (The Gate),Noises Off (Taunton Brewhouse). �

paul anderson MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Alegend and a revered virtuoso in the time-honoured tradition of Scottish fiddlemusic, master fiddler Paul Anderson was born in Tarland and has his roots

deep in the North-east: his family go back for generations in the area and his parentsran a dairy farm locally until fairly recently.

He first took up the instrument at the age of five, when he found a fiddle under thespare bed at his grandparents’ house near Tarland and was encouraged by them toplay. It is the same fiddle he plays today.

His tutor at school was Andy Linklater, but his Scottish fiddle tutor was DouglasLawrence, the most acclaimed pupil of Hector MacAndrew and part of a fiddletradition which goes directly back to Niel Gow, the father of Scottish fiddle music.

He played fiddle with the Shetland rock band Rock, Salt and Nails, but his main interesthas always been in the performance and composition of traditional Scottish fiddle music.

He has been described as part of a long and honoured tradition of famous fiddleplayers and composers whose names echo down the centuries, Skinner, Gow,Marshall, Fraser, along with a host of others all outstanding players as well ascomposers of distinction. Paul has won most of the fiddle championships in Scotland,is a regular on Scottish television and radio, has toured extensively and has sevensolo albums. He is already something of an icon in Scotland – speciallycommissioned portraits of him hang in Aberdeen Art Gallery and the NationalPortrait Gallery in Edinburgh – and is a composer of some repute, having written281 tunes which are to be published in the Lochnagar Collection by the HighlandMusic Trust later this year.

Paul is a research fellow in the creative and performing arts at the ElphinstoneInstitute, Aberdeen, where his research, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK,aims to reconnect local musicians with the unique fiddle style of the North-east. �

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Jjohn harris LIGHTING DESIGNER

John Harris was Chief Electrician at the Shaftesbury Theatre until 1995. Hebecame Andy Philip’s assistant, with whom he worked on many productions in the

provinces and the West End.

As a Lighting Designer, theatre credits include: Son of Man (RSC); Uncle Vanya,(Albery Theatre); Michael Feinstein (Comedy Theatre); Women on The Verge ofHRT (UK Tour); Small Change and Moving Susan for the Basingstoke Haymarket.For the Arundel Festival, he has designed Henry V, Macbeth and Midsummer NightsDream and Much Ado About Nothing. He has worked extensively for the OrangeTree in Richmond where his recent lighting designs include The Road to the Sea,Simplicity, Me Myself and I, Dona Rosita, Love’s a Luxury also at the Stephen JosephTheatre and Myth Propaganda and Disaster…, For Guildford’s Yvonne ArnaudTheatre he has designed The Curious Quest for the Sandman's Sand, Skool &Crossbones, Shake Ripple & Roll, Pandemonium! (a Greek Myth-adventure)"including a run at the Edinburgh Festival 2001 and each pantomime since 2001.

He has also relit many shows on tour including Hayfever, Calamity Jane, MartinGuerre, Dame Edna, Kill a Mockingbird, Month in the Country, Uncle Vanya andMansfield Park.

As a Vari-Lite programmer and crew chief he has worked around the world includingSaudi Arabia, the Caribbean, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Athens and Dubai; as well as inthe UK on the Brit Awards (Earls Court); the MTV Awards (Dublin); Joy to the World,(Albert Hall); Passion Play (Donmar Warehouse and Comedy Theatre); Hotstuff,(Leicester Haymarket); Godspell, for David Pugh; The Buckingham Palace JublieeCelebrations for Unusual Events; Torvill and Dean at Nottingham’s Ice Stadium;Showtime at The Stadium for BBC Wales & LSD at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium,the closing performance of Cats (London) for Cameron Mackintosh and as UKMoving Light Programmer for The Producers (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).

Recent credits include Associate Lighting Designer Miss Saigon (UK Tour), Vari-Liteprogrammer for the Gala Performance of Les Miserables (Entente Cordiale,Windsor Castle, November 04) and as Lighting Designer of the world premiereof Flying Under Bridges (Watford Palace Theatre), Kingfisher Blue (The BushTheatre) and Romeo and Juliet (Birmingham Rep). He is Lighting Designer forTime’s Up the world premiere of the new Ray Cooney musical which opened at theYvonne Arnaud in October 2005. �

andrew panton MOVEMENT DIRECTOR

Andrew has held directing residencies at the Stephen Joseph Theatre,Northampton Theatres, Perth Theatre and Stage Door, NYC. In 2003 he

won the Bruce Millar Award for directing. Andrew is currently Acting Head ofMusical Theatre at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama.

Recent credits include Black Watch (Assistant Director, NTS); A Sheep Called Skye(Director, NTS); Sundowe (Movement Director, Eden Court Theatre/MackintoshFoundation); Hamlet (Composer, Citizen’s Theatre); The Wonderful World ofDissocia (Vocal/Movement Coach, NTS); Gorgeous Avatar (Movement Director,Traverse Theatre); The Rise & Fall of Little Voice (Musical Director, Visible Fictions);Follies (Associate Director, Northampton Theatres); The Yellow on the Broom(Director, Perth Theatre); Annie Get Your Gun (Resident Director, National Tour);Snake in the Grass (Resident Director, National Tour). This Christmas, Andrew willco-direct The Wizard of Oz at the Citizen’s Theatre. �

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hannah donaldson CHRIS GUTHRIE

Hannah trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama graduatingin 2007.

College theatre roles include Talking To Terrorists, Peer Gynt, Jack & The Beanstalk,Mr Puntilla & His Man Matti, The Tempest, Here Comes A Chopper and ThePhilistines.

Before graduating she had already appeared in a three Minute Wonder film. Mashedfor C4; recorded Beyond the Thundercloud for BBC Radio and played the leadingrole of Jean Monroe in Rebus: The First Stone with Ken Stott for ITV.

Since graduating theatre appearances include the role of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet,Jack and the Beanstalk (both Dundee Rep), Yarn (Dundee Rep/Grid Iron TC),and the title role in David Levin’s adaptation of Antigone at the Glasgow TronTheatre.

Her most recent television appearance was as Holly in the BBC’s Dis/connected. �

Jjoyce falconer JEAN GUTHRIE

Joyce was raised in Torry, Aberdeen, and her maternal family came from theMearns. She graduated from RSAMD in Glasgow after being awarded the

Duncan Macrae Memorial Prize for Scots Verse.

She has enjoyed a varied career in Scottish theatre, ranging from Shakespeare at theCitizen, to one-woman shows in working mens’ clubs and commercial panto.

Television credits include Taggart, Crimefile, Cardiac Arrest 1 & 2, and Finney but itis her role of Roisin in BBC Scotland’s soap River City for which she is best kent. Shewrites and performs her own material in Scots and has performed at numerous BurnsNights, at home and abroad.

Joyce worked front-of-house at HMT then returned to play Fairy Godmother in theirCentenary panto. She is delighted to be part of their first touring production. �

finn den hertog WILL GUTHRIE

Finn trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama graduating in2007.

His recent theatre includes The Wall (Borderline TC Tron – CATS award-winner2008), Peter Pan (Glasgow Citizens'), The Tempest (AandBC/USA Tour), Saint Joan(AandBC Theatre/Fisher College, New York), Pushing Up Poppies (EdinburghFringe Festival) and Inferno (Glasgow Arches).

College theatre roles at RSAMD include Talking To Terrorists, Peer Gynt, Jack & TheBeanstalk, Mr Puntilla & His Man Matti, The Tempest, Plasticine, Here Comes AChopper and The Philistines.

Television includes My Spy Family (Kindle Entertainment), Taggart (SMG), Rebus(SMG). Radio includes Lost in Plain Sight (BBC R4) and Mr Paterson (ComedyUnit). �

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rod matthew JOHN GUTHRIE

Rod was born in Dundee and went to London to train at Webber DouglasAcademy. He worked on the London Fringe and then with the Mikron Theatre

Company in Yorkshire.

He joined West Yorkshire Playhouse for a year before returning to his home townin 1999 as a founder member of Scotland’s Ensemble at Dundee Rep where,over five years, he played many roles with the company.

He has since moved between working in Scotland at the Glasgow Tron Theatre,with Borderline and Benchtours, and in England with Nottingham Playhouse,Oxford Shakespeare Company and the BBC in Manchester and London.

He was seen most recently in The First To Go at Edinburgh Lyceum and on tour. �

tom mcgovern CHAE STRACHAN

Tom trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama where he waswinner of the James Bridie Gold Medal. He also won the award for Best

Performance in a Shakespeare play.

Most recently, his theatre credits have included Of Mice and Men at Perth Rep, StJoan and The Tempest in the USA, Volpone with Theatre Babel and Romeo andJuliet at Glasgow Citizens Theatre. He has worked with director Kenny Irelandon numerous occasions, including Treasure Island at the Belgrade Theatre and inseveral productions at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum.

His television credits include The Reichenbach Falls, Taggart, Doctors, 2000 Acres ofSky, In Deep, Psychos, Looking After Jo Jo and Holby City. �

alan mchugh LONG ROB

Alan trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and, sincegraduating in 1991, has worked with most of the country’s leading theatre

companies, including The Traverse, Citizens, Royal Lyceum, Dundee Rep, Perth Rep,The Byre and Borderline.

Although playing Long Rob Duncan in this tour, Alan played the role of ChaeStrachan in the last national tour of Sunset Song by Prime Productions.

Recent work for His Majesty’s Theatre includes playing panto dame for the last fouryears and in their joint production of Tutti Frutti with the National Theatre ofScotland. And in addition to writing this year’s panto for HMT, he is also writing theannual pantos of RSAMD and the Adam Smith Theatre.

Recent film and television credits include Taggart, River City, Still Game, Dear GreenPlace and the BAFTA-nominated horror movie Wild Country.

heather nimmo AUNT JANET

Born in Irvine, Ayrshire, Heather has just graduated from the BA Acting course atDrama Centre London. And previous to that attended E15 Acting School

foundation course.

Recent roles include, Susannah Hall in The Herbal Bed by Peter Whelan, Princess ofFrance in Love's Labour's Lost and Nasatasya Ivananovna/Augusta Avdeyevna plusvarious roles in Keith Dewhurst’s adaptation of Black Snow by Mikail Bulgakov.All at the Cochrane Theatre Holborn with Drama Centre London. �

sally reid MARGET STRACHAN

Theatre includes The Wall (Borderline Tron TC – CATS award-winner 2008),Katie Morag (Mull Theatre), Antigone (Tron Theatre), The Crucible (TAG TC/NTS),Project Macbeth and Home Dundee (NTS), Weans In The Wood (Glasgow Tron),Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, Romeo & Juliet, Top Girls, Cleo, Camping,Emanuelle & Dick, Snow White, and The Nun (Glasgow Citizens’), The Chrysalids(Complete TC), The BFG (St Andrews’ Byre), The Factory Girls (7:84 TC) and TheMad Hatter’s Tea Party (XLC TC).

Film and TV includes In The Dark (Dragon’s Lair), Unorganised Chaos (DabhandFilms). Radio includes Mr Paterson Comedy Unit for BBC Scotland and Sex forVolunteers for BBC4.

In 2004 was awarded the Dewar Arts Award, a bursary for further study which shespent with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. �

ronnie simon REV. GIBBON

Theatre includes: Great Expectations for Prime Productions, Cinderella for PerthTheatre; Hamlet, Chimneys, A Woman of No Importance, Man of The Moment

for Pitlochry Festival Theatre; Blood Wedding, Romeo and Juliet for The CitizensTheatre; Peter Stein’s production of The Seagull at The Kings Theatre for theEdinburgh International Festival; Broken for Solar Bear; Cyrano for CatherineWheels; The Birthday Party, TAG Theatre Company; A View From The Bridge,Guys and Dolls, Victory, Taming of the Shrew, The Breathing House, A Street CarNamed Desire, Comedy of Errors, Glengarry, Glen Ross, Merlin the Magnificent,Miseryguts all for the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh; Diary of Somebody, MermaidTheatre, London; Laurel and Hardy, Edinburgh/ N.Z. Festivals.

Television and Film includes: Tinsel Town (Series 1 & 2) for the BBC; Shepherd onthe Rocks for Dandelion Films; Taggart for Scottish Television; Tales of ParaHandy, Rab C Nesbitt, ‘Tis the Season to be Jolly for the BBC Comedy Unit.

Radio includes: Blind Mans’ Buff for Heartland FM; Mercury, Sulphur and Salt,Huntingtower for the BBC. �

graeme stirling EWAN TAVENDALE

Graeme’s professional credits include Twelfth Night (Edinburgh Festival), The SixOf Calais (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and two tours of Italy with

Chicago and Much Ado About Nothing.

More recently, he performed in four new works for First Draft Theatre (all KingsHead Theatre Islington) and a rehearsed reading of Qissat a new play based onshort stories by Palestinian women (Oval Theatre, director Hannah Price). His mostrecent role was Sawney Beane in an adaptation of Angela Carter’s Vampirella(King George IV Theatre).

His screen credits include DI Holmes in the Aberdeen-set short film Ill Gotten Gains(director Lewis McInnes).

Graeme trained at Webber Douglas Academy, London: credits included Jaquesin As You Like It, Jeremy Bertrand in Three Birds Alighting On A Field and Hambroin Victory. �

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Board of Directors• Vice Chairman

Councillor George Adam• Mrs Linda Barclay• Councillor Irene Cormack• Mr Buff Hardie• Mr Neil Jones• Mr Charles Kelly• Councillor Aileen Malone• Councillor Mark McDonald• Mr Ken McLeod• Councillor Alan Milne• Mrs Morag Pyper• Chairman Dr Graeme Roberts• Mrs Jennifer Shirreffs• Councillor Jennifer Stewart

Chief Executive Duncan Hendry

Sales & Marketing• Head of Sales & Marketing

Shona Byrne• Marketing Assistants

Chris CollinsMartin Gallagher

• Group Sales Sarah Harbison• Communications Officer

Joyce Summers• Marketing Manager Lauren Taylor• Sales Manager Ben Torrie

Creative Team• Choreographer Andrew Panton• Assistant Choreographer

Sally Rapier• Lighting Designer John Harris• Assistant Lighting Designer

Cara Wiseman• Sound Designer Greig Dempster• Sound Engineer Craig Wallacae• Dialect Coach Ros Stein

Production• Production Manager Alan Campbell• Technical Stage Manager

Chris Spikings• Deputy Stage Manager

Pauline Skidmore• Assistant Stage Managers

Jenny SimpsonLynne Cowie

His Majesty's TheatreTechnical Department• Stage Manager Graeme Shepherd• Head Flyman Keith Whitelaw• Assistant Stage Manager

Steve Young (Spike)• Chief Electrician Greig Dempster• Assistant Chief Electrician

Paul Reynolds• Electrician Brian Gunee

Finance & Administration• Development Manager

Lorna Christie• Education Assistant

Johanna Duncan• Finance Assistant Dawn Eunson• Head of HR Ann Hopkin• Venue Manager

Marianne Mackenzie• Clerical/Finance Assistant

Shirley McGillivray• PA to Chief Executive

Yvonne Johnston• Assistant Accountant

Nicholas Pilichos• Administrative Assistant

Ailson Polson• Head of Finance & IT

Kathleen Scott• Programme Co-ordinator

Doug Taylor

aberdeen performing arts

Aberdeen Performing Arts wishes to thank and mention:• Scottish Opera • Aberdeen Arts Centre • Tish Howard• Design Mearns & Gill • Photography Andy Hall • Bagpipes McCallum Bagpipes• The Gordon Highlanders Museum for supplying costumes • Steptoe’s Yard – Nether Warburton Farm, St Cyrus

and Alford Heritage Centre for sourcing props and set dressing • Set Constructed by Pitlochry Festival Theatre workshops• Transport by Stagehire Scotland• Thanks to Gerry from Antiques at the Arches

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Visitor Centrededicated to theScottish authorLewis Grassic Gibbon• Exhibition • Coffee Shop • Gift ShopOpen April-October 7 days 10am-4.30pmGroups welcome by appointment

Arbuthnott, Laurencekirk AB30 1PBTel: 01561 361668

Email: lgginfo@grassicgibbon.com Registered Charity

The Grassic Gibbon Centre is locatedin north-east Scotland, 2 hours north

of Edinburgh and 1/2 hour south of Aberdeen

The

The Grassic Gibbon Centre is locatedin north-east Scotland, 2 hours north

of Edinburgh and 1/2 hour south of Aberdeen

Visitor Centrededicated to theScottish authorLewis Grassic Gibbon• Exhibition • Coffee Shop • Gift ShopOpen April-October 7 days 10am-4.30pmGroups welcome by appointment

GRASSICGIBBONCENTRE

INVERBERVIE

TO MONTROSE

TO FORFAR& DUNDEE

(40 minutes)

TOSTONEHAVEN& ABERDEEN(25 minutes)

ARBUTHNOTT

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FORDOUN

Church

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TheGrassic GibbonCentre

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Friday 5 to Saturday 13 SeptemberHis Majesty’s Theatre

Rosemount Viaduct, Aberdeen

Tuesday 16 to Saturday 20 SeptemberKing’s Theatre

Bath Street, Glasgow

Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 SeptemberEden Court TheatreBishops Road, Inverness

Tuesday 30 September to Saturday 4 OctoberKing’s Theatre

Leven Street, Edinburgh

Tuesday 7 to Saturday 18 OctoberPerth TheatreHigh Street, Perth