Idiots on the road!!

HELLO!!

THE IDIOT AT THE WALL is now on the road! Discovery of past few days: blogging/tweeting about a Highlands and Islands Tour is tricky due to lack of reception in some parts of the Highlands and Islands!! So let's get caught up!

Last week we moved out of our rehearsal space at The Arts Complex in Edinburgh. Thank you to Dale, Doreen, and all who made us feel so welcome - we had loads of work to do and we had a blast rehearsing there. It was such a privilege to be in a safe place to explore and rediscover this story with such a talented bunch of people.

From there, we moved to the gorgeous Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock, where we began tech-ing the show. Thank you SO much to Julie, Brian, Iain in the restaurant, and all at the Beacon for such a warm reception and for all your support. A marathon of work began here - for the cast, working and re-working scene changes and getting used to the space, and for Emily Reutlinger (our director), Susan (our Production Manager and also our Lighting Designer!) and Jan Bee Brown (our Designer) it was time to make the show look focused and beautiful - and what an amazing job they did. Talk about master-craftswomen! After several long days, and some great work on music with Annie Grace and Aly Macrae, we performed our first preview to a fantastically receptive audience on Saturday afternoon. It was sizzling - a great start!

On Saturday evening we officially opened the show - and I can't remember ever performing to a more lively audience....laughs, gasps, swoons, and TWO CURTAIN CALLS! What a thrill! It's so hard to tell what sort of show you've got on your hands until you get to play to a whole new audience, and so it's a privilege for us all to be telling this story anew each night :-)

Massive thanks to our Press and Marketing Officer, Jane Hamilton, and to the localGreenock press for helping us to draw a crowd. Especially touching to see so many locals coming out. And Tim Barrow, Lucy Goldie and I had a blast talking to Inverclyde Radio about the show! Lucy Goldie was a natural!

On Wednesday I headed into Glasgow for a live chat with Janice Forsyth on the BBC Culture Studio...how nervous was I??! But it turned out really well. Dead chuffed :-)

We were also joined on Friday by our Videographer, Robbie Jones, and our Production Photographer, Eoin Carey...can't wait to see the results!

Thank you so much to the Turner clan who helped so much during production week - Mum and Dad for ferrying props around and helpng us book B&Bs, Dad for helping us with our Gaelic, and my sister Ruth for being on hand to help with nutritional/medical emergencies - so thankful you were around :-) And thank you Murdo Turner and Tim du Feu for easing our musical transition into this production. I hope you caught the broadcast of 'Odhran's theme on the Culture Studio. Janice loved it! xx

After the show on Saturday, we packed our set, lights, and luggage into our van, and then Emily cracked open some bubbly. She and I have worked very closely together over the past year and a half to get the script where it is, and to get to this point - and it was pretty emotional to realize she was cutting us loose, and giving the show over to us to take on the road. Thank you, Emily, for your dedication, patience, generosity and PLUCKINESS!! We'll see you again soon. Sleep well!!

On Sunday morning we set off for Craignish Village Hall in Ardfern. Many of the cast were strangers to this part of the country, and so the lessons in local history along the way from Mr. Kenny Lindsay were most welcome! And the jokes, too. We like Kenny's jokes :-) We seemed to pass through at least 4 kinds of weather (and some floods!) on the drive north....a sign of things to come! But that's the thing about Scotland - our landscape looks stunning/dramatic/inviting in all kinds of weather. Anyway, our drivers, Producer Aiyana and PM Susan, are feisty behind the wheel!

Our show at Craignish was just wonderful. Thanks Diane and all for the welcome :-) We were all nervous/excited to do our first performance in a village hall, and we couldn't have had a better show. The set and costumes against the wood of the hall's interior looked absolutely tremendous under the lights - well done Susan. And the audience! They were so close (after adding an extra row of chairs)! Brilliant! They were absorbed throughout, and we were once more delighted to do two curtain calls! Thank you Craignish, for coming out to see us, and for your lovely comments after the show. Hope to see you again sometime!

After a very pleasant night and amazing breakfast of Murrays Smoked Salmon, in Ford, we set off for the drive up to Skye. Great bunch of folk to travel with. Great chat, great tunes, and I am learning new toons from Annie Grace as we go - what a treat. We'll try not to drive her mad with our 'deedliy-dee-ing' of new tunes! We arrived in Portree last night, and had a lovely dinner. Thanks so much to Sharon and all at the Portree Hotel for taking such good care of us.

And now here we are at Aros!! There's been loads of tickets sold for tonight - woop woop! I'm getting ready to chat to the BBC ahead of them filming some of the show here tonight - a wee feature will go out on the local news on Thursday - I'll keep you posted!

Lovely to meet Dave at last - thanks for having us, and here's to a great show!

Tomorrow we head to Applecross for our show there tomorrow night. Connection-depending, I'll write more then :-)

And pics to follow!!

Els xo

Moran Taing, Alba Chruthachail

Thank you!!

We have been awarded funding from Creative Scotland for our tour of The Idiot at the Wall and we're so delighted! As we have to forgo a newsletter this month in order to make way for an AWESOME E-invite to our tour dates (WOOP!), we won't have the opportunity to make a heartfelt thank you as we usually would, in a letter to all of our followers and supporters! However, we really want to express what a huge difference this makes to us: not only in terms of much-needed financial support, but also because of the weight carried by a vote of confidence from another supporter. It means a lot. An aspirational spirit can carry you a long way - and then you need serious backing. We're so thankful to be getting it from our National funding body. Thanks, Creative Scotland and The National Lottery, for helping us reach some of the farthest-flung corners of our much-loved country on this tour. And thanks, especially, to Brian Ó hEadhra, who has been guiding us since the start, and our funding officer Nicola Hislop.

Elspeth and Aiyana
Stoirm Òg

Have you met our John Mackenzie yet?

You can't tell from the picture, but this is a very tall man! Welcome Kenny!

Kenny Lindsay, 'John Mackenzie', The Idiot at the Wall

Kenny has worked as an actor with many theatre companies across Scotland, including seasons with Dundee Rep, Perth Theatre, The Brunton, Musselburgh and two seasons with Mull Theatre as well as work at the Tron, Pavilion, Cumbernauld, the Kings Theatre, Glasgow and Tosg Gaelic Theatre Company with whom he appeared in A' Chuirt. He worked, too, as actor/deviser with Theatre Hebrides on Roghainn nan Daoine:The People’s Choice. As a playwright he has worked with Mull Theatre, Grey Coast Theatre and Perth Youth Theatre. His play, The Dogstone, set in his hometown, Oban, was presented as a co-production by the Traverse Theatre and the National Theatre of Scotland in 2008.His short Gaelic play, Fon Choill – On the Run was seen at An Lanntair in 2009 and his most recent play The Wrapping in the Hide, was performed at Queen Margaret University. His bilingual book of Gaelic oral history interviews, Mas Math Mo Chuimhne – Reflection of the Gaels, was published recently by Clì Gàidhlig. Earlier this year he founded Theatar: Camus Beag, the Oban Gaelic drama group, with whom he has just directed two plays for local radio.

Welcome Kenny, Annie and Jane!

Thrilled to be able to welcome three lovely new faces to our team! Fantastic actor Kenny Lindsay is joining our cast as John Mackenzie. Acclaimed Scottish singer and multi-instrumentalist Annie Grace is also joining us on stage and I can't wait to hear her weave some musical magic! And the PR guru Jane Hamilton has joined our team to work on our 2013 tour. Welcome! So honoured and excited to be working with you all. More details to follow!

Tour Details Announced!

Massively excited to finally be able to publish our full tour schedule for 'The Idiot at the Wall' 2013! Head to our 'Book Tickets' page for all the deets! Big thank you to Creative Scotland, The Touring Network, N.E.A.T, and The Beacon Arts Centre for your support on this, our first tour :-)

We're opening at the Beacon!!

We are delighted to announce that on September 14th, 2013, we will launch our Scottish Tour of 'THE IDIOT AT THE WALL' at the beautiful Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock. Thank you very much to Julie Ellen and Jade for showing us around yesterday! This is a stunning new development, perched right on the water, looking over to River Clyde estuary to Argyll and Dunbartonshire. The perfect theatre from which to transport you all to a tiny Hebridean island.....this is one the gallery spaces upstairs....check out the view....

We are honoured to be opening our new production at the Beacon's wonderful Studio Theatre, which is playing host to some of Scotland's best touring artists and companies!

Check out The Beacon HERE !

More details to follow on how to book. For those of you in Edinburgh, we'll be running a bus through to the opening, if you wanna catch a lift with us......sounds like TROUBLE!! YEAH!

Love and Light!

Stoirm Òg xxx

Loads of News!!

It's been AGES since I had time to write.....but here we are in July!! Thank you Universe, for the sunshine!

We've had an amazing month! We've been meeting some brilliant actors for the role of John in 'The Idiot at the Wall' - watch this space :-)

We raised almost 2700 pounds in a hugely successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign - thank you SO much to all who have been supporting us, and spreading the word!

Also, we're thrilled to have found one of the final pieces of the puzzle.....our Touring Production Manager! We are going to be joined on this tour by the very lovely Susan Martin - more details on her to follow. She's ace! Welcome Susan!

Finally, I'm about to tell you all about where we're launching the tour....and VERY excited we are, too.....

Stoirm Òg xxx