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Perth Theatre at Horsecross Arts and Morna Young present LOSTatSEA SPRING SEASON 2019 THU 25 APR - FRI 24 MAY By Morna Young Directed by Ian Brown “The untold war o man versus the elements. The tale o the fishermen fightin the ocean. Ye’v stirred the watters, opened the dam. There’ll be a hearty tempest the nicht.” Writer’s Note Morna Young Those we have lost live on through the stories we share. Every story begins with an inciting incident, a moment I hope, in some small way, that this work helps honours when the balance is tipped, an event or turning point that their memory. sets everything into motion. My moment was an accident. A fishing accident on 10th April 1989. For on that day, my Director’s Note - Ian Brown dad – Daniel ‘Donnie’ Young – was lost at sea. His body Lost at Sea is an ambitious play. I admire and love it for was never recovered. that. It has a large cast, it demands movement and sound. My story is not unusual in fishing communities. Men and It has live music and rich language celebrating the Doric boats from all around the coast have been lost, every language of Northeast of Scotland. It plays with theatrical village scarred by these losses. We’re forever bound by form. We move backwards and forwards in time. There the salt in our blood. Writing this play was my opportunity are ghosts. There is a chorus. to pay tribute. I wanted to create a fictional story but to Lost at Sea is about many things. The power of the sea, use ‘real voices’ within it, and I am honoured that so many it’s unpredictability and its indifference to humankind. It’s people put their trust in me. Though the story itself is about the resoluteness of fisherfolk and the sheer hard imagined and infused with artistic licence, the truth behind graft and danger they face every day. It’s a play about it is not. These voices exist all around us. family and rivalry. It’s about relationships and betrayal - Early in my research, a fisherman sent me the following unspoken love and the ties that bind. email: “The ‘glory years’ of the fishing. 75-95. Boats from The play is about an unexplained death. It is Shona’s the villages started working further afield, catching vast story, her attempt to open up the past so she can face amounts of fish and earning, at that time, fantastic money. her future. A sense of mortality and loss pervades the They were crazy days with big money, big cars, bigger landscape - the ghosts of those lost at sea. It is a search houses, long hours, short times at home. Work hard, live for meaning of the lives taken; the enduring constancy of hard. But there was now what I see to be deemed as an love, land and sea. The ghosts that haunt us. acceptable risk that only became unacceptable when you were directly involved. It was like Russian roulette as to For Information who lived and who died. I lost some friends... which could Lost at Sea features verbatim text from interviews with have been me if I took different choices. Not good choices, fishermen, their families and the local communities of the just lucky ones. Every village lost a boat or two with all Northeast, conducted throughout 2011-2012. These ‘real crew over this period plus the individuals lost overboard. voices’ have been woven into a fictional central story. The It was like a war - men go away but not all come back and ‘in tribute’ list of names are fishermen and boats lost from this was accepted as part of the price to pay for earning Moray during the timeframe of the play (1970 to 2012). the money and keeping the villages alive.” The audio memorial was recorded in 2019 with families of This email set the story of the play in motion. It showed those lost with support from Lossiemouth High School and the personal intertwining with the political, the economics Hopeman Primary School. This is not an exclusive list and and the culture. This voice is one of many I have tried has been pieced together from a range of resources. Any to capture within the play. I cannot express my gratitude inaccuracies are solely the responsibility of the author. enough to those who shared their stories. I thank them for the bravery and kindness. Personal narratives don’t end with a revelation and a resolution. This play has a finale but there is no end to the grief experienced by coastal communities. I once heard someone on the radio say ‘when you die, you become the subject of stories’ and the sentiment has stayed with me. Cast He previously worked with director Ian Brown in Hardie and Jennifer Black Meg Baird: The Last Days, Stones and Ashes (Traverse Theatre) Jennifer’s recent theatre credits include: Arctic Oil; One Good and Irvine Welsh’s You’ll Have Had Your Hole (West Yorkshire Beating; Kill The Old Torture Their Young; House Among the Playhouse and London Astoria).Film credits include: Local Stars,The Bench (Traverse); The Iliad, Tartuffe, Six Black Hero in 1983 and most recently Outlaw King. His television Candles, A Streetcar Named Desire, Peter Pan, Macbeth, roles include several years as the gangster McCabe in River An Experienced Woman Gives Advice, Dead Funny, On City and in the recent BBC shows The Victim and Trust Me. Golden Pond, Blithe Spirit (Lyceum); The Cone Gatherers Following the Lost at Sea tour he travels to New York with the (Aberdeen Performing Arts); Safe Place, 10,000 Metres Scottish National Jazz Orchestra to perform Liz Lochhead’s Deep, Leather Bound (Òran Mór); A Taste of Honey (TAG version of Peter and the Wolf. Theatre); Three Thousand Troubled Threads,The Memory Thoren Ferguson Mate/musician of Water (Stellar Quines);Thebans (Theatre Babel); Falling, Thoren is a Scottish actor, musician and composer. This year Buried Treasure (Bush Theatre); Too Late for Logic (King’s he can be seen in the principal role of David Fairbairn in the Theatre); Stiff – The Musical (Diva Productions); Lavotch- independent feature horror/thriller Matriarch. In 2018 Thoren ikin, Ashes to Ashes, The Trick is to Keep Breathing, Good, became the face of global whisky giant Johnnie Walker, The Baby (The Tron); Sacred Hearts (Communicado TC). making nine commercials for worldwide distribution. Thoren Film and television credits include: Doctors, River City, Hol- collaborated with film-maker/director Charlotte Wells on her by City, Half Moon Investigations, Still Game, Why do They 2018 Sundance selected and Grand Jury nominated short film Call It Good Friday, A View of Things, Ploughman’s (BBC); Blue Christmas, playing the role of Johnny. He also featured Rebus (SMG); Tinsel Town, Taggart, Out in the Open, Ugly in screen roles in the BBC TV series Clique, BBC iPlayer Sisters (STV); I Saw You (Channel 4); The Bill (Thames series Logan High and game drama Armchair Detectives. In Television); Local Hero (Goldcrest Films); Connect (Angel 2018 he returned to his stage acting roots to tour Scotland Face Productions); Heavenly Pursuits (Skebo Films). Radio in the male lead role of Arnaud in Eden Court Theatre’s credits include: Under the Skin, Week Ending,The Trick is to The Return. Thoren leads the ceilidh band The Jacobites, Keep Breathing (BBC Radio 4). founders of The Edinburgh Street Ceilidh. He composed Andy Clark Kevin Armistice, to commemorate the centenary of the signing of Originally from Blairgowrie, Andy studied at Dundee College the Armistice. This was played by an international orchestra and RSAMD (now RCS). Theatre credits include: Tartuffe of 40 ensembles across the world. Thoren has played as (Òran Mór); A Christmas Carol (Citizens); The Buke of the a soloist at events across the country; to HRH Princess Howlat (Findhorn Bay Arts); Antony & Cleopatra, Edward II Anne at the opening of Dreghorn commemorative wood, (Bard in the Botanics); The Deep (10ft Tall); Stand By (Utter); with the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, and he’s also won fiddle Music Is Torture (Tromolo/Tron); The Winter’s Tale (Lyce- competitions across Scotland. His published compositions um). Other theatre includes A Steady Rain (Theatre Jezeb- are Armistice, The Lads of Quintinshill, 1915, The Somme, el/Tron); Dance of Death (Candice Edmunds/Citizens); La- and Wilfred Owen. In 2018 he played at the graveside of nark (Citizens/Lyceum/EIF); Little Sure Shot (West Yorkshire Wilfred Owen as part of the official commemoration of the Playhouse/The Egg); Gastronauts (Royal Court); I’m With the centenary of the poet’s death. Band (Traverse Theatre); Mince, The Duchess of Malfi, The Kim Gerard Eve Seagull (Dundee Rep); Lampedusa, The Libertine, Hamlet, Kim has appeared on stage in Sense (Frozen Charlotte Othello, Peter Pan, Vernon God Little and A Handful of Dust Theatre Company); Peter Pan, The Man Who Had All The (Citizens Theatre). Television and film credits include: The Luck, Mary Rose, Vanity Fair and Living Quarters (Royal Da Vinci Code (Rose Line) River City, Bob Servant (BBC Lyceum Theatre); Call It Sleep, Elf Analysis (Òran Mór); Scotland); Rebus, Taggart (STV); Rubenesque (Kudos). Ra- Sunshine On Leith, Hansel and Gretel, Sweet Bird Of Youth, dio includes Killing Kate, Boswell At Large, Big Sky, Five of Midsummer Night’s Dream (Dundee Rep); Romeo and Juliet Spades, Rebus (BBC Radio 4). Andy is delighted to be back (Shakespeare’s Globe, Sam Wanamaker Festival). Radio at Perth Theatre having first appeared here over 30 years credits include: Words and Music Free Thinking Festival, ago as a pirate in a concert for the Boys’ Brigade.