Above the Belt: Touring in the Highlands and Islands
The Highlands and Islands are about more than their beautiful scenery. The Touring Network's Sam Eccles, promoter Jennie Macfie and Kieran Hurley talk about theatre and culture outside of the cities
When you think of theatre and music in Scotland, you might primarily think of the central belt, and more specifically Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, there is a rich network of theatre and culture far north of these urban hubs. The Touring Network exists specifically to shine a light on the work done by many excellent promoters to bring touring arts productions to the Highlands and Islands. Director of the network Sam Eccles explains that it arose out of "a need to bring together the disparate individuals working independently to bring theatre, music and dance to the Highlands and Islands and to provide the support required to continue and to further their creative work."
Jennie Macfie is one of the many promoters supported by The Touring Network, who works independently to bring arts to her local community in Drumnadrochit on the shores of Loch Ness. Her work includes bringing theatre and music performances to her local village hall and sometimes the local pub, including afternoon concerts for families and for those who don’t necessarily enjoy going out in the evening. On the phone to The Skinny – something that the inclement weather made difficult when it snapped Macfie’s landline cable – Macfie talked about the “vital nature” of bringing performances up to the Highlands, making it affordable for locals to attend cultural events that they could walk to, rather than having to travel to and most likely stay over in a city. By bringing these arts events to smaller and more rural communities, they are being opened up to new audiences. “If you’re putting something on in the local pub, people can choose whether or not to engage in it. For people who don’t necessarily go to the theatre, they can be surprised by it and find shows that they love in places that they never expected,” says Macfie. This is one of the reasons she loves finding shows and music events to bring to her local community. She tells the story of the pub’s owner who had made it into his 40s without ever attending the theatre, “because there hadn't been the opportunity before,” who suddenly is hosting plays and performances and falling in love with the art form.
Macfie began promoting after getting involved in an art project at her local primary school. With money left over from the budget she organised a ceilidh in the local village hall to great success. The next year she put on the same event to an even bigger crowd and it grew from there. After a career in film and TV, getting involved in promoting local events “filled that gap and more,” says Macfie, giving her a channel for her artistic endeavours, and particularly her love for traditional Scottish music.
She refers to Michael Marra’s visit as one of her favourite performances. “It was a tea time gig, and we’d got him a grand piano, which was actually a recommendation from someone at the PAN forum. When he arrived he was over the moon with piano, and changed his whole set to suit the instrument. He gave a wonderful performance.” It's not only the audience that can be affected by these performances, but the performers themselves as performances are shaped to suit each space they perform in.
One of the wonderful things about rural touring is the intimacy of the space. Sam Eccles talks about how it specifically “brings performance away from urban spaces and transforms them for community venues. Audiences can be anything from 30-250 and they can often feel the breath of the performers on their faces.” Theatre maker Kieran Hurley toured his play Rantin’ around the Highlands and Islands in early 2014. Sitting down with The Skinny, he talks about the “smallness” of these performances. “When we played in Durness there were only around 20 people, but then you realise that as a percentage that’s quite a lot of the adult population of Durness coming to see your show. There was a real focus of attention on engaging with each of those people in the room. A similar thing happened in Tongue in this tiny little village hall; the stage manager kept having to put a pound in the meter to keep the heater running. We didn’t have anywhere to retreat to before or after the show. There was no real division between where the audience were sitting and the stage space, so we just said we were going to start, we did the show and afterwards there was no darkness to step into. There was no real separation between their experience and ours. Some of the women on the front row just stepped onto the stage and started having a chat with us – that wouldn’t happen in a theatre in a city. Rather than having to seek out that direct dialogue with your audience, in certain contexts in rural touring it’s more like you would have to work to avoid it.”
"Culture in the Highlands is more diverse and challenging than people might expect. It’s representative of contemporary Scottish culture mixing together with tradition." – Sam Eccles
"While the Highlands and Islands may, to most people, be associated with the Munros, golf and shortbread, there is amazing theatre and music happening that people need to be made aware of,” says Sam Eccles, and Hurley agrees. “Really small towns and communities all around Scotland have amazing arts scenes, you go to somewhere like Ullapool and there’s so much going on. So much of that is to do with touring, but a lot of it is stuff that’s happening locally. It’s important as an artist because you’re engaging in a wider conversation about your art by going into different communities in which interesting cultural activities are happening. Touring in that way is really nourishing not just for the audiences receiving that work, but for the artists that engage in it as a process. It’s a really valuable thing in both directions when it works.”
Hurley came up against the local arts scene in Orkney, performing on the same night as the amateur dramatics society’s performance of Cats. “It’s not a case of the National Theatre of Scotland rolling in and that being the most important show in town; the most important show in town was Cats because it matters to people. We got a brilliant audience nevertheless and it was smashing fun.” This is just one example of how rich the arts scene in the Highlands and Islands is and how much it can be explored, by performers, by local audience members, and by visitors as well. As Sam Eccles puts it, “the culture in the Highlands is more diverse and challenging than people might expect. It’s representative of contemporary Scottish culture mixing together with tradition. Those on the periphery of the urban culture can be part of a wider cultural exchange,” and this is what the promotors supported by The Touring Network are working to create.
While Hurley has no plans in the works to tour again, he is strong in his belief that he’ll be back. “It won’t be too long before I get itchy feet for touring again. I love international touring, and UK touring, but I love rural touring most of all. The opportunity to go to some of these amazing places around the country and it be your job.”