BSL introduction - SCOTTIES

Hello, My name is Catherine King I'm here at the National Theatre of Scotland to rehearse a new play produced by Theatre Gu Leòr, who are a Gaelic medium theatre company. The new play is called "Scotties". A young 15-year old Glasgow boy is doing a history project for school and learns about the death of 10 young Irish boys that happened back in the 1930s in Kirkintilloch. Intrigued, he learns about the Irish migrant workers who came over to Scotland every season to pick the potato harvest in fields all over the country. They worked incredibly hard for very little money and were treated very poorly. The play will be in 3 languages; English, Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic and you will be able to see which characters use the different languages and how their language relates to their story. BSL will be the 4th language in the play and I’m in rehearsals with the company at the moment creating a way to integrate in to the performance. I will be performing with the company on three dates: Tron Theatre, Glasgow on the 15th Sept Eden Court, Inverness on the 22nd of September and the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh on the 28th. This play talks about what it means to have your language and identity but to have to work far from home, how that affects how you see yourself and how you have to change who you are to fit in to a different culture. What does it mean to have to work for very little whilst you have to live far from home. It’s a powerful and moving play and we hope you can join us.