THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS RETURNS AFTER 5 YEARS WITH A 4-WEEK RUN AT LONDON'S FINBOROUGH THEATRE May 14th - June 8th 2024!
THE TESTAMENT OF GIDEON MACK BY JAMES ROBERTSON, ADAPTED BY MATTHEW ZAJAC, WILL TOUR SCOTLAND IN EARLY 2025!
SPARK - THE HIGHLAND NEW PLAY FESTIVAL - JANUARY 2024
Matthew Zajac's internationally acclaimed play about his Polish father has captivated audiences in theatres across the world. With over 275 performances and playing to over 40,000 people in 12 countries since opening at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Tailor of Inverness has taken its place as one of the great Scottish theatre productions.
The Tailor of Inverness, with its cry for victims of war and forced migration everywhere, is "a universal work of theatre" (Sunday Herald).
"COMPELLING, IMPASSIONED...A FINE ACTOR" New York Times, USA
"INDISPENSABLE" Dagens Nyheter, Sweden
"DON'T MISS IT" Radio Adelaide, Australia
"A SPECIAL GEM" The Day, Ukraine
"THE MOST ELECTRIC THEATRE IMAGINABLE" ayoungertheatre.com, UK
"A TOWERING PIECE OF WORK" Sunday Independent, Ireland
"ZAJAC IS TRULY A VISIONARY" Broadway World, USA
BUY TICKETS HERE: https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/the-tailor-of-inverness/
The Tailor of Inverness, with its cry for victims of war and forced migration everywhere, is "a universal work of theatre" (Sunday Herald).
"COMPELLING, IMPASSIONED...A FINE ACTOR" New York Times, USA
"INDISPENSABLE" Dagens Nyheter, Sweden
"DON'T MISS IT" Radio Adelaide, Australia
"A SPECIAL GEM" The Day, Ukraine
"THE MOST ELECTRIC THEATRE IMAGINABLE" ayoungertheatre.com, UK
"A TOWERING PIECE OF WORK" Sunday Independent, Ireland
"ZAJAC IS TRULY A VISIONARY" Broadway World, USA
BUY TICKETS HERE: https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/the-tailor-of-inverness/
SPARK, the inaugural Highland New Play Festival, took place at Eden Court, Inverness from 18-21 January 2024. The festival was presented in partnership with Eden Court and Playwrights' Studio Scotland and was financially supported by Creative Scotland.
AUDIENCE RESPONSES
"...maybe the best ever Highland located event...the quality and talent involved was amazing."
"This was a brilliant festival...more of this please!"
"A really vital and professional event, which I was so glad to see was well attended. The running was smooth, and exactly what I had hoped it would be with a great opportunity to get involved...A ginormous thanks to Dogstar, EC (Eden Court) and PSS (Playwrights' Studio Scotland) for making this happen!! PS- the PSS having a book stand was a SUPERB addition. More of this please!!"
PROFESSIONAL PARTICIPANT RESPONSES
"It is honestly one of the best things I have been involved in in years . I felt excited each day working on a new script and bringing it to life for the writer !"
"It felt like a pivotal moment for Highland arts and theatre. One which inspired people to put their heads together to imagine a brighter future."
"The overall vibe and energy of the SPARK festival were amazing, creating a wonderful atmosphere that made the whole experience unforgettable. But what really made it special for me was getting to team up with some incredible people, especially the director and the actors."
"I loved how many people from all across the country were kicking about Eden Court for four days. It felt like a really exciting space, the way theatre should always feel. Everyone was supportive and there was a lot of interest in talking about the craft. It was super exciting and really nourishing, I was really moved at a lot of different moments, the work (and the focus on writing in particular) was so affirming. … I felt that this was a very empowering few days that forged new creative connections. I came away from it feeling like I really belonged in the industry and that where I come from didn’t really matter, we are all about the work."
"I left the Highlands due to lack of opportunity as a creative. This festival has helped me reconnect to a Highland creative community. It was an opportunity which as an emerging writer has given me so much confidence and incredibly valuable feedback for going forward. The variety of work that we could see was also really fantastic. It felt like a wonderfully diverse range of voices and was very inspiring."
SPARK consisted of four engaging strands to appeal to both audiences and the growing body of theatre professionals in the Highlands:
Script Sessions: rehearsed readings of new plays. Audiences will get to hear never-seen-before plays from new and established playwrights before they reach the stage with the audience invited to give feedback and engage in a discussion about the play afterwards.
Scratch Sessions: an opportunity for audiences to get a glimpse into the creation and development of new plays, with writers presenting extracts from work-in-progress with an opportunity for feedback and discussion afterwards. These sessions also allow playwrights to develop new ideas and work on specific sections of their plays with a director and a group of actors. Writers were selected via an open call facilitated by The Playwrights’ Studio.
Speakout Sessions: ranging from practical panel discussions about career paths in theatre to topical discussions about the place of Highland theatre in the wider world. Featuring guest experts from home and abroad.
Ceilidh Sessions will top off the festival, celebratory events with live performances from local artists, poets and musicians on the Friday and Saturday night.
This was the first edition of SPARK. Our aim is for SPARK to become a biennial event, a new cultural fixture for January in the Highlands.
More details about featured plays and festival speakers and performers will follow!
AUDIENCE RESPONSES
"...maybe the best ever Highland located event...the quality and talent involved was amazing."
"This was a brilliant festival...more of this please!"
"A really vital and professional event, which I was so glad to see was well attended. The running was smooth, and exactly what I had hoped it would be with a great opportunity to get involved...A ginormous thanks to Dogstar, EC (Eden Court) and PSS (Playwrights' Studio Scotland) for making this happen!! PS- the PSS having a book stand was a SUPERB addition. More of this please!!"
PROFESSIONAL PARTICIPANT RESPONSES
"It is honestly one of the best things I have been involved in in years . I felt excited each day working on a new script and bringing it to life for the writer !"
"It felt like a pivotal moment for Highland arts and theatre. One which inspired people to put their heads together to imagine a brighter future."
"The overall vibe and energy of the SPARK festival were amazing, creating a wonderful atmosphere that made the whole experience unforgettable. But what really made it special for me was getting to team up with some incredible people, especially the director and the actors."
"I loved how many people from all across the country were kicking about Eden Court for four days. It felt like a really exciting space, the way theatre should always feel. Everyone was supportive and there was a lot of interest in talking about the craft. It was super exciting and really nourishing, I was really moved at a lot of different moments, the work (and the focus on writing in particular) was so affirming. … I felt that this was a very empowering few days that forged new creative connections. I came away from it feeling like I really belonged in the industry and that where I come from didn’t really matter, we are all about the work."
"I left the Highlands due to lack of opportunity as a creative. This festival has helped me reconnect to a Highland creative community. It was an opportunity which as an emerging writer has given me so much confidence and incredibly valuable feedback for going forward. The variety of work that we could see was also really fantastic. It felt like a wonderfully diverse range of voices and was very inspiring."
SPARK consisted of four engaging strands to appeal to both audiences and the growing body of theatre professionals in the Highlands:
Script Sessions: rehearsed readings of new plays. Audiences will get to hear never-seen-before plays from new and established playwrights before they reach the stage with the audience invited to give feedback and engage in a discussion about the play afterwards.
Scratch Sessions: an opportunity for audiences to get a glimpse into the creation and development of new plays, with writers presenting extracts from work-in-progress with an opportunity for feedback and discussion afterwards. These sessions also allow playwrights to develop new ideas and work on specific sections of their plays with a director and a group of actors. Writers were selected via an open call facilitated by The Playwrights’ Studio.
Speakout Sessions: ranging from practical panel discussions about career paths in theatre to topical discussions about the place of Highland theatre in the wider world. Featuring guest experts from home and abroad.
Ceilidh Sessions will top off the festival, celebratory events with live performances from local artists, poets and musicians on the Friday and Saturday night.
This was the first edition of SPARK. Our aim is for SPARK to become a biennial event, a new cultural fixture for January in the Highlands.
More details about featured plays and festival speakers and performers will follow!
THE TESTAMENT OF GIDEON MACK
TOURING SCOTLAND IN EARLY 2025!
We are delighted to announce that James Robertson's best-selling novel has been adapted by Matthew Zajac and will tour Scotland in February and March 2025, thanks to the support of Creative Scotland's Touring Fund.
‘In the hands of great writers, the unlikeliest stories are generally the most rewarding. What Robertson produces here is a parable of organised religion, the supernatural and mental illness…Overwhelmingly compassionate and thought-provoking.’ Irvine Welsh, Guardian
'Hugely enjoyable, very funny, deeply refreshing . . . its touch of devilry makes it even more of a joy' Herald
'Fabulous . . . a work of the highest literary quality' Scotland on Sunday
Published in 2006 and longlisted for that year's Booker Prize, The Testament of Gideon Mack instantly became a Scottish classic, a play about grief and the crisis of faith in our society, channelled through the story of one generous, energetic, perceptive, constrained, ashamed, confused and very Presbyterian individual, the Reverend Gideon Mack of Monimaskit. This is a story of late 20th century post-war Scotland, of the manse and the permissive age, a story of a Church of Scotland minister who doesn’t believe in God. Then he meets the Devil.
The Testament of Gideon Mack is full of humour, provocation and the supernatural, presenting a microcosm of small-town Scotland with a cast of vividly-drawn characters, including Gideon’s unassuming, long-suffering mother Agnes; his austere, angry minister father James; the agnostic, combative old historian Catherine Craigie; Gideon’s perceptive wife Jenny; John Moffat, the friend he betrays and his wife Elsie, the woman he really loves. An ensemble cast of eight actors will evoke Monimaskit’s community as it grows into the country’s most generous and then its most baffled and outraged as the disappearance and miraculous reappearance of Gideon results in his final, extraordinary revelations.
With an ensemble of eight actors and an outstanding creative team, The Testament of Gideon Mack will be transposed to the stage in a vibrant, physical, visually arresting production, revelling in James Robertson's wonderful language to relate this most human, compelling and mysterious Scottish story.
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE DETAILS!
TOURING SCOTLAND IN EARLY 2025!
We are delighted to announce that James Robertson's best-selling novel has been adapted by Matthew Zajac and will tour Scotland in February and March 2025, thanks to the support of Creative Scotland's Touring Fund.
‘In the hands of great writers, the unlikeliest stories are generally the most rewarding. What Robertson produces here is a parable of organised religion, the supernatural and mental illness…Overwhelmingly compassionate and thought-provoking.’ Irvine Welsh, Guardian
'Hugely enjoyable, very funny, deeply refreshing . . . its touch of devilry makes it even more of a joy' Herald
'Fabulous . . . a work of the highest literary quality' Scotland on Sunday
Published in 2006 and longlisted for that year's Booker Prize, The Testament of Gideon Mack instantly became a Scottish classic, a play about grief and the crisis of faith in our society, channelled through the story of one generous, energetic, perceptive, constrained, ashamed, confused and very Presbyterian individual, the Reverend Gideon Mack of Monimaskit. This is a story of late 20th century post-war Scotland, of the manse and the permissive age, a story of a Church of Scotland minister who doesn’t believe in God. Then he meets the Devil.
The Testament of Gideon Mack is full of humour, provocation and the supernatural, presenting a microcosm of small-town Scotland with a cast of vividly-drawn characters, including Gideon’s unassuming, long-suffering mother Agnes; his austere, angry minister father James; the agnostic, combative old historian Catherine Craigie; Gideon’s perceptive wife Jenny; John Moffat, the friend he betrays and his wife Elsie, the woman he really loves. An ensemble cast of eight actors will evoke Monimaskit’s community as it grows into the country’s most generous and then its most baffled and outraged as the disappearance and miraculous reappearance of Gideon results in his final, extraordinary revelations.
With an ensemble of eight actors and an outstanding creative team, The Testament of Gideon Mack will be transposed to the stage in a vibrant, physical, visually arresting production, revelling in James Robertson's wonderful language to relate this most human, compelling and mysterious Scottish story.
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE DETAILS!
NIGHTLANDS by Jack MacGregor
SUMMERHALL Edinburgh Festival Fringe August 2022
Nightlands is a play about Russia today, about how authoritarianism weaponises nostalgia, a psychological thriller located in the ex-Soviet ghost town of Pyramiden, Svalbard, during a ferocious Arctic winter. Set in 1999, at the dawn of the Putin autocracy, Pyramiden’s caretakers play out a generational and ideological conflict. Sasha is nostalgic for the collapsed communist past, Slava looks to the possibilities of a future free from authoritarianism and poverty. Their epic struggle rages like the storms of the Polar Night as Slava tries to shake off the ghosts of Russia's past.
with
REBECCA WILKIE as Slava
MATTHEW ZAJAC as Sasha
Director JACK MACGREGOR
Designer ALI MACLAURIN
Composer BRIAN MCALPINE
Sound Design BRIAN MCALPINE & JONNY HARDIE
Lighting GRANT ANDERSON
CIRCLING A FOX - THE STORY OF THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS presented by Matthew Zajac, directed by Brian Ross
Broadcast on BBC Scotland, Circling a Fox takes Matthew Zajac’s multi-award-winning play about his father’s life and turns it into a genre-bending documentary film that challenges received notions of personal and national identity. It is a deeply personal story, taking us on a journey from war-torn Poland and Ukraine to the Highlands of Scotland and then back again. Blending documentary, theatre and poetic drama-reconstruction, Circling a Fox tells the story of Matthew's quest to seek the truth about his father’s past and his efforts to use theatre to reach out to a family he never knew he had.
CHECK IT OUT HERE:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/circlingafox
Broadcast on BBC Scotland, Circling a Fox takes Matthew Zajac’s multi-award-winning play about his father’s life and turns it into a genre-bending documentary film that challenges received notions of personal and national identity. It is a deeply personal story, taking us on a journey from war-torn Poland and Ukraine to the Highlands of Scotland and then back again. Blending documentary, theatre and poetic drama-reconstruction, Circling a Fox tells the story of Matthew's quest to seek the truth about his father’s past and his efforts to use theatre to reach out to a family he never knew he had.
CHECK IT OUT HERE:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/circlingafox
Based on the testimonies of Robert Mackie and Bruce Norval
with STEWART PORTER as Rab & MATTHEW ZAJAC as Bruce |
Factor 9 is inspired by the story of the biggest healthcare disaster in the history of the UK’s National Health Service. This is a play based on the lives, deaths and testimonies of some of those affected by treatment with contaminated blood – an horrific story of blighted lives which explores the causes that allowed HIV, Hepatitis C and CJD infection to be spread among the community of blood products users in Scotland, the rest of the UK and throughout the world during the late 1970s and 1980s.
|
Using transcripts, interviews, newspaper articles and other documentary evidence, and mixing this with metaphors and myths from the realms of science fiction and horror, Factor 9 is a visceral multi-media performance dominated by that vital fluid, blood. At its core, it tells a story of ordinary people and how their lives were shockingly changed forever.
|
Prepare to be physically shaken by Factor 9.”
Yasmin Suleiman, The List "I have NEVER been more affected, impressed and devastated by a play in a long theatrical life…A play of shame, pain and extraordinary power." Pete Searle, audience member “Superbly tense drama, with Porter and Zajac on top form.” Ed Frankl, Edinburgh Evening News ****** “Factor 9 says what it has to say about a mighty public scandal, in a vividly theatrical style that no-one who sees it is ever likely to forget” Joyce MacMillan, The Scotsman **** “The playwright got it just right…powerful and very human.” Paula Murray, Sunday Express |
“Be sure to see it."
Anders Sjögren, Västerbottens-Kuriren Sweden “…unforgettable, high quality and hard-hitting…” Margaret Chrystall, Inverness Courier ***** “Stop what you are doing and check to see if Dogstar Theatre Factor 9 is coming to you. Gut wrenching, tragic, furious, brilliant.” Bruce MacGregor, Inverness “SUPERB, POWERFUL and SEAMLESS performance – still shaking with the effects of it – best theatre I’ve seen since the Tailor of Inverness.” Joanna Boyce, Edinburgh |
THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS
Written & Performed by Matthew Zajac Violin Jonny Hardie Directed by Ben Harrison Music by Jonny Hardie & Gavin Marwick Designed by Ali Maclaurin Lighting by Kai Fischer Production filmed & edited by Brian Ross |
Matthew Zajac's internationally acclaimed play about his Polish father has captivated audiences in theatres across the world. With over 275 performances and playing to over 40,000 people in 12 countries since opening at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Tailor of Inverness has taken its place as one of the great Scottish theatre productions.
The Tailor of Inverness, with its cry for victims of war and forced migration everywhere, is "a universal work of theatre" (Sunday Herald). |
"I come from the Soviets and the Nazis. I come from a farm, from the forests and fields of green Ukraine, from the resettlement camps of Germany, from the beaches of the Adriatic, from the grimy streets of Glasgow and the cool air of Inverness."
"A TRIUMPH" The Observer, UK
"COMPELLING, IMPASSIONED...A FINE ACTOR" New York Times, USA
"INDISPENSABLE" Dagens Nyheter, Sweden
"DON'T MISS IT" Radio Adelaide, Australia
"A SPECIAL GEM" The Day, Ukraine
"THE MOST ELECTRIC THEATRE IMAGINABLE" ayoungertheatre.com, UK
"A TOWERING PIECE OF WORK" Sunday Independent, Ireland
"ZAJAC IS TRULY A VISIONARY" Broadway World, USA
BEST ACTOR CRITICS' AWARDS FOR THEATRE IN SCOTLAND
BEST SOLO PERFORMER THE STAGE NEWSPAPER EDINBURGH FRINGE AWARDS
SCOTSMAN FRINGE FIRST AWARD WINNER
"One actor, one fiddler, one brilliant and moving piece of theatre...See it, friends." April Alliston, New York
"One of the most moving theatre experiences we've ever had." David Getz, New York
"Unbelievably moving and unexpected." Misha Glenny, London
"Matthew Zajac's performance was incredible. Wish I could go again tomorrow." Kevin Hanrahan, Dublin
"It really was an international wonder" Hanne Larsen, Copenhagen
"What a story, what a play, what a performance...I could barely speak afterwards." Gerda Stevenson, Edinburgh
"A TRIUMPH" The Observer, UK
"COMPELLING, IMPASSIONED...A FINE ACTOR" New York Times, USA
"INDISPENSABLE" Dagens Nyheter, Sweden
"DON'T MISS IT" Radio Adelaide, Australia
"A SPECIAL GEM" The Day, Ukraine
"THE MOST ELECTRIC THEATRE IMAGINABLE" ayoungertheatre.com, UK
"A TOWERING PIECE OF WORK" Sunday Independent, Ireland
"ZAJAC IS TRULY A VISIONARY" Broadway World, USA
BEST ACTOR CRITICS' AWARDS FOR THEATRE IN SCOTLAND
BEST SOLO PERFORMER THE STAGE NEWSPAPER EDINBURGH FRINGE AWARDS
SCOTSMAN FRINGE FIRST AWARD WINNER
"One actor, one fiddler, one brilliant and moving piece of theatre...See it, friends." April Alliston, New York
"One of the most moving theatre experiences we've ever had." David Getz, New York
"Unbelievably moving and unexpected." Misha Glenny, London
"Matthew Zajac's performance was incredible. Wish I could go again tomorrow." Kevin Hanrahan, Dublin
"It really was an international wonder" Hanne Larsen, Copenhagen
"What a story, what a play, what a performance...I could barely speak afterwards." Gerda Stevenson, Edinburgh
These outstanding film and theatre experiences are available to view for £3 or download for £8
Please do pass the above links on or share with friends using the social media buttons to the right hand side of this page. And remember to tag us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to let us know what you thought of the films! Use the hashtag #DogstarTheatre on Twitter and Instagram.
Please do pass the above links on or share with friends using the social media buttons to the right hand side of this page. And remember to tag us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to let us know what you thought of the films! Use the hashtag #DogstarTheatre on Twitter and Instagram.
Please subscribe to our mailing list to be the first to hear about future shows
with every good wish
Matthew
www.dogstartheatre.co.uk
with every good wish
Matthew
www.dogstartheatre.co.uk