Vivien Grahame, Irene Allen, Douglas Russell and Sarah Haworth in
The Seer 2006
Originally known as The Collectors, the company was founded by Hamish MacDonald
in 1998. Matthew Zajac became Joint Artistic Director with Hamish in 2004. Hamish and Matthew first worked together in 1986 as part of the team which created and produced the Faultline Festival, one of the Highlands’ first multimedia arts festivals, which took place in Inverness. Faultline ran for 6 years each summer with Hamish and Matthew writing and performing with colleagues in the satirical revue
The Kilt Is Our Demise!
Hamish became a full-time writer in 1999. In the previous year, he wrote and performed the company’s first show as part of the Highland Festival, Redcoats, Turncoats & Petticoats, from an idea by producer Alan Mackinnon. Redcoats was a one-man comedy performed in the boozy confines of the Old Market Inn, in the heart of Inverness.
The company went on to produce The Captain’s Collection in 1999, again for the Highland Festival, from an idea by Bruce MacGregor. This was a biographical play with live music about Captain Simon Fraser of Stratherrick, an officer in the government army, inveterate social climber, and, most importantly, the collector of hundreds of Gaelic tunes which might otherwise have been lost to posterity, Gaelic language and culture having been proscribed for over fifty years after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. The production, directed by Alison Peebles, opened in Stratherrick Hall then embarked on a short tour of the Highlands and Islands. The music from the play was produced by Jonny Hardie into a highly acclaimed CD for the Greentrax label. At the instigation of Bruce, then a BBC radio producer, the play was adapted in four parts for BBC Radio Scotland. This production won the Golden Torc Award for Best Radio Production at the 2000 Celtic Film & TV Festival. The Captain’s Collection then undertook a more extensive tour of the Highlands and Islands in 2000 with support from the National Lottery Awards For All, and donations from the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee and the Inverness Gaelic Society.
Bruce suggested a new idea for Hamish: the Seven Ages of Man. Hamish went on to write Seven Ages, a play on the cycle of life in seven acts which had its first short production period as a development project at the 2001 Highland Festival. Each act was a self-contained short play, Highland-set stories on Birth, Discovery, Love, War, Wisdom, Dotage and Death. Acclaimed as “ the most glittering jewel in the Highland Festival crown” (Highland News) , an ensemble of five of Scotland’s best traditional musicians – Mary Ann Kennedy, Ingrid Henderson, Maggie MacDonald, Bruce MacGregor and Iain MacFarlane - punctuated and underscored the play which was again performed by Hamish and Alyth with direction by Matthew Zajac.
Another idea was presented to Hamish by Bruce: the life of James Scott Skinner, aka The Strathspey King,
Annie Grace
arguably the most mercurial, prolific and revered
in
The Heretic's Tale 2006
composer of Scottish fiddle music, who led a peripatetic
life of fame, fortune and penury. Hamish originally wrote the play,
The Strathspey King, as a three-part radio series, produced by Bruce and performed by Billy Riddoch. This series again won a Golden Torc Award, this time at the 2001 Celtic Film & TV Festival. The stage production, supported by the Highland Producers Fund and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, featured Bruce MacGregor on fiddle and Christine Hanson on Cello, beautifully realising Skinner’s music. Scott Skinner was powerfully and poignantly brought to life by Billy Riddoch, taking the audience on a seventy four year journey from the Strathspey King’s childhood to his final tune. The play toured in spring 2003 throughout North and North East Scotland to packed houses and to universal acclaim.
The company then undertook a full-scale tour of Seven Ages early in 2004, visiting numerous venues in the Highlands, Glasgow and Edinburgh, with support from the Highland Producers Fund. This time, Alyth and Matthew performed the show, powerfully and eloquently accompanied by fiddler Jonny Hardie and clarsach player Mary MacMaster.
With continuing project support from the Scottish Arts Council, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and a growing number of promoters and audiences, Dogstar has toured more extensively throughout Scotland in recent years. The company has also begun to produce the work of other playwrights. Ali Smith’s riotous post-modern comedy The Seer was a popular hit for the company in 2006. This was the first professional production of a full-length play by Ali, one of the UK’s most prominent novelists, twice a Booker Prize nominee and winner of numerous other awards for her novels. The Seer also signalled an expansion of the company’s creative scope, moving away from its proven form of music theatre into the realms of contemporary farce. Matthew directed a vibrant ensemble – Viviene Grahame, Douglas Russell, Sarah Haworth, Irene Allan and Mairi Morrison - who embraced the energetic demands of Ali’s “near-perfect example of postmodernism in all its playful glory” (The Scotsman) with relish.
2006 also saw a short tour with another of Hamish’s play’s, The Heretic’s Tale, which told the extraordinary story of Elspeth Buchan, leader of the 18th century apocalyptic cult, the Buchanites. Annie Grace played Elspeth with Matthew as her devoted follower Andrew Innes. Live music accompaniment was provided by fiddle wizard Amy Geddes with direction by Stephen Docherty.
Dogstar has recently completed its biggest production to date, Henry Adam’s
‘e Polish Quine, a poetic and moving play set in Aberdeenshire at the end of the Second World War. Henry has become one of Scotland’s most prominent and accomplished playwrights in recent years. ‘e Polish Quine’s themes of war trauma, migration and love struck a contemporary chord with our audiences. Our excellent ensemble included Fraser C. Sivewright, Sarah Haworth, Douglas Russell, Anne Kidd, Hamish Wilson and Polish actress Magdalena Kaleta. Matthew directed the production.
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With seven acclaimed productions to date, the company has a growing reputation for producing high-quality touring theatre which draws on Highland oral and musical traditions with an acute sense of history and of the contemporary relationship of the Highlands to the rest of the world. Our productions are rich in language and theatrically bold, focussing on the actors and their relationship with the audience. The company receives project support from the Scottish Arts Council and the Highland Producers’ Fund, a joint initiative of Highlands & Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Arts Council.
Originally constituted as an association, Dogstar became a company limited by guarantee in 2006. Charitable status for the company was established in 2002.
Board :
Anne Macleod, Catherine MacNeil, Annie Marrs, Hugh Nicol, Brian Spence
Associate Artists:
Annie Grace, Jonny Hardie, Alyth McCormack, Bruce MacGregor
A Recognised Scottish Charity No. SC 032678