The Tailor of Inverness by Matthew Zajac
The Tailor of Inverness is, without doubt, Dogstar's most successful show to date. It opened in 2008 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has been in demand ever since. In April 2015, it ran for 3 weeks at 59E59 Theaters, Manhattan, New York as part of the venue's Brits Off Broadway season. The run was sold out after 3 days and two additional shows sold out in 2 hours. In June 2024 it completed its 300th performance towards the end of it's 4-week sell-out run at London's Finborough Theatre. It has also toured Scotland six times, ran twice at the Edinburgh Festival, toured to Ukraine, Ireland and Sweden twice and has played at festivals, theatres and universities in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Wales, Australia, Belgium, England and the USA. Further touring will take place to Sweden and France in autumn 2024. Matthew Zajac's book of the same name was published in 2013 by Sandstone Press and a documentary film about the play and our touring with it in Eastern Europe Circling A Fox by director Brian Ross and Hopscotch Films was broadcast by BBC Scotland in 2021 & '22.
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The Tailor of Inverness previewed at the Arches Theatre, Glasgow on July 29th & 30th 2008 and opened at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival Fringe on July 31st, running to August 24th. Within days of opening, the show became a sell-out. Within a week, it had won a prestigious Scotsman Fringe First Award. By the end of the festival, Matthew Zajac had won The Stage Award for Best Solo Performer at the Fringe and the show was invited to Australia, through winning the Holden St. Theatres Award. The production toured Scotland from late January 2009, going on to Holden St. and the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Australia for four weeks. A visit to the Skelleftea Storytelling Festival, Northern Sweden, and to Umea University took place in April 2009. This was followed by a second Scottish tour. In 2010, the production ran for a second time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and toured to several Scottish venues before embarking on a tour to Eastern Europe, the origin of the play's story.
In Ukraine, we toured to beautiful Lviv and its Golden Lion Festival, to Lutsk, where 500 people attended over two performances and to the capital Kyiv. In Poland, to the briliiant Konfrontacje Teatralne (Theatre Confrontations) Festival in Lublin and to Zielona Gora University.
In Germany to Berlin's English Theatre and Kiel's Thespis Monodrama Festival where the show received possibly its longest curtain call ever ! In May 2011, we took the production to Dresden, Germany for the Szene:Schottland Festival at Societaetstheater. The production had its US premiere at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in January 2012, receiving a standing ovation during its week-long residency. In 2013, the show toured again to Sweden, including a sell-out performance in the 400-seat Hipp at Malmo Stadsteater, to Denmark's Mungo Park Arts Centre in Allerod, Copenhagen for three sold-out performances and to Arhus, to the Celtic Festival at Clwyd Teatr Cymru and throughout the Republic of Ireland with Richard Ryan Productions. Later that year, further Scottish performances and a second tour of Ukraine took place. A second tour of Ireland took place in 2014.
Most of the production's 310 performances to date have been sold out.
In Ukraine, we toured to beautiful Lviv and its Golden Lion Festival, to Lutsk, where 500 people attended over two performances and to the capital Kyiv. In Poland, to the briliiant Konfrontacje Teatralne (Theatre Confrontations) Festival in Lublin and to Zielona Gora University.
In Germany to Berlin's English Theatre and Kiel's Thespis Monodrama Festival where the show received possibly its longest curtain call ever ! In May 2011, we took the production to Dresden, Germany for the Szene:Schottland Festival at Societaetstheater. The production had its US premiere at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in January 2012, receiving a standing ovation during its week-long residency. In 2013, the show toured again to Sweden, including a sell-out performance in the 400-seat Hipp at Malmo Stadsteater, to Denmark's Mungo Park Arts Centre in Allerod, Copenhagen for three sold-out performances and to Arhus, to the Celtic Festival at Clwyd Teatr Cymru and throughout the Republic of Ireland with Richard Ryan Productions. Later that year, further Scottish performances and a second tour of Ukraine took place. A second tour of Ireland took place in 2014.
Most of the production's 310 performances to date have been sold out.
“This is a towering piece of work with a glorious performance by the author.”
Emer O’Kelly, Sunday Independent Ireland 2013
"...prove(s) that theatre is indispensable as a meeting place, a guarantee of enchantment and of the human spirit. " Pia Huss, Dagens Nyheter Sweden 2013
“In case it isn’t clear yet my advice is don’t miss it. It’s the most satisfying seventy five minutes that I’ve spent in the theatre in a long time. “
Myk Mykyta, Radio Adelaide Arts Breakfast 2009
“…brilliantly encapsulates the effects of war on individuals, families and societies… As the truth becomes less and less certain, so the fracturing impact of the war grows more tangible, lending this touching personal story the grand metaphorical weight of 20th century history. All this and live fiddle too.” Mark Fisher, The List 2008
“A must…Zajac is truly a visionary” Broadway World, New York
“A gripping tale….a phenomenal violinist…the cognitive dissonance of the two narrators is fascinating, emphasizing the true trauma of living through a war.” Charged FM, New York
“An ardent, deeply personal play…compelling, impassioned…a fine actor”
New York Times
“Matthew Zajac, compellingly pieces together his father's patchwork of truths and omissions, then methodically unravels it, in this taut odyssey that spans continents, decades, and even vaster zones of the heart still marked by war… Ben Harrison's imaginatively muscular direction…" Village Voice, New York
“I loved your play. It was just amazing. I wonder if you want to come to NY to perform. This is the best play in the Fringe.”
Michal Nachmany, New York
“One actor, one fiddler, one brilliant and moving piece of theatre. Never spent $25 and 75 minutes so well. See it, friends.”
April Alliston, New York
“Yesterday I saw your play. It was excellent and very moving. It was your father's personal story but it was also a story of every Polish family. My husband’s Granny (78years) saw also with me the play. She doesn't speak English but she had tears in her eyes after the show . I wish people in Poland could see your play too.”
Joanna Jankowska, Edinburgh
“…how incredibly impressed I was by The Tailor of Inverness - not only was your performance extraordinarily assured and theatrical but it explored a whole range of vital issues about identity and uncertainty which is increasingly the heart of the modern experience. Beyond that, of course, it was unbelievably moving and unexpected even though dramatically you had set up the denouement with exceptional skill. I really hope that this makes it to the London stage.”
Misha Glenny, London
“As good as it gets.”
Duncan Bruce, New York
“I found it incredibly moving, thought provoking and interesting, wonderfully acted and produced, and it is something that will stay in my head for a long time.”
Kate Boileau
“Last night my wife and I were at the Arches theatre in Glasgow - it was a truly memorable evening, seeing Matthew Zajac in The Tailor of Inverness. Please convey our congratulations to everyone who helped make this one of our best ever theatre experiences. ”
Henry Perfect, Glasgow
“It was truly the best piece of theatre I have ever seen.”
Liz Bishop, Inverness
Emer O’Kelly, Sunday Independent Ireland 2013
"...prove(s) that theatre is indispensable as a meeting place, a guarantee of enchantment and of the human spirit. " Pia Huss, Dagens Nyheter Sweden 2013
“In case it isn’t clear yet my advice is don’t miss it. It’s the most satisfying seventy five minutes that I’ve spent in the theatre in a long time. “
Myk Mykyta, Radio Adelaide Arts Breakfast 2009
“…brilliantly encapsulates the effects of war on individuals, families and societies… As the truth becomes less and less certain, so the fracturing impact of the war grows more tangible, lending this touching personal story the grand metaphorical weight of 20th century history. All this and live fiddle too.” Mark Fisher, The List 2008
“A must…Zajac is truly a visionary” Broadway World, New York
“A gripping tale….a phenomenal violinist…the cognitive dissonance of the two narrators is fascinating, emphasizing the true trauma of living through a war.” Charged FM, New York
“An ardent, deeply personal play…compelling, impassioned…a fine actor”
New York Times
“Matthew Zajac, compellingly pieces together his father's patchwork of truths and omissions, then methodically unravels it, in this taut odyssey that spans continents, decades, and even vaster zones of the heart still marked by war… Ben Harrison's imaginatively muscular direction…" Village Voice, New York
“I loved your play. It was just amazing. I wonder if you want to come to NY to perform. This is the best play in the Fringe.”
Michal Nachmany, New York
“One actor, one fiddler, one brilliant and moving piece of theatre. Never spent $25 and 75 minutes so well. See it, friends.”
April Alliston, New York
“Yesterday I saw your play. It was excellent and very moving. It was your father's personal story but it was also a story of every Polish family. My husband’s Granny (78years) saw also with me the play. She doesn't speak English but she had tears in her eyes after the show . I wish people in Poland could see your play too.”
Joanna Jankowska, Edinburgh
“…how incredibly impressed I was by The Tailor of Inverness - not only was your performance extraordinarily assured and theatrical but it explored a whole range of vital issues about identity and uncertainty which is increasingly the heart of the modern experience. Beyond that, of course, it was unbelievably moving and unexpected even though dramatically you had set up the denouement with exceptional skill. I really hope that this makes it to the London stage.”
Misha Glenny, London
“As good as it gets.”
Duncan Bruce, New York
“I found it incredibly moving, thought provoking and interesting, wonderfully acted and produced, and it is something that will stay in my head for a long time.”
Kate Boileau
“Last night my wife and I were at the Arches theatre in Glasgow - it was a truly memorable evening, seeing Matthew Zajac in The Tailor of Inverness. Please convey our congratulations to everyone who helped make this one of our best ever theatre experiences. ”
Henry Perfect, Glasgow
“It was truly the best piece of theatre I have ever seen.”
Liz Bishop, Inverness
But there is another story, and perhaps a third and fourth one,for in order to survive, he had to adopt different identities....................................
But there is another story, and perhaps a third and fourth one, for in order to survive, he had to adopt different identities. Like all immigrants, the tailor had to adapt and he did that very successfully, integrating himself into the fabric of Highland life. And fabric was perhaps the most important medium through which he achieved this. He made a variety of clothes for thousands of people, including himself, constructing the outward trappings which play a part in defining hwo we are. Fabric. Fabrication.
Crossing the borders from Poland to Russia to Iran to Egypt to Italy to Germany to Scotland, the fable reflects on the Second World War but is personal, intimate and rooted in two cultures: Galicia and the Scottish Highlands. The play uses the central metaphor of the tailor and his fabric. Layers of ghostly clothes are projected on to with a series of still and moving images from the tailor's past and present-day Ukraine. The performance combines storytelling, songs, poetry and physicality with a rich soundscape of live fiddle music and effects.
Crossing the borders from Poland to Russia to Iran to Egypt to Italy to Germany to Scotland, the fable reflects on the Second World War but is personal, intimate and rooted in two cultures: Galicia and the Scottish Highlands. The play uses the central metaphor of the tailor and his fabric. Layers of ghostly clothes are projected on to with a series of still and moving images from the tailor's past and present-day Ukraine. The performance combines storytelling, songs, poetry and physicality with a rich soundscape of live fiddle music and effects.
Opening Venues 2008
Preview Performances Arches Theatre, Glasgow Premiere & Opening Run Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Touring Venues 2009 Australia Holden Street Theatre, Adelaide, Australia Sweden Vasterbottensteatern, Skelleftea Storytelling Festival, Sweden Umea University, Sweden Scotland Tron Theatre, Glasgow Celtic Connections 2009 The Catstrand, New Galloway Eastgate Theatre, Peebles Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh Webster Memorial Theatre, Arbroath Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline Tower Mill, Heart Of Hawick Byre Theatre, St. Andrews Macphail Theatre, Ullapool An Lanntair, Stornoway Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Sleat, Skye Arainn Shuaineirt, Strontian Druimfin, Tobermory, Mull Lossiemouth Town Hall Woodend Barn, Banchory Lonach Hall, Strathdon One Touch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness Rosehall Village Hall, Sutherland Lochinver Village Hall Plockton High School, Wester Ross Lyth Arts Centre, Caithness Lemon Tree Arts Centre, Aberdeen Grassic Gibbon Centre, Arbuthnott Stracatharo Hall, Inchbare, Brechin Tullynessle & Forbes Village Hall, Aberdeenshire Touring Venues 2010 Poland Konfrontacje Teatralne Festival Lublin Zielona Gora Universty Ukraine Golden Lion Festival Lviv Volhynia University Lutsk Kyiv Mohyla University Germany English Theatre, Berlin, Germany Thespis Festival, Kiel Germany Scotland IETM Arches Glasgow Eden Court Theatre Inverness Citizens Theatre Glasgow Nairn Book & Arts Festival Clashmore Hall Sutherland Touring Venues 2011 Germany Szene Schottland, Societaetstheater,Dresden, Germany Touring Venues 2012 USA Curtain Theatre, University Of Massachusetts, Amherst Touring Venues 2013 Denmark Teatr Gruppe 38, Aarhus Mungo Park Arts Centre, Allerod, Copenhagen Sweden Hipp, Malmo Stadsteater Teater Martin Mutter, Orebro Teater Pero, Stockholm Ireland Theatre Royal, Waterford Draiocht, Blanchardstown, Dublin Ballymaloe Grain Store, Co. Cork Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny Everyman Palace Theatre, Cork Carnegie Arts Centre, Kenmare Caherdaniel Hall, Waterville, Co. Kerry Friar's Gate Theatre, Kilmallock Ramor Theatre, Virginia, Cavan Solstice Arts Centre, Navan Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire Wales Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold - Celtic New Writing Festival Ukraine Ivan Franko Theatre, Kyiv - Mariafest Monodrama Festival National University Of Linguistics, Kyiv House Of Culture, Reshetylivka, Poltava Oblast House Of Culture, Kryvyi Rog, Promoted By Shelter+ Ivan Franko University, Lviv Les Kurbas Theatre, Lviv Agricultural College, Pidhaitsi |
2013 contd.... Scotland Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock Tron Theatre, Glasgow Eden Court Theatre, Inverness Dundee Rep Theatre Summerhall, Edinburgh Touring Venues 2014 Ireland Market Place Theatre Armagh Pavilion Theatre Dun Laoghaire Town Hall Theatre Galway Lyric Theatre Belfast Touring Venues 2015 USA 59E59 Theaters,Brits Off Broadway Festival New York Scotland Greenside Church, Edinburgh Dalbeattie Town Hall County Buildings, Wigtown Glenbuchat Hall, Aberdeenshire Touring Venues 2016 Scotland Durness Village Hall Sutherland Thurso Cinema Caithness Melvich Village Hall Sutherland Birnam Arts Institute The Tolbooth Stirling Lemon Tree Aberdeen Traverse Theatre Edinburgh Eden Court Theatre Inverness Portsoy Town Hall Crathes Village Hall Aberdeenshire Kemnay Village Hall Aberdeenshire New Pitsligo Village Hall Aberdeenshire Lumsden Village Hall Aberdeenshire Carlops Village Hall Wales Pwllheli Neuadd Dwyfor Aberystwyth Arts Centre Clwyd Teatr Cymru University of South Wales England Birmingham Rep Studio Witham Hall Barnard Castle Helmsley Arts Centre Wickham Theatre Bristol University Colchester Arts Centre Nottingham Playhouse Studio Manchester Ukrainian Cultural Centre Chats Palace Arts Centre London Touring Venues 2019 Scotland Birnam Arts Institute Lemon Tree Aberdeen Edinburgh Capital Theatres The Studio Potterrow Eden Court Theatre Inverness Carlops Village Hall The Brunton Theatre Musselburgh Johnshaven Village Hall Cumbernauld Theatre Perth Theatre The Joan Knight Studio Portgordon Village Hall Tullynessle and Forbes Hall Kinlochleven- Kinlochleven High School Theatre The Webster Theatre Arbroath The Universal Hall Findhorn Eigg Community Hall The Isand of Eigg Arisaig Village hall Eastwood Park Theatre Giffnock The Beacon Arts Centre Greenock Webster's Theatre Glasgow Belgium Beursschouwburg Made In Scotland Festival 2024 Finborough Theatre London Sweden Skellefteå Storytelling Festival Studion Umeå France Cité des Arts Chambéry Université Savoie Mont Blanc Chambéry |
Ukraine 2013
The company returned from a hugely successful tour of Ukraine in October, playing to packed houses in theatres and educational venues across the country, covering around 7000km in the van ! In spite of some very poor roads and the regular attention of the Ukrainian traffic police, we had a wonderful time, receiving tremendous hospitality and appreciation from hundreds of people. Over 1500 people attended our seven performances, with a majority being under 30 years of age. The tour opened at the prestigious Ivan Franko Theatre in Kyiv at the Mariafest Monodrama Festival, headed by the distinguished and irrepressible actress, Larysa Kadyrova. We were particularly honoured to be included in this festival, funded by the Ukrainian Culture Ministry, as it is primarily a festival of plays performed by women. In Kyiv, Matthew also paid a visit to the office of the literary journal Vsesvit, publishers of the play's Ukrainian translation.
Over 250 attended our next performance at the National University of Linguistics in Kyiv, organised by Hanna Dyka and Anna Voskres and we travelled further east to Poltava Oblast, where 400 attended the show at the House of Culture in the small town of Reshetylivka, the first ever performance in the town by a foreign theatre company. This was organised by teacher Taya Kripliva, who has established a museum dedicated to Robert Burns in her school in the village of Ploske. We visited her school to talk to the pupils there. We drove to our most easterly point, the city of Dnipropetrovsk, before turning south west to Kryvyi Rih, Europe's longest city (126km!), where it took some time for us to find our hotel ! Our performance there was organised by the independent youth arts charity, Shelter+, and was again a full house, with dozens of people eager to talk to us after the show. A marathon 14-hour drive west took us to the beautiful city of Lviv for sell-out performances at the Ivan Franko University and the Kurbas Theatre. Our final performance in Ukraine was in the small town of Pidhaitsi, close to the origin of the story, a very special performance. Matthew and film director Brian Ross stayed on in Pidhaitsi as the van drove out of Ukraine towards home, filming there and in the village of Hnilowody, the Tailor's birthplace, for a documentary film on the play, our touring in Eastern Europe and the Polish and Ukrainian post-war settlement in Scotland. This included another school visit. The film is produced by Hopscotch Films of Glasgow. We thank Hopscotch and Creative Scotland for supporting this remarkable tour.
Dogstar's remarkable international hit show THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS had
its US premiere on January 31st 2012 at the Curtain Theatre, University
of Massachusetts in Amherst. The show played there for four nights as
part of a week-long residency at UMASS. We have long harboured the
ambition to take the show to an American audience and our hopes for the
show were rewarded with a tremendous reception which included a
spontaneous standing ovation from a packed house at the final
performance. Further performances in the US now look likely as a result
of our visit, details of which will appear here on confirmation. Our
residency at UMASS also included lively meetings with students,
post-performance discussions with audience members and Gavin Marwick
gave three brilliant lecture-demonstrations on Scottish traditional
music to UMASS music students. We would like to express our gratitude
to all the wonderful staff at the UMASS Theatre Department and
especially to English Professor Jenny Spencer, who facilitated our visit
as part of the UMASS Edinburgh Fringe Programme. Jenny worked
tirelessly to raise funds and organise every aspect of our visit along
with Theatre Department colleagues Harley Erdman and Michael Cottom, who
oversaw the construction of a near-perfect replica of the show's set.
Thanks also to the students who worked with such dedication on the
production, assisting our production manager Sholto Bruce.
Dresden 2011
THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS was presented in Dresden in May2011 at SZENE:SCHOTTLAND, a festival of Scottish theatre produced by SOCIETAETSTHEATER, the city's central venue for new work. We drove our van to the Newcastle-Amsterdam ferry and then on the autobahns across Germany. Our German hosts gave us a warm welcome and wonderful hospitality. We were doubly rewarded with yet another tremendous reception for the show, followed on the first night by a discussion with audience members led by the academic Stefan Schonfelder. The discussion focussed on the issues of forced migration and identity which are central to the play and to the history of Dresden. Once again we felt a very strong connection between the play and this part of the world, so close to the story's origin. Dresden itself is still recovering from World War 2 in some ways: its old town is only now nearing the completion of its reconstruction following the relentless carpet bombing of the city in 1945.
Eastern Europe 2010
THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS company undertook an eventful and rewarding tour in Ukraine, Poland and Germany during October 2010. We drove our van from Scotland across the Netherlands, Germany and Poland via the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry. The Schengen Agreement has removed all border controls through these countries. However, we did encounter some serious difficulties at the Polish-Ukrainian border, where Ukrainian customs officials initially refused us entry as they suspected we might sell our equipment in Ukraine ! After numerous phone calls to our Ukrainian hosts, letters faxed through from them and from the British Embassy in Kyiv, and long hours in the border queues we were allowed into Ukraine.
Despite the disappointment of having to cancel our performance in Pidhaitsi due to the delay, our travails at the border were worth it. At the impressive Zoloty Lev (Golden Lion) Festival in Lviv, we presented two sold-out performances in the beautiful Les Kurbas Theatre alongside companies from Hungary, Poland, Austria, the USA and Ukraine. In the north-western city of Lutsk, our hosts at Volhynia University had worked very hard. 400 people attended our first performance in the city's plush concert hall, with our second performance taking place before an audience of students in the university's own theatre. We then drove 400km east to Kyiv, where our three performances at Kyiv-Mohyla University took place. All seven of our Ukrainian performances were met with standing ovations.
Our passage out of Ukraine went more smoothly and we travelled to Lublin in Eastern Poland for its Konfrontacje Teatralne (Theatre Confrontations) Festival, one of Poland's most prominent theatre festivals. Its Artistic Director is Janusz Oprynski, a founder-member of Teatr Provisorium, one of the leading experimental companies in Poland since the late 1960s. Here, there were companies from Russia, USA and Poland. Both our performances were sold out and very warmly received. We then travelled across Poland to Zielona Gora for a performance at the city's university. We chose to go there as many of the Poles who were deported from the Tailor's birthplace, the village of Gnilowody, were resettled near Zielona Gora in 1945. This performance was also sold out.
The story of The Tailor Inverness originates in Poland and Ukraine, so it was particularly appropriate for us to tour there. It was also quite nerve-wracking to present a story which is essentially that of the Polish-Ukrainian experience during the Second World War to an audience which had undergone that experience. But it is also the story of the Polish and Ukrainian diasporas in Scotland. Our audiences in Poland and Ukraine certainly had a much stronger grasp of the history we are exploring in the play, but there are still not many examples of artistic interpretations of this history. We are still gathering critical responses to the performances there, but the ones we have seen so far are extremely positive, describing audiences as "visibly moved" and the performance as "brilliantly played" and "completely relevant to today", so we seem to have done quite well !
The show then ran for 5 performances at the lovely English Theatre in Berlin, where word of mouth ensured sell-out shows and a great reception, the show having obvious resonance for a German audience too, of course. One result of the Berlin shows is an invitation to a festival in Dresden which will take place in May 2011.
The Tailor of Inverness returned to Germany for a performance at the brilliant Thespis Festival in Kiel, following two performances at the Arches Theatre, Glasgow for the 2010 IETM Plenary. Thespis is a monodrama (one-person play) festival organised by an enthusiastic and skilled group of theatre workers led by the indefatigable Jolanta Sutowicz. The festival included work from Armenia, France/Chile, Cuba, Israel, Finland, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Germany, and the USA. Ours was the final performance of the festival, in Kiel's state-of-the-art Schauspielhaus. We received what was possibly the longest curtain call ever for the show and afterwards, we were invited to take the production to Iran, Israel and Belarus ! We'll let you know if and when these invitations are realised.
Despite the disappointment of having to cancel our performance in Pidhaitsi due to the delay, our travails at the border were worth it. At the impressive Zoloty Lev (Golden Lion) Festival in Lviv, we presented two sold-out performances in the beautiful Les Kurbas Theatre alongside companies from Hungary, Poland, Austria, the USA and Ukraine. In the north-western city of Lutsk, our hosts at Volhynia University had worked very hard. 400 people attended our first performance in the city's plush concert hall, with our second performance taking place before an audience of students in the university's own theatre. We then drove 400km east to Kyiv, where our three performances at Kyiv-Mohyla University took place. All seven of our Ukrainian performances were met with standing ovations.
Our passage out of Ukraine went more smoothly and we travelled to Lublin in Eastern Poland for its Konfrontacje Teatralne (Theatre Confrontations) Festival, one of Poland's most prominent theatre festivals. Its Artistic Director is Janusz Oprynski, a founder-member of Teatr Provisorium, one of the leading experimental companies in Poland since the late 1960s. Here, there were companies from Russia, USA and Poland. Both our performances were sold out and very warmly received. We then travelled across Poland to Zielona Gora for a performance at the city's university. We chose to go there as many of the Poles who were deported from the Tailor's birthplace, the village of Gnilowody, were resettled near Zielona Gora in 1945. This performance was also sold out.
The story of The Tailor Inverness originates in Poland and Ukraine, so it was particularly appropriate for us to tour there. It was also quite nerve-wracking to present a story which is essentially that of the Polish-Ukrainian experience during the Second World War to an audience which had undergone that experience. But it is also the story of the Polish and Ukrainian diasporas in Scotland. Our audiences in Poland and Ukraine certainly had a much stronger grasp of the history we are exploring in the play, but there are still not many examples of artistic interpretations of this history. We are still gathering critical responses to the performances there, but the ones we have seen so far are extremely positive, describing audiences as "visibly moved" and the performance as "brilliantly played" and "completely relevant to today", so we seem to have done quite well !
The show then ran for 5 performances at the lovely English Theatre in Berlin, where word of mouth ensured sell-out shows and a great reception, the show having obvious resonance for a German audience too, of course. One result of the Berlin shows is an invitation to a festival in Dresden which will take place in May 2011.
The Tailor of Inverness returned to Germany for a performance at the brilliant Thespis Festival in Kiel, following two performances at the Arches Theatre, Glasgow for the 2010 IETM Plenary. Thespis is a monodrama (one-person play) festival organised by an enthusiastic and skilled group of theatre workers led by the indefatigable Jolanta Sutowicz. The festival included work from Armenia, France/Chile, Cuba, Israel, Finland, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Germany, and the USA. Ours was the final performance of the festival, in Kiel's state-of-the-art Schauspielhaus. We received what was possibly the longest curtain call ever for the show and afterwards, we were invited to take the production to Iran, Israel and Belarus ! We'll let you know if and when these invitations are realised.