Pitlochry Pageant Theatre is delighted to current the world première of To the Bone (18 August – 29 September) by award-winning Scottish playwright Isla Cowan.
Beth and Alf moved to the nation to begin once more. However nothing turned out as deliberate. Eight years later, Beth returns to the home and is shocked by what she finds in its partitions – and in herself.
Set in a secluded, rural cottage, To the Bone explores isolation and possession, loss and longing, as Beth confronts her previous and fights for her future.
To the Bone is an intense, intimate one room drama that cuts to the marrow of reminiscence and asks what it’s to grieve and to stay; to stay and to endure; and to go on. A play about water and weeds, about discovering resilience within the ruins of a relationship, a home, a house.
Isla Cowan is a playwright, performer, and director, from Edinburgh. Isla’s play She Wolf premiered on the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe and was the winner of the 2021 Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize, the 2022 Meeting ART Award, and shortlisted for the 2022 Filipa Bragança Award. Her different current work for stage contains Progress Evaluate (Stellar Quines, Traverse Theatre), Jack and the Beanstalk (Hopscotch Theatre Firm), Alright Sunshine (A Play, A Pie, and A Pint, Òran Mór), and The View from 2038 (Royal Lyceum).
Isla Cowan mentioned about her new play:
“I wrote ‘To the Bone’ as an exploration of place and the previous, homes, and our bodies. I’m concerned about concepts of haunting and the way sure areas and locations – notably former locations of habitation – a home, a ‘dwelling’ – have an awesome energy to conjure recollections and evoke deep rooted emotions we typically can’t even title. Alongside that, the house is an inherently political area – not solely within the feminist sphere, attributable to histories of ladies being confined to the family, but in addition when it comes to capitalism – funds, possession, property – which feels pertinent right now within the context of the housing disaster on this nation.
‘To the Bone’ is about what occurs to a home when a relationship falls aside, and the way cash and materials possessions come to symbolise components of our previous, our self-worth, and what we’ve misplaced – and, in the end, might be weaponised. I needed to put in writing about what it means to ‘return’ to a spot and withstand the previous, but additionally, concurrently, to should grapple with the logistical, administrative challenges of belongings and property whereas in a spot of ache and battle. As Beth returns to her former dwelling, with the intention to promote the property, she is shocked by what she discovers in the home and in herself. I hope audiences will likely be shocked, entertained, and deeply moved by ‘To the Bone.’
Pitlochry Pageant Theatre’s Creative Director Elizabeth Newman added:
“We’re thrilled to be producing ‘To the Bone’ as a part of our 2023 Summer season Season. It has been a terrific expertise working with Isla, which started when she first began attending our digital Writers Room in 2020. I’m equally thrilled to share the information that our new Trainee Director Sam Hardie will likely be directing Isla’s new play. Sam grew to become Trainee Director in April after a massively aggressive course of. She is a superb Director and certainly one of Scotland’s most fun theatre abilities. I’m positive the mixture of Isla and Sam will create one thing magical for our audiences this summer time in Pitlochry.”
To the Bone’s solid will characteristic Rachael McAllister (Little Ladies and A Christmas Carol, Pitlochry Pageant Theatre) as Beth; Joseph Tweedale (The Which means of Zong, Bristol Outdated Vic and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Theatre Clwyd) as Alf and Trudy Ward (As You Like It, Jupiter Theatre) as Vee. The première will likely be directed by Sam Hardie (GIRLS, The PappyShow).
To the Bone runs at Pitlochry Pageant Theatre from 18 August until 29 September.
Tickets at the moment are on sale and can be found from the Pitlochry Pageant Theatre Field Workplace on 01796 484626 or on-line at www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
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