Pitlochry Festival Theatre in co-production with Firebrand Theatre Company and in association with Dr Kerri Andrews present the World Première of
Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed
Co-written by Richard Baron and Ellie Zeegen
Directed by Richard Baron
Design team of Natalie Fern, Elizabeth Newman and Nick Trueman
Sound designed by Jon Beales
Performed by Irene Allan and David Rankine
- New play to uncover the extraordinary life of the celebrated Scottish naturalist, poet and writer Nan Shepherd and the mystery of the manuscript of her ground-breaking masterpiece, The Living Mountain, which lay forgotten in a drawer for over 30 years.
- Runs from 24 May until 6 July
New play to explore the extraordinary legacy of the visionary
Scottish naturalist and poet, Nan Shepherd
Following the success of their podcast series, A Journey with Nan Shepherd, the award-winning Firebrand Theatre Company in co-production with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, are set to stage the world première of Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed, a richly entertaining, and moving new play that uncovers the extraordinary legacy of the elusive Scottish naturalist and poet, Nan Shepherd.
Opening at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 24 May until 6 July, Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed is filled with poetry, humour and romance and reveals the untold story of how Nan Shepherd’s experiences as an author, teacher, hillwalker and lover helped shape Scotland’s recent literary history. It also uncovers the mystery of why the manuscript of her ground-breaking masterpiece, The Living Mountain, lay forgotten in a drawer for decades, before being self-published, translated into sixteen languages and hailed recently as “one of the finest books ever written on landscape and nature in Britain.”
Produced in association with Dr Kerri Andrews, Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed is co-written by Ellie Zeegen and Richard Baron (The Monarch of the Glen, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, The 39 Steps, 3 UK tours and Look Back in Anger featuring David Tennant at Theatre Royal Bath and Royal Lyceum Theatre) who also directs. The cast features Irene Allan (Wilf, Traverse Theatre Company, Red Dust Road, National Theatre of Scotland and three seasons at Pitlochry Festival Theatre) as Nan Shepherd and David Rankine (The Fair Maid of the West, Royal Shakespeare Company, Kidnapped, National Theatre of Scotland and The Last Witch and Blithe Spirit, Pitlochry Festival Theatre) as Robertson, Neil Gunn, and John Macmurray.
The production is designed by the team of Natalie Fern, Elizabeth Newman and Nick Trueman, with lighting by Peter Fennell and sound by Jon Beales (Chicago, Pitlochry Festival Theatre).
Director and Co-writer Richard Baron said:
“Firebrand Theatre Company’s signature is ‘epic theatre in intimate spaces’, so we are thrilled to be invited by Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman to create a production in their superb new studio theatre which will explore, in Firebrand’s typically inventive style, the fascinating backstory of Nan, this fiercely independent, wild-walking, convention-breaking teacher, and ground-breaking feminist novelist.”
Co-writer Ellie Zeegen added:
“In Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed we discover, at times very funny and at times intensely moving fashion, how Nan was at the heart of the famous Scottish literary renaissance of the 1930s, but because she was a woman in a man’s world, she came to live much of her life in obscurity. However, our research also newly reveals how a bruising unrequited love affair with her best friend’s husband, the free-thinking philosopher John Macmurray, may have inspired Nan’s solitary journey into the mountains. Here, through communing with the landscape, she finally gained the thrilling insight to surmount all these personal obstacles, achieving not only posthumous celebrity as the so-called ‘Scottish Virginia Woolf,’ but the unique honour of becoming the first female writer to feature on a UK bank note.”
Tickets and further information about Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed are available from the Box Office on 01796 484626 or online at pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com.
-Ends-
For all press interviews and review tickets please contact
Duncan Clarke PR : T 07880893750 or E duncanclarkepr@gmail.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
Creatives:
Pitlochry Festival Theatre in co-production with Firebrand Theatre Company and in association with Dr Kerri Andrews present the premiere of
Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed
by Richard Baron and Ellie Zeegen
Directed by Richard Baron
Design team of Natalie Fern, Elizabeth Newman and Nick Trueman
Sound designed by Jon Beales
Lighting designed by Peter Fennell
Production managed by Nick Trueman
Stage Managed by Katy Nicolson
Deputy Stage managed by Ruby Noble
Cast: Irene Allan and David Rankine
Listings:
Studio
Eve perf at 8pm:
May: 24 & 25
June: 6, 12, 26 & 29
Mat perf at 2.30pm:
June: 15
July: 6
Running time: 75mins
Suitable for 12+
Ticket prices: From £15
Box Office and group bookings: 01796 484626
email boxoffice@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Website: pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Address: Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Port-Na-Craig, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH16 5DR
Pitlochry Festival Theatre. A Theatre for Everyone. A Theatre for a Lifetime.
Since 1951, Pitlochry Festival Theatre has been the artistic heart and soul of Highland Perthshire. Attracting over 100,000 visitors every year, we are more than simply a place to come and see a show – we’re Scotland’s leading producer of musical theatre, a champion of ensemble practice and the country’s only rurally-located, major arts organisation. Our vision is to improve lives by sharing Pitlochry with the world and the world with Pitlochry. Our aim is to create life-enhancing experiences in our Theatre and its glorious eleven-acre campus that encompasses the magical Explorers Garden. In everything we do, we are committed to nurturing an exciting creative and cultural future for Scotland.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre is supported by funding from Creative Scotland and Perth & Kinross Council. It is also grateful to the many individual donors, trusts and foundations who continue to support the Theatre in its vision.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Address: Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Port Na Craig, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH16 5DR
Box Office and group bookings: boxoffice@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Website: pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Firebrand Theatre Company
Award-winning Firebrand had recent success with their critically acclaimed dramatised podcasts about writer and hillwalker Nan Shepherd, which featured on the Pitlochry Festival Theatre Sound Stage. Previously the Scottish Borders-based company has established its high-quality reputation with inventive touring revivals of neglected modern Scottish plays such as Iron by Rona Munro, which featured the “world class” (Scotsman) performance of Blythe Duff, or international hits such as Grounded by the American playwright George Brant, of which The Times said, “Firebrand has the knack of discovering new plays destined to become contemporary classics.”
