Savage Nation

‘S e an dùthaich àrd, fhiadhaich a th’ innte.

An rathad bho Pheairt gu Bràigh Mhàrr,

a’ tionndachadh gu Loch na Gàire,

far a bheil gach allt na thùsaire

is e a’ snaidheadh slighe

le miann air a bhith na abhainn.

Chan e ciorram breithe a th’ innte,

chan e teisteanas gu mì-thròcair feòlmhor,

chan e dunaidh de cho-bhualadh theangannan. ’

S e mo phàiste a th’ innte a bha beirte

nuair a dh’adhbharaich mi a màthair gàire a dhèanamh.

‘S e pàiste a th’ innte air rathad gu duais mòr, mòr.’

Tha boireannach òg, nighean athair Iameuganach is màthair Albannach, a’ siubhal à Alba gu Ameireagaidh a Tuath. A’ sireadh na fìrinn mu a sinnsireachd, feumaidh i a lorg am measg snaidhmean eachdraidh Ìmpireachd Bhreatainn, nach deach a theagasg dhi.

A’ snìomhadh dannsa, ceòl agus fionn-sgeul, tha an dealbh-chluich seo a’ coimhead air na rinn Alba ann am Malairt tar-Atlantaigeach nan Tràillean bho shealladh nan Gaidheal, a’ cur nan ceistean as cudromaiche a th’ againn an-diugh mu dhìleab tràilleachd agus colonachadh.

Air a leasachadh an toiseach le Glaschu Beò ann an com-pàirteachas le Comhairle nan Leabhraichean, Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba agus Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba, fhuair am pròiseact seo taic leasachaidh bhon uair sin bhon sgeama Starter for Ten aig Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba.

‘She is the high wild country.

The road from Perth to Braemar

veering off to Lochnagar

where each stream is a pioneer

carving a path

wanting to be a river.

She is no defect of birth

no credit to carnal cruelty

no catastrophe of the collision of tongues.

She is my child

and she came forth

when I made her mother laugh.

She is a child on the road to a great, great bounty.’

A young woman born to a Jamaican father and a Scottish mother is travelling from Scotland to North America. Searching for the truth of her ancestry, she finds she must untangle it from the knotted history of the British Empire she was never taught.

Entwining dance, music, and myth, this play will explore Scotland’s role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade from a Gaelic perspective, posing some of the most pressing questions we are now facing about the legacies of slavery and colonization.

First developed with Glasgow Life in association with The Gaelic Books Council, National Theatre of Scotland, and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Subsequently supported in development by the National Theatre of Scotland Starter for Ten Programme.

2023: The further writing and development of this project, now two sister plays under the banner Savage Nation, is now being supported by Playwrights Studio Scotland through their Gaelic New Playwrights Award.