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The project was conceived during a period of research from 2022-23 where I was tracing the historical development of Highland dramaturgy in Scotland. The research findings presented a manufactured narrative depicting the Highlands and Islands that had been funnelled through either London (during the 19th century) or the Central Belt of Scotland (from the mid-20th century onwards). The research demonstrated a lack of agency in dramaturgy/narrative creation across the region which aligned with the process of colonisation historically enacted on the land and its people. The legacy of this deterioration in indigenous storytelling and culture still continues today and contemporary dramaturgies are often shaped by the hegemonic centres of theatre making.
As a way to begin exploring the possibility of new dramaturgies, I wanted to learn modes of developing theatre in the minority/indigenous languages of Northern Europe, namely: Scottish Gaelic, Irish, and Northern Sámi. The aim was to see what is already being done across the UK and Sweden in these languages and what can be expanded within these practices to deviate from, challenge, and disrupt the norms of majority language theatre culture.
I contacted some potential collaborators and entered into preliminary discussions about the topic. The project was funded by the Four Nations International Fund through Arts Council England, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Arts Council Wales, Creative Scotland, and Wales Arts International. Supported by An Tobar and Mull Theatre.
From 23rd – 28th June, Elspeth Turner, Laila Snijder, and Paul Ol Jona Utsi joined me at An Tobar and Mull Theatre in Tobermory for a week of discussions and sharing. The Isle of Mull is a traditional place within the Gàidhealtachd although it now has a large population of “blow-ins”. Travelling to Mull by public transport highlights the difficulties that traversing the region has and how this, amongst other infrastructural issues, limits opportunities for theatrical development.
During this week, we were joined digitally by Nuala McCusker and shared histories of the Gaels and Sámi in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Sweden. This contextualised the language and cultures and the contemporary position of professional minority-language theatre making. By sharing these histories we saw shared experiences under colonial powers and how the impact had similar effects on the theatrical/performative heritage of these cultures. It also highlighted the way these cultures diverged in developing creative expressions and modes of living in their natural environments.
Elspeth brought her fiddle and demonstrated the role that music played in Gaelic culture and how this shaped community building within the ceilidh-house, functioning simultaneously as a mode of working, sharing news/politics, and entertaining neighbours and strangers. Paul also shared some joiks, a traditional musical expression in Sámi culture. The joik is a form of sharing the experience one has of a natural landscape, a specific place, or even a person. It carries a multitude of meanings with only limited language used to portray them.
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At the end of July, Nuala travelled from Belfast to Glasgow. We met in the city and joined Rhona at the Theatre Gu Leòr office. Nuala and Rhona shared their experiences of being the only core funded minority language theatre companies in their respective countries and how they tackle making work, training their professionals, and building audiences. Being situated in large cities meant that they shared some practices and engagement methods, although the approach and outreach beyond the city was very different. Aisling Ghéar are clear in their ambition to make urban Irish language theatre, whilst Theatre Gu Leòr have a wider scope and aim to target rural areas of the Highlands and Islands too.
Since the Edinburgh Festival Fringe had started at the end of July this year, Nuala and I were able to visit briefly before returning to Perth. The fringe is often regarded as a space in which theatre makers can experiment, push boundaries, and try new material on a smaller budget. Minority language theatre should not be conflated with fringe theatre however, there is scope in which both forms can act as agitators and disruptors of theatrical norms. However, with the way Edinburgh Fringe has developed, we are finding less experimentation, reduced quality, and a chasm in financial accessibility. Nuala and I reflected on the shared challenges with minority language theatre in this post-pandemic capitalist system.
Finally, in Perth, Nuala was given a tour of Perth Theatre and Concert Hall and was able to see a light show for the new lighting rig that had been put in. Aisling Ghéar did not own a house, but are resident in an Irish language cultural house. We spoke on what it means to be making theatre in particular buildings, what it means to be a theatre without a home, and what a specifically designed theatre house for minority language theatre could look like.
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Elspeth and I travelled to Sweden from the 1st – 7th September. We were hosted in Kiruna by Giron Sámi Teáhter where we were invited to see their theatre house and offices, the vast Sápmi landscape, and some Sámi cultural sites. During this period, the theatre company was rehearsing for a children’s theatre piece titled “Den magiska vandringsstaven” (The magic walking staff) which we were able to see some of. At this juncture of their rehearsal period, they were seeking ways of working with known and new joiks that could express the journey the two child characters were experiencing. This was a fantastic opportunity to see how artists scattered across Sweden collaborated and shared knowledge about their culture and heritage. I also had the opportunity to meet with Sonja Lindblom, a repertory actress at Västerbottensteatern, who grew up in Kiruna. She has primarily worked in the northern regions of Sweden and has her own experience of negotiating Sámi heritage.
Following this time, Elspeth and I travelled by train to see the landscape between Kiruna and Umeå. Umeå was one a European Capital of Culture and was one of the first Nordic cities to create an inclusive year-long programme which celebrated Sámi culture (now followed by Bodø and Oulu). At the time, there were some controversies from Umeå residents which highlights the ongoing racism that Sámi communities face in Sweden. Today, the city maintains a strong cultural presence and we were interested to see how art, culture, and history is embedded in the cityscape and how different this was to our experience in Scotland.
Finally, we had a short stay in Stockholm. Being in the capital city allowed us to understand how the far north can feel so separate to the majority of Swedes, much like the Scotland to the cultural capital of London. Whilst here, we were able to contextualise the artistic and cultural heritage of Sweden through their galleries and museums. We also saw a fun and exciting performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Stockholm’s City Theatre in Kulturhuset. This was a boldly creative reimagining of the classic and provided a source of inspiration to us on ways we can reimagine Scottish theatre.
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Collaborators
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Aisling Ghéar – Nuala McCusker
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Giron Sámi Teáhter – Laila Snijder (Producer), Paul Ol Jona Utsi (Actor)
Supporters
Network
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Sonja Lindblom (Actor, Västerbottensteatern)
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Madeleine Meurman (Director, Giron Sámi Teáhter)
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Kristian Tapio (Actor, Giron Sámi Teáhter)
Tobermory, Scotland
Key Learnings
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Learning dramaturgical and other theatrical skills in a minority language is extremely difficult and limited. This results in learning theatre craft in the majority language which also carries the norms and traditions of the hegemonic culture.
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There is a challenge in minority language theatre of having to teach audiences about the culture it carries whilst telling a compelling story. Non-naturalistic methods are often utilised to break the fourth-wall and strike the balance between didactic and entertaining modes of performance.
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Irish, Gaelic and Sámi cultures have a strong tradition of music which can inform beats and rhythms of text and dramaturgical units as a tool of disrupting traditional Western narrative norms.
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Minority language theatre makers should feel free to take full agency of their language and voice and make theatre for their communities without worrying about how majority language audiences will receive it.
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Funding for minority language theatre is extremely precarious and is often used as a political pawn from central and local governing bodies. It should be recognised as an embedded national theatre practice.
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The sort of stories told by indigenous theatre makers are caught between tradition and modernity. Modernity has been constructed and homogenised by Western colonial powers which in turn limits contemporary expressions of alterity. As living and working languages, Irish, Gaelic and Sámi should be allowed to evolve and develop, but it is difficult to imagine this outwith the norms and biases of the majority culture – particularly when theatre makers have a foot in both worlds.
Nikkaluokta, Sweden
Read my reflections on the project...
Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Sweden
