At the end of the month the Scottish Storytelling Centre are organising a midwinter tradition of seasonal folk drama, and they need you there!
This is for all ages in the coldest of season connecting the old and new with a bit of song and dance, signifying the death and rebirth of a new year.
The new script is collected from customs across the Celtic World from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany and England.
The Burdies will premiere at the Storytelling Centre on 30 December following the success of the Play in a Day for St Andrews Day.
The Burdies combines the midwinter custom of ‘Hunting the Wren’ – associated with pagan rituals to signify bringing life back again with the sun – alongside traditional Scottish songs, tunes and stories about the Marriage of Robin Redbreast and Jenny Wren, as script writer Donald Smith explains: “This is a Folk Play reborn as we’ve uncovered older stuff for the first time in Scotland. All the songs and poems are authentic old sources from Celtic mythology, but combining them in this way is an innovation, alongside the fun of developing the bird characters as an overall chorus, which allowed inclusion of traditional bird lore, such as the corbies (ravens).”
A cast of 10 minimum must be collected to bring this new play to life and the day will be fun with mumming and folk drama. It is all a bit of fun and silliness with lots of opportunity to dress up.
Go along and get involved in a rewarding morning of creation and inclusion, before performing together as a troupe in front of a live audience in the Centre’s Storytelling Court ahead of our Sold Out Family Ceilidh. Enjoy costume making utilising lots of ribbons and feathers, adorning bird head frames and learning the tunes that will stick in your head until New Year rolls around!
Folk Drama: Play in a Day – The Burdies is on Friday 30 December, 10.30am until 2.30pm when the performance will take place!
The cost is £5.
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