We’re all keen to have things to look forward to in 2021 after the terrible year that we’ve all been through and the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) holds out a promise of such with an exciting new production called Victorious – A Paisley Epic Tale in Five Acts.
Paisley is a town with a vivid history of community spirit, solidarity and radical politics and 2021 will see the story of its momentous past in a new collaboration between NTS; award-winning theatre company Slung Low, that specialises in working in non-theatre spaces; Renfrewshire Leisure and the folk of this historic town, known locally as Paisley Buddies.
In a renewed commitment to Paisley by NTS with the revival of the Paisley People’s Theatre Project, this large-scale participatory arts project is part of Renfrewshire Council’s Future Paisley – a programme of economic, social and physical regeneration using the area’s rich culture and heritage to transform its future.
The finale of the project will be Victorious, a new epic piece of people’s theatre written by Julia Taudevin who is co-Artistic Director of new Glasgow based theatre company Disaster Plan, and directed by Alan Lane who is Artistic Director of Leeds based theatre company Slung Low. It will be performed in September 2022 and will take place over a whole day in various locations around the town,
This musical, about a future we might be heading towards, will have a professional cast of 12 who will be joined by more than 250 community performers to bring the story to life. Over the day’s performance, that will be sound tracked by a virtual jukebox of some of Scotland’s favourite popular hits, headset wearing audiences will be able to come and go as they experience the multi-media event set at the heart of Radical Renfrewshire.
Public engagement with the project is set to begin in April 2021 and the people of Paisley are invited to help shape the project over the coming months. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, engagement for the project will be restructured to adapt to social distancing regulations.
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 