Award winning composer Martin Green, best known as the accordionist in folk trio Lau, makes his playwriting debut with KELI that will be staged to chime with 40 years anniversary of the miners’ strikes. Based on personal stories from the critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series ‘Love, Spit and Valve Oil’, the play celebrates community, creativity and the power of music.
KELI will feature brass band music from Green’s acclaimed album SPLIT THE AIR and his two years of research into the world of brass bands, that includes collaboration with the Whitburn Band, and other local brass bands around Scotland, means sustaining relationships with Scottish brass bands and the communities they represent.
KELI tells the story of a teenager in a former mining town where she is the best brass player in the band. Coal is the dust of memory for Keli but music is easy for her whereas everything else is a fight in small-town life. When the chance to change everything arises, can Keli keep a lid on it all?
Director Bryony Shanahan, who makes her NTS debut with Keli, said “My introduction to this project was that it was about a 17 year old called Keli – foul-mouthed, hilarious and a virtuoso flugelhorn player – who finds herself in a disused coal mine with a 150 year old Marxist miner after the strangest night of her life. Oh and that it features a live brass band. I was in! I am so thrilled to be working with National Theatre of Scotland, Lepus and Martin Green to bring Keli to life. It’s a story about community, legacy and above all, music and I can’t wait to invite audiences into Keli’s remarkable world and heart.”
Green is the Artistic Director of Lepus Arts, and KELI, marks their first collaboration with National Theatre of Scotland (NTS). It was developed with NTS and The National Theatre, London’s Generate programme and was originally commissioned as a three-part audio drama by The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. Both KELI and SPLIT THE AIR [MA1] were developed with the support of Creative Scotland and The Space. The music for KELI, Split the Air, was originally commissioned by PRS Foundation for the New Music Biennial at The Southbank Centre, and UK City of Culture.
Dates and venues:
Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling (preview Saturday 10th May)
Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Tuesday 13th to Saturday 17th May
Dundee Rep Thursday 22nd to Saturday 24th May
Perth Theatre Wednesday 4th to Sat 7th June
Tramway, Glasgow Wednesday 11th to Sat 14th June 2025.
Theatre for Fiver tickets are available for 14-to-26 years and those on low-income benefits at the venues above.
Access info: There will be audio described, captioned performances and touch tours in Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth and Glasgow. There will also be integrated BSL interpreted and chilled performances on offer. All performances will be autism friendly.
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 