KELI (The National Theatre of Scotland)
Send us a textIn this episode, we’re celebrating brass bands, activism, teenage angst and community spirit, thanks to the National Theatre of Scotland’s latest production - KELI, which opened last week at Stirling’s Macrobert Centre and Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum.It’s running at Dundee Rep this week, before marching on to Perth Theatre and Glasgow Tramway in June…Marking 40 years since the miners’ strike, it tells the story of a stressed, and funny, and fired-up seventeen-year-old - Keli - dealing with life, and college, and work - and a mum who’s really struggling - in a former mining town…She’s also a brilliant tenor horn player, and a member of the local brass band, who’re still going strong long after the loss of the coal industry that brought them together…The music at the heart of this has long been an obsession for writer and composer Martin Green, who also plays in folk visionaries LAU… and Keli closely follows on from his Radio 4 documentary series, Love, Spit and Valve Oil, and his interviews with trade-unionists, miners, music teachers and brass band players - not to mention a gorgeous album, Split The Air.The show’s musical director is Louis Abbott, of Admiral Fallow among other wonders, the play’s directed by Bryony Shananan, and it stars Liberty Black as Keli, Karen Fishwick as her mum Jane, and Olivia Hemmati as two die-hard, very different friends - Amy and Saskia…And it’s always a thrill to see theatre and screen legends Phil McKee and Billy Mack onstage - the former playing band leader Brian, the latter as the town’s fabled hero - the former miner Willie Knox. We’re also treated to performances by either the Whitburn Band or Kingdom Brass at every show.I loved Keli when I saw it in Edinburgh last week, and I sat down with Martin, Liberty and Olivia at the National Theatre of Scotland’s headquarters, Rockvilla, to reflect on Keli’s journey so far - ahead of the rest of the Scottish dates…akickupthearts.org
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