NESTS is a co-production between Frozen Charlotte and Stadium Rock and their autumn tour opens on Friday 7 September at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, followed by dates in Glasgow, the Central Belt and North East Scotland.
In this, Scotland’s Year of Young People, NESTS is a contemporary tale that asks how our society treats the young and vulnerable. It questions the stories we tell ourselves and the impact we all have on each other. The production is a magical, challenging and crucially relevant piece of theatre that asks if deprived, isolated and disenfranchised children and young people are being systematically and ideologically let down and/or blamed by society.
It is the story of a boy on the run with his friend, a crow. They are starving and frightened. On their journey they meet a man who lives alone in a caravan on the outskirts of society. Their meeting begins a surreal journey where magical realism meets real-life media broadcast.
The story is brought to life by actors Ashleigh More (The Boy) making her professional stage debut and David McKay (The Father) well known to Scottish audience for his many roles including The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, TVs River City and Outlander.
Writer Xana Marwick said:
NESTS has been a long labour of love; inspired by my own life experiences and those of many of the young people I have met over the last 15 years. When I first worked with young people who were experiencing poverty, or who needed extra support because the adults around them were too sick or wrapped up in their own lives to take good care of them, I was shocked by some of what I saw and heard. It took me a long while to realise that, in many ways, my own childhood was also affected by financial hardship, chaos, instability and, at times, darker influences and difficulties. In 2012, when I became a parent myself, NESTS came pouring out of me as a response to all this and a cry-out into the world on behalf of all the children who should have someone looking out for them, but don’t.
With film, animation, live music and recorded sound-scape, director Heather Fulton and writer Xana Marwick have created a piece to absorb audiences into a magical-realist world and thought-provoking story. Design is by Katy Wilson, Lighting Design by Gerron Stewart, Sound Design by Dougal Marwick and Matt Elliott and filmmaker is Geraldine Heaney.
NESTS is specifically aimed at audiences of adults and children over the age of 12.