A BEST-SELLING novel by one of Scotland’s greatest living novelists is to be brought to life on stage early in the New Year.
The adaptation of The Testament Of Gideon Mack by James Robertson will open in Inverness in February before embarking on a 17-date tour around Scotland.
Published in 2006 and long-listed for that year’s Booker Prize, The Testament Of Gideon Mack became an instant Scottish classic. It is a story about grief and the crisis of faith in Scottish society, told through the life of a fictional Church of Scotland minister who doesn’t believe in God. Then he meets the Devil.
Dogstar’s new stage version of the acclaimed novel portrays the minister’s close-knit community as residents grapple with his claim that he has spent three days with the Devil.
Full of humour, provocation and the supernatural, The Testament Of Gideon Mack presents a microcosm of small-town Scotland with a cast of vividly drawn characters.
Commissioned by Eden Court and supported by Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund For Theatre And Dance, the play will be presented by an ensemble of eight actors and a creative team of Scotland-based theatre makers.
At the forefront of the project is Dogstar’s artistic director Matthew Zajac, who first discussed the adaptation with author Robertson 15 years ago.
He said: “James is among Scotland’s greatest living novelists. It was a pleasure and privilege to be permitted by James to adapt this marvellous story.
“It says so much about Scotland and is perhaps the most theatrical of all James’s novels.”
Robertson said he was delighted that at long last, Zajac’s adaptation of the novel was to be staged.
“I have huge respect for Matthew’s work as an actor and writer, and I can’t think of a better team than Dogstar, one of Scotland’s most innovative and dynamic touring companies, to bring this new play to venues across the country.”
Laura Mackenzie-Stuart, Creative Scotland’s head of theatre, said the Touring Fund For Theatre And Dance had been created to ensure that “bold, creative ideas” could be enjoyed by theatre and dance audiences across Scotland.
“It’s great to see this theatrical imagining of a story which has rapidly become a Scottish classic now heading off on its travels, taking in Ayr to Inverness via Stornoway,” she said.
Zajac’s previous work includes The Sky Is Safe, which won Summerhall’s Lustrum Award, and the biographical The Tailor Of Inverness which was awarded a Scotsman Fringe First and the inaugural Holden Street Theatre Award in 2008 and has been touring internationally since.
The Testament Of Gideon Mack will open at Eden Theatre, Inverness, on February 13 before travelling to theatres in Ayr, Dumfries, Dundee, Edinburgh, Giffnock, Greenock, Kirkcaldy, St. Andrews, Stirling and Stornoway
