Would you mind giving us an insight into what your show/event/performance is?
‘Capturing the Light’ is a ‘one-woman’ piece of theatre which combines storytelling, poetry, quotes, music, song, and immersive visuals to give an account of my great-grandfather’s life behind his painting, and connecting his life to my own life two generations later, and some of the remarkable similarities that run down the family lines.
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
It has been such an honour to work as part of a team, we have worked with Sruth-Mara theatre group and Andrew-Eaton-Lewis who has been central in bringing a group of local island professional artists together to work on the show. Robbie Thomson and Laura Cameron-Lewis form a great team for the final lighting, stage production and design. Ralph Tonge photography has been on site for the initial press images and also captured footage and more press shots from the preview show in An Lanntair and Wise-Love Studio designing the beautiful final poster image.
My husband Gary Lister (who will be working the lights, visuals and music/voice over) and Myself have been working on the research, script and music album for some time. I also created a small booklet to accompany the album as it is such a small part of the final production and yet underpins the whole piece. A local harpist from the same village as myself Carole Miller was able to accompany me on one of the tracks as it seemed important to me to have instruments from the 1800’s as part of the sound. Callum McLeod, a Gaelic speaking minister from the Free Church recorded a short piece of the Gaelic poem written by William McTaggart’s great-grandfather, Duncan McDougall. Our close friend Jim Archibald with his rich Scottish tones was happy to record the voice-over quotation. My sister Rachel McTaggart-Sutton painted and drew 5 illustrations from stories of William’s life which can be found in the booklet, and a couple as part of the stage show.
To top it all, I have been so touched at how Sabine Zielinska our BSL interpreter, was able to again enhance the show with her almost dance-like movement and beautiful interpretation of words.
I actually had the beginnings of this idea 25 years ago and it’s just incredible to see it finally come to fruition.
How does it feel coming to (back to) the Fringe?
The Fringe keeps me on tenterhooks all year round! It is such a crazy over-load of all the senses every year and I always have mixed feelings about it…but one thing is for certain, it always takes me at least a month to process the experience after it is all over. I am always blown-away by the diversity of human creativity and there is nowhere better to get an idea of this than at the Ed Fest Fringe!
This will be our 15th year! But I am so excited to finally bring this show to the stage! It feels as though everything has been a build up to this! We have worked independently in the past but thanks to Creative Scotland and Made in Scotland funding and support from the Royal Scottish Academy, it has been possible to be part of a team which has brought layers of creativity and experience to the show that I just love. I am just so proud of this production and everyone that has been a part of it and want to tell everyone to come and see it!
With shows from all over the world at the Fringe, what sets yours apart?
This show is totally unique and truly Scottish to its core. It’s historic background of 19th-century Scotland and its connections to modern day, the inspiring rags-to-riches story of a Gaelic-speaking crofter’s son from Campbeltown to a pioneering artist who changed the course of Scottish Art through his perseverance and dedication to his talent, while at the same time demonstrating that hard work, faith, family and fellow countrymen were all a large part of his success and legacy. The characteristics that make me proud to be his great-grand-daugther, I now get to pass on, and encourage people to go and see his art which is untouched by time in many ways, as he painted the land and sea in its most natural forms and he captured the atmosphere which is the same today as it was then. His life was as wholesome and inspiring as his paintings are beautiful and full of light and I just want to present that to the audience and thanks to the incredible team I think we have achieved something unique, beautiful and poignant.
On that, is there anything in the production or production team’s backgrounds which influences the way the show is performed or told?
As a descendant of the artist, the story comes from within the family and as a musician, I have a different set of artistic skills with which to present his story mixing many creative mediums, but then we bring in Laura and Robbie’s skills which take the show to a whole new level of beauty with their stunning stage design, enhanced by incredible lighting, voice-overs, timing and projection mapping which somehow creates a fully immersive experience. It has been wonderful to watch how they have taken my storytelling, script and music skills and wrapped their own artistic direction around it with such empathy and understanding. I always love seeing what other artists bring to a project and how each unique approach adds something so different and when these skills are combined the outcome can never be anything but unique!
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
I think my Great Grandfather’s paintings are beautiful and I think the life that created them is largely unknown and just as inspiring and gives such a relevance to the paintings themselves. I hope that those who enjoy the show will be inspired to go and take a look for themselves at his paintings which can be seen in many of the national art galleries around Scotland. It’s difficult in this day and age to understand just how progressive and influential his art was in its time, but I hope this show gives a bit more insight into what he achieved and how he lived his life in such a quiet and simple way, never chasing for anything more than just to provide for his family and yet following his conception through against all the odds.
Your Ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t…?
To inspire, to encourage, to motivate people to follow their strengths and their talents but with strength, integrity, boldness and being confident in their priorities, what is good and true. Family, faith, friends and fellow-folk … I suppose that means anybody and everybody? But possibly this show will appeal to creatives of all genres and those who enjoy story-telling in all its capacities. I will definitely have my ancestors in mind as I perform this show but I’m not expecting any of them to turn up… maybe just God himself… that would be nice 😉
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
We are so fortunate this year to be living on-site thanks to The Space UK who we have worked with for the past 14 yrs. We have been able to schedule our 3-slots per day for the run of the Fringe to be finished by 4pm which means that this year we will have a great opportunity to get to as many shows as we can in the evenings. This may be our last year of performing for the full three and a half weeks so we plan to make the most of it! The time to relax is after it is all over… the trick to surviving the Fringe is to pace yourself, take every opportunity to have short bubblets of down time between all the craziness… but I’m not sure that equates to relaxing lol!
We hope to see more of the ‘Made in Scotland’ shows as we were able to meet up with many of them earlier in the year and it was great to hear about the shows they were planning.
Elsa McTaggart: Capturing the Light runs at Venue 38, Big at theSpaceTriplex
Runs: 7th – 28th August at 11:40am
Photo credit – Ralph Tonge
Interested in being featured on our Have a Gander page? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’