Plays

In a Sma Room

In a Sma Room, a musical play about William Soutar, opened at Perth Concert Hall in May 2012, before touring east Scotland. Jennifer Bates played Madame Lozatska, the medium channelling the spirits of four people close to Soutar: his mother, his adoptive sister Evie, his kissing-cousin Mollie, and the poet Hugh MacDiarmid.

The show featured fifteen new musical settings to Soutar’s poems, composed by jazz guitarist Kevin Mackenzie, pianist Paul Harrison and vocalist Debra Salem. They performed the songs with violinist Patsy Reid. Sandy Thomson of Poorboy Theatre Company directed.


Cat and Mouse

Cat and Mouse, a play about four Scottish suffragettes and the prison doctor who force-fed them, received three rehearsed readings at different stages of development. At the Soutar Theatre, Perth; at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh; and at Perth Theatre Studio. All three readings were directed by Muriel Romanes of Stellar Quines Theatre Company. Perth Drama Club staged a full production, directed by Max Clay, at Goodlyburn Theatre in 2016.

Cat and Mouse, Introduction
Cat and Mouse, Fan and the warder

The Keekin Gless

Ajay worked with Perth Youth Theatre and director Neil Doherty to develop a play about William Soutar’s life and work. The Keekin Gless was performed at Perth Theatre in July 2009.