I remember being taken to the Edinburgh festival as a young teenager to watch a Siberian rock opera titled or subtitled something like “From Heaven to 9/11”, which promised to tell a couple of thousand years of human history with a lot of guitar, synths and slightly opaque references to the Tower of Babel and the Twin Towers. It was quite intense.
One of the creative minds behind the production, I think, was the well-known Italian-Scoto maverick impresario by the name of Ricky DeMarco, whom I’m glad to say is still going strong aged 94. Here he is with my mother at St Leonard’s School Art Show earlier this summer a few weeks ago.
One of the joys of being in the company of DeMarco — about whom great documentaries have been made — is the way he always has a camera around his neck, snapping away and making introductions.
I was lucky to attend one of his birthdays at the quirky Fingask Follies in Perthshire…
Another production which I’ll always recall was Die Hamletmaschine in Berlin, put on by a company of refugees from Afghanistan, Palestine and Syria. It was a very visceral and moving performance, including glowing and also a lot of physicality such as scaling the walls.
I have always appreciated and believed in the power of the theatre to bring people together and explore complex issues, as well as giving the performers a chance for self-expression.
When Sir Sean Connery re-opened our local theatre in St Andrews at the turn of the millennium, our drama teacher was present and asked for an autograph. She handed him a pencil, which he looked at quizzically, before she said “it’s a school pencil.”
“Ah,” he replied, “but you don’t look like a school girl!”