Earlier on this year a competition was held for new short plays to be performed by the Stromness Drama Club. Working with professional playwright Rachael McGill members of the drama club will be presenting 10 of the plays.

The short plays will be performed on 1 November, 7 pm (doors open 6.30pm) in Stromness Town Hall. No booking is required, just turn up on the night.

Entry will be by donation. The first half of the night is suitable for all ages, but the second half contains some material of a darker nature and parental/carer discretion should be used if younger members of the audience are to attend part 2.

The inspiration for the initial competition was Rachael’s fascination with the minutes of the Stromness Debating Society, which met for 6 decades, closing in 2012. Her grandfather was a founder member and her father one of the last secretaries. The society’s minutes, now in the Orkney Archives, are a a funny, fascinating snapshot of Stromness people’s thoughts on issues since the 50s; everything from ‘Old Stromness is not worth preserving’ (1966), to ‘the experiment of democracy has failed’ (1995)

Actors and directors from the community have now started working on their scripts in Stromness Drama Club’s premises at the Herring Factory.

Rachel said:

‘It’s going to be a varied evening.

“In the first half we have three comedies, all different in tone – a farce, a surreal flight of fancy and a study of some very recognisable Orkney characters. Also two dramas, both with a local focus.

“The second-half is the post-watershed part of the evening, where we go a bit darker, with two sci-fi plays, two gritty family sagas and a chilling exploration of gender and power.

“In terms of writers, half are Orkney residents and the other half are people from here or with an Orkney connection who now live elsewhere. We also have a balance of age and experience from the writers, with some professional playwrights, some who’ve done other kinds of writing before, and some who’ll be exposing their writing to the public for the first time. We have a thirteen year old writer and adult writers in every decade of life from twenties to seventies.

“I’ve worked with the writers to polish their scripts and some have been involved in rehearsals too. We’re expecting all of them to be coming to see their plays performed.

“What’s great about evenings like this is that every short play will be different, not just in terms of the script but also the approach of the directors and actors. You might love some and not like others, but there’ll be lots to think and talk about.”