Off to watch Thunderstruck at Dundee Rep? Then be prepared to leave any romantic notions you might have of the bagpipes behind.
Described as “sensationally epic and brutally intimate”, Thunderstruck is an international award-winning production concerning the legacy and mythology of a Pitlochry bin man who “flew beyond the summit of his art and changed Scottish music forever”.
The one-man show, which runs at Dundee Rep on June 17 and 18 at 7.30pm, is about the life of extraordinary piper Gordon Duncan, who died in 2005.
It’s written and performed by Fife actor David Colvin, who was a member of the original cast of acclaimed NTS play Black Watch in 2006.
The story is told through a young Fifer who learns the bagpipes as well as the history, rules, and proud traditions of Scotland’s national instrument.
He then watches as those rules are torn apart by a man with an unruly, ostentatious, untameable musical talent.
It’s about Scotland and how we as a nation look after and nurture our most talented innovators and our reliance on alcohol.
It dispels the “cultural cringe” that comes with the bagpipe and seeks to consolidate its place in the world’s musical lexicon as an instrument capable of great beauty and subtlety.
- For tickets and information see dundeerep.co.uk
