Held on the High Wire
Created and performed by Jenny Q and Myshkin Warbler
Based on Jenny’s book Held Together + Myshkin’s album Trust and the High Wire
A candid, spellbinding multimedia performance that tells the story of Jenny’s near death experience, sepsis survival, and new life on metal legs. Balancing urgency, reflection, humour and wonder, the show merges Jenny’s raw, vulnerable memoir with Myshkin’s haunting Folk/Jazz music and film collages. It explores sudden disability, queer family, resilience, love and transformation. Made with the support of An Tobar and Mull Theatre, the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, and the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival.
Myshkin Warbler is a Dutch-American music and multimedia artist. Her ten records of original compositions, series of multimedia performance pieces, and three decades of international touring brought her to Scotland on a Global Talent visa in 2023.
Jenny Qaqundah is a Palestinian born in America, a writer, cellist, entrepreneur and disability activist. Together they have created multiple art and business projects, form the core of the band Ruby Warblers, and have made the Highlands their home.
A deeply moving piece of theatre that captures the power of personal storytelling with remarkable grace…a level of honesty and vulnerability that is both compelling and universally resonant…truly inspiring.
—Rebecca Atkinson Lord, Artistic Director at An Tobar and Mull Theatre.
Jenny’s book is an impressive feat of collaborative non-fiction that takes risks with an experimental style and format to tell an amazing story. — Love Bytes, USA
Myshkin is a giant among songwriters. Well observed, unflinching, tender, bitterly funny songs. —City Life, Manchester, UK
Currently scheduled dates:
Dumfries and Galloway Festival:
30 May 2025 • Eskdalemuir Hub
31 May 2025 • Swallow Theatre
Past dates:
Presented by An Tobar / Mull Theatre:
12 September • Bunessan Hall, Isle of Mull
13 September • Craignure Hall, Isle of Mull
14 September • Mull Theatre, Isle of Mull
Presented by the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival:
12 October • Village Hall, Rosehall
13 October • The Bike Shed, Inverness
25 October • Timespan, Helmsdale
Presented by Dumfries and Galloway Festival:
24 November • CatStrand, Dumfries and Galloway
