A major new bilingual Gaelic production for the 2021 Year of Scotland’s Stories brings together one of Scotland’s most experienced Gaelic Performance Storytellers, Ariel Killick, together with Hopscotch, one of Scotland’s longest established Theatre in Education companies.
Òr Treasure!, with ‘Òr’ meaning ‘Gold’ in Gaelic, including a play on words on the Scots pronunciation of ‘our’, is an epic series of four highly interactive bilingual Gaelic Performance Storytelling shows taking audiences on a sometimes poignant, often hilarious, rambunctious immersive adventure through Scotland’s land, language, and history.
To introduce people to the incredible riches we have in Gaelic, to affirm and empower them with Gaelic they already know, use and see around them, and that Gaelic is already part of their lives & story. To take them on a fun-filled journey & deep-dive through amazing the oral heritage of Gaelic stories, inspire them to continue learning more with Gaelic, and provide an opportunity to discuss their feelings and thoughts about Gaelic as part of their history, present, and future.
Ariel finds a magical treasure chest with a Treasure Hunt Map and takes the audience on an adventure to well-known places in Scotland whose names are derived from Gaelic. By getting the audience to guess and pronounce their original names in Gaelic as part of the Treasure Hunt, the Treasure Chest lights up in different magical colors, unlocking the voices of Scotland’s not so distant past, releasing beautiful, poetic, and magical phrases in Gaelic enhanced by background music & sound effects.
The chest also has three rambunctious adventure stories which Ariel will bring out to tell highly interactive bilingual performances, with a heavy focus on fun and lots of giggles. The stories are respectively about Witches and Magic, Skye Warrior Queen Sgiath, and Scottish Creation & Winter Goddess a’ Chailleach Bheur, which brings the Epic Cycle to a close on a more serious note regarding the current crisis of Gaelic, with a call to action, and opening of an audience discussion opportunity.
Òr Treasure! comprises 2 individual hybrid storytelling workshop performances that can accommodate venue programming with flexible options: Programme 2 x 55 minute workshop performances over a single day, with a break for lunch in-between. Max capacity 30 participants.
“Òr Treasure!” & Chailleach Bheur
Offer participants an additional fun, active and contemporary Bilingual circus skills workshop, showing the adaptability of Gaelic for our modern era in diverse contexts. Max capacity 30 participants.
