Scratch Nights

Inspired by the systemic practice of using standardised parenting competence tests to remove infants from Greenlandic mothers, Nuuk uses a real-world injustice to explore universal themes of state control, institutional coldness, and cultural erasure. Centred on an administrative interrogation, this bilingual production, performed by Isla Macleod and Stéphanie Riffort in English and French, pits human emotion against rigid bureaucratic logic. Written by Stéphanie, developed by Second Act and directed by Catherine MacNeil for the Vivid Roots scratch night, Nuuk examines how faceless systems evaluate human fitness, offering an intimate portrait of resilience when language, maternal identity, and power collide.

Angela Stone is our artist in residence at Macphail Centre in Ullapool and following her residency she will share more about her project centred around the period of time in the 1980s when Ullapool was a major hub for the Klondykers (the herring/mackerel processing factory ships that anchored in Loch Broom during the Winter seasons).

Maggie Barker is a writer and contemporary artist from Lewis in the Outer Hebrides who uses traditional folklore and sound recording to explore themes of belonging,
relationships with nature and environmental climate change.

The Selkie’s last tale considers what it means to be a modern Scot in a world that brings together time, place and species. Set on a highland beach, between high and low tide lines, scratch night exerts feature the selkie’s two worlds meeting as her
experiences and stories bridge the gap between land-based humans and the realm of the deep Marine. In this liminal space traditional North Atlantic costal stories and Hebridean folk song from past generations mingle with experimental marine sound and ideas of hope for the future in a growing connection between humans and the
species of the sea.

Blood and Water (and Drugs) – working title – centres on four siblings; Rosie, David, Harry and Cara. Set entirely in the back garden of their family home, the play follows the immediate aftermath of the sudden death of their Mother. While Rosie is doing her best to keep everything together, Cara is on the verge of a complete breakdown and David (though well-meaning) isn’t a huge amount of use to anybody. We learn of b-list celebrity Harry initially through his siblings’ conversations, though nobody has heard much from him in several years. When he turns up unexpectedly the fallout from his scandalous personal life – hidden until now – and the distance that has formed between the siblings will have great consequences for the family and the legacy of their Mother.

Our two Roots Collectives will share work, the Inverness Collective will share work in person and Ullapool will join digitally.