Perth play puts spotlight on priest’s decline and fall

Novel brought to the stage by Scottish actor who appeared in Star Wars

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A SCOTTISH actor who appeared in Star Wars leads the cast in a new production about love, morality, identity and regret coming to Perth Theatre.

Booker Prize-nominated novel Be Near Me has been adapted for the stage by Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid, who played the Emperor in the hit film and appears in the play’s central role.

It follows the tale of Father David Anderton, an Oxford-educated Catholic priest who is assigned to a parish in a Scottish town on the Ayrshire coast. A spokesman for the National Theatre of Scotland production at Perth Theatre said audiences would see how the naive and lonely priest’s life spirals out of control when he befriends two unstable teenagers.

“Their everyday world of drunken nights and recreational drugs is as exotic and enthralling to him as his cloistered life is to them,” he added.

“As events take a perilous direction, Father David’s infatuation splinters his life into pieces.”

The cast also includes Blythe Duff from Taggart and is directed by the National Theatre of Scotland’s John Tiffany. Be Near Me can be seen at Perth Theatre until Saturday.

For tickets and information call 01738 621031.