THE curtain will go up tonight on a moving play about a childless woman’s determination to become a mother.
When award-winning Aberdeen playwright Charles Barron wrote The Surrogate around 25 years ago, it was a controversial subject for a stage show. It remains both touching and topical today.
At the time, he was head of drama at the Northern College of Education in Aberdeen, and students had asked him to write a piece, “preferably something contemporary and on a topical theme”, that they could perform at the Scottish Students’ Drama Festival.
“Surrogacy was creating a fuss at the time, and that seemed a suitable subject for them,” said Mr Barron, 73, of Deeview Gardens. He set the play in Aberdeen, creating a work that tackled the issue with humour and sensitivity.
The original performance was so successful at the St Andrews University festival, the student group was invited to perform at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.
The director of top Glasgow professional company Annexe Theatre saw the show and asked to take it on a 21-venue tour of Scotland.
Tonight, local company Fleeman Productions will start a series of 7.30pm performances of the Doric play with a show at Kemnay Village Hall.
Performances will follow tomorrow and Friday at Aberdeen Arts Centre and on Saturday in Udny Green Memorial Hall. Ticket details are available online at www.neatshows.org.uk
On stage will be Fleeman regulars Sarah Alexander, Scott Neish and Yvonne Morton, with newcomers Linny Casson, Lara-Jo Taylor, Brad Morrison and Fiona Begg.